Faith; The Thin Line Between Works And Rest

When talking about faith there is a thin line between that which is works (the effort of the carnal man) and that which is rest. In one of my post I explained the relationship between works and rest, and I explain that rest is work, as a result we have two kind of works, the works of rest (or the works of faith) and the works of the carnal man. To the Christian the works of faith is that which is done in the place of rest, any work done outside of rest is not faith. FAITH IS: you believe in the finished work of Christ, you rest in that finished work, and then that rest brings you to do certain things (works), but these works are works of rest.

In order to attain a clearer understanding, let say you work in a place that gives you little time for yourself, but they pay really well, and one of the benefits is a sponsored leave. This leave is a time for rest, but what happens in this time of rest? Do you just lay still like a dead man in the name of rest? No, you DO all the things you’ve always wanted to do, you go have fun, and do some really crazy stuff, things that you have always wanted to do. During the leave you can go for in-door games or out-door games, and you can play so hard that you begin to sweat, but is that work? You are doing something that is even hard on your body, yet it is not work but rest. Yes, we say, ‘work hard, play hard’; that’s what we do in the place of rest, we have fun, we enjoy ourselves, and we play hard, very hard, yet we are at rest.

During the Sabbatical, if you are playing tennis it is rest, but when a professional tennis player is playing tennis he is working. Yes, it is the same tennis, but for one person it is rest while for the other person it is work. Can you see the thin line? You can be doing something because somebody else is doing it but you may end up doing it as work while the other person is doing it as rest. The disposition of your heart is what determines whether it is work or rest; if you are saying in your heart, “I have to do this thing, I just have to, otherwise…”, then that thing is work, but if you are saying in your heart, “well, I want to do this, I enjoy doing it, let me just have fun and enjoy myself”, then you are in the place of rest and that thing becomes an expression of rest or a work of rest.

It is a work of rest as long as it is done out of love, maybe love for that thing or for a person which is somehow connected to that thing. But it is works when it is done from obligation, you just have to do it whether you like it or not, you are not enjoying it, it’s just tedious work that you must do. I am say all of this because of the issues of using your sanctified imagination. Using your sanctified imagination has become a teaching that has quickly spread among those practicing the supernatural. Now it seems like everyone teaching the supernatural usually mention it. Although it should be done as an act of faith, it has the tendency to quickly turning into works. Even though you put the word ‘sanctified’ there, if it is not done from the place of rest then it is works and it is carnal. That is how the word of faith movement started and then it turned into works where Christians do all kind of carnal things like depending on handkerchief, water, oil, and the rest. It started as an act of faith; of course they knew that these objects have no power to heal them, they only did it from an act of faith. But concerning faith, the line between works and rest is very thin.

It became works (carnal works) when their heart disposition shifted away from, “Christ have already perfected my healing, it is finished and it is made available, but let me use this object to tap into the manifestation.” That is allowed, it is very Christian although it is childish, but there is nothing wrong with being a baby Christian, we all start from that level. Yes, there are different levels of faith, there are some whose faith has grown to the level that they could just reach out into the spirit and tap into the healing virtue of Christ, and there are some whose level of faith is at a level which they can’t do that, what they can do is depend on an elder and/or a object, and through this elder or object they tap into the healing that Christ have made available for us in the spirit.

So when you say, “I know we have this healing already in Christ by his finished work, but I cannot seem to be able to tap into it, my faith is just not enough, I need the help of an elder, or an object from an elder.” there is nothing wrong with that, being a baby is a cute thing not an evil thing, it only becomes bad when you remain a baby longer than normal, and that’s why we must strive to grow and put childish things aside. What is not Christian, what is works and carnal, is when you say in your heart, “I have to get to this pastor to be healed, even if it means travelling a thousand miles. I need this… and that… object, I need to do this… and that… with the object if I must get my healing.” It has shifted from rest to works when you start thinking like this. Your healing is not in the pastor, it is not in that object or the things you do with it, rather it is in Christ, and you don’t HAVE TO DO anything to be healed, all that is needed is your faith.

Let get back to the issues of using your sanctified imagination, a lot of things starts from faith, but because of our childishness it quickly shift to carnal works. When you are using your sanctified imagination as a tool to get these things from God then you are in works and carnality. But when you are using the sanctified imagination as an expression of a heart full of faith, knowing well that you already have these things by the virtue of Christ finished work, then you are in the place of rest. In the spirit you are already seeing God and angels and experiencing these things; your spirit is alive to God and it is with God, it is experiencing all these things, it is naturally live the life of the supernatural, but you want your soul and flesh to be caught up in this reality, and you know that it would be caught up in it, for it is destined to, God has promised it.

So you use your sanctified imagination in anticipation, you are trying to imagine what will be, how it would happen, because you totally believe it. You are doing it (using your imagination) not to make it happen, but in anticipation of what has been promised would happen. You are placing your faith on that promise, you are trusting in God’s word, you are not trying to make God do it, you know He would do it as long as you have faith, but now this faith that you have is making you anticipate, and when you are so full of expectation and you are anticipating you would just find yourself by fantasizing and using your imagination to know how it would be and what it would feel like. This is how human beings are design, we use our imagination when we are in expectation and anticipation.

I am stating all of this because I can see the danger coming, in every move of God there is always a perversion of the devil, and if we are not careful enough we would fall victim. So we must strive to do it rightly, to do it from a place of rest and faith.