Plead Less and Claim More!

I have many great childhood memories. Some of my best memories involve the various pets and critters we had growing up. One particular critter I remember having as a child was a lizard. This lizard was a master escape artist. It seemed no matter what we would do, this lizard would figure out some way to get out of his terrarium.  Often it would get out and startle my mom when she would find it somewhere in the house! Because of his ability to escape so well, my dad named this lizard “Houdini”.

Harry Houdini was a famed escape artist in the beginning of the 20^th century and known for many sensational acts. Interestingly, Houdini developed the ability to hold a key, wire or piece of metal in his throat. He did this by tying a piece of potato to a string, swallowing in and holding it in his throat until he no longer needed the string to keep it there. This is where he would hide what he needed to pick the lock in his escape acts. Sadly, the famed escape artist died at a young age due to a ruptured appendix (I always wondered if this intestinal rupture was possibly related to all the pieces of metal he likely swallowed while practicing this maneuver!)

In the start of his career, Harry Houdini gained fame by traveling around the country and issuing a challenge wherever he went. He could be locked in any jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free in short order. Always he kept his promise, but one time something went wrong. Houdini entered the jail in his street clothes; the heavy, metal doors clanged shut behind him. He coughed up a piece of metal, strong and flexible. He set to work immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock. For thirty minutes he worked and got nowhere. An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door. By now he was bathed in sweat and panting in exasperation, but he still could not pick the lock. Finally, after laboring for two hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock. But when he fell against the door, it swung open! It had never been locked at all!

How often do we work so hard for victory and freedom in our Christian lives? The door to freedom and victory isn’t locked. When Christ died on the cross, the door was swung open wide. We died with Him. Not only have we been crucified, died and buried with Christ, but we also have been raised up with Him in the heavenlies Eph 2:6. Without knowing these truths and grasping them, we are trying and struggling to be someone we already are or to open a door that is not locked. By recognizing these truths, siding with God against ourselves and putting no confidence in the flesh Philippians 3:3 we can enable Christ’s life to live through us. All believers know we are justified by faith, but many think sanctification is developed by their own merit. It’s like someone trying to move an enormous mound of dirt with a teaspoon when there is a giant bulldozer right next to them or when invited to a huge Thanksgiving dinner, to scrounge on the floor like a dog looking for scraps. “Satan’s great device is to drive earnest souls back to beseeching God for what God says has already been done.” - William R. Newell. There is a reason God went to the extent He did, because nothing we ever could do measured up, it was condemned. Are we still trying to offer up the best we have, the best of what He condemned? How can we fully admit we are in complete dependence on Christ for our initial salvation/justification but then somehow offer our filthy rags Isaiah 64:6 for sanctification? “Victory, sanctification, revival, the fulness of the Spirit – these cannot be purchased at such a price, for the price has already been paid! To add anything is to repudiate the adequacy of the death of Christ.” – Major Ian Thomas

Plead less and claim more!