Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith- the salvation of your souls. Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you (1 Peter 1:8-10).
Our message about picking up our cross daily and following Jesus must be received with the reassuring knowledge of His grace and mercy. There is ONE Savior Who saves us, and His work is complete. What we go through in picking up our cross involves bringing an end to the self-life, and it has generous measures of His grace to see through the difficulty, the pain, and the agony that can come as we move towards the end of our self-centeredness. In 1 Peter 1, we learn that prophets of old who knew God prophesied that a grace would come to us. You have to understand as a believer that God has already set you up for success, for victory, for overcoming, and not for defeat, not for failure, not for underachieving. God has set you up for success, but if you do not clearly see that, you will not walk in it. If I am a runner and if I do not see the lines, I might run out of my lane, but if I can see them, I can walk and run in my lane, and when I get to the end, I am not disqualified. You have to say, “God, I want to see it.” Faith is not blind as we sometimes seem to think. Faith has eyes; faith itself sees. My natural man does not see, but faith sees. Faith causes us to hold on to the Lord and His promises when things are rough. We can touch and apprehend God; God is changing us so that we will begin to see through the eye of the Spirit and not the natural eye- that is what God is after. The old prophets wanted to know of this grace that would come to us and they searched-carefully. They said there was a particular grace that is coming to a group of people that we do not have. In other words, they would experience this grace for a little while and then it would leave them.
But the Spirit of God said to them there is going to be a group of people to whom I am going to give this grace every day, 24/7! There will not be a moment that it will not be available to them. The same Spirit that came upon Isaiah when he says, “the Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” is with believers 24/7 (Isaiah 61:1)! God wants us to understand that. God has already given us victory; we do not have to win it. We already have the victory, so every day of my life, I prove victory. Every time you overcome, you prove Calvary was a success. Begin to see that in every area of your life! The goal of your faith, the salvation of your soul, is possible because of the grace He imparts to you.