With Christ, God gives us ALL things FREELY. Pretty long...

Beloved of God, consider Romans 8:32-

"He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

With Christ, God gives us ALL things FREELY and not because of those arm of flesh (human effort)-driven activities that false doctrine preachers lead many churchgoers to do in order to get the blessing. When your believing is right, right living will follow. Doing good works (bearing fruit) that are pleasing to our heavenly Father and His blessings that we enjoy are EVIDENCES of our salvation in Christ. They are not CONDITIONS. When you are a part of Christ the True Vine, you cannot but bear "much fruit." See John 15:5-

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

The Passion Translation puts it thus: “I am the sprouting vine and you’re My branches. As you live in union with Me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from Me you are powerless.”

God cannot lie. We get to bear "much fruit" by utterly trusting in and depending on Christ, putting no confidence in our own human effort to live right or bear fruit (do good works.) But many branches (churchgoers) are trying to bear fruit by their own will-power (trying to obey the Law) in order to get the Vine Dresser (our heavenly Father in Christ) to bless them with the same fruit that they are struggling to produce by their own will-power. This is the sure way to get separated from Christ the True Vine-

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the Law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's Grace." Galatians 5:4.

This is why it is difficult to find a true believer in Christ boasting in the flesh (their law-keeping prowess) e.g.-

"God blessed financially me because I pay my tithe regularly" or

"God healed me because I obeyed the law and sowed a mighty seed" or

"I am now a parent because I was kind to children in orphanages" or

"I am free from satanic oppression and generational curse because I fasted for 70 days."

All of these blessings Christ suffered and died that we might freely have. But notice no finished work of Christ for our salvation or "God giving freely with Christ" in those proclamations of victory? Their victory is from their own human striving at getting God to bless. This is why many churchgoers are able to boast in the flesh (human effort.) Such "pastors" even threaten "core sinners" who cannot do what they are doing with God's judgment instead of pointing the sinner to Christ of whom it is written in Titus 2:14-

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Yet some might ask the question: "But Toyin, I still see results when I use my own human effort/will-power to do good things to get God to bless me as my pastor said. I do good things and God blesses me."

FIRST, see what God's word says of that human effort/will-power (aka arm of flesh) that many rely on and man's ability to do good as was Paul's experience in Romans 7:18-

"For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

But Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort) that will fail says: 

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good in me. I can keep the law, do good works to get God to bless me and resist temptation to commit sin by my will-power and sheer determination.”

Reminds one of Peter telling Jesus that He was wrong when Jesus told him of his upcoming denials. Peter knew 100% that he would never deny Jesus and swore to follow Him to prison and to death, but he ended up breaking the 8th Commandment - You shall not bear false witness - three times. Like pre-denial Peter, what we have of our own human effort are good intentions, the undertaking of which are subject to life's curcumstances aka Time and Chance and Satan's testings of man's arm of flesh that will fail. The reason why anyone can choose to not commit sin or is able to do good works is because God did not allow him to tempted beyond what he can bear. 

Boasting in our works (fasts, seeds, obedience) is akin to the physical flesh boasting that it can move about and play football. God's mercy in man is the "skeleton" that holds many upright. For we who are in Christ, Christ Himself holds us upright. He is "The Lord our Righteousness."

I too used to depend on my own will-power to live a godly life. I remember when I fasted to get God to save, paid tithe religiously to "rebuke the devourer," woke up every morning to "command the morning" and did other stuff in order to get God to bless me. Sometimes, I saw results almost immediately- but these results were always "fading away" with no peace. I also had no Father-child relationship with God. I wrongly saw Him as a Taskmaster who would not give unless I "played my part" and Who was just waiting to catch me in sin so He could let Satan have a go at me. Like the antichrist Pharisees, I put Jesus Christ and His finished work for us out of the equation of my salvation and depended on what I could do by myself (law-keeping) to get God's blessings and His salvation. 

I would wake up every morning telling my usual sins (like being impatient with colleagues:)) what Arya Stark says to Death- "Not Today." What I did not understand was that the only reason why I was not committing particular sins and could do all the works of the Law that I did was because God did not allow me to get tempted beyond what I could bear. If God took away His restraining hand that restrains us from sins and which makes many churchgoers believe that they can be good by themselves, we would all devolve into committing the worst sins - collapse into the heap of flesh that we are of ourselves. Paul addressed this in Romans 1 where a group who “suppress the truth” of righteousness by faith (verses 16-19) DEVOLVED into sin after “God lifted off His restraining hand…” —

“24 This is why God lifted off His restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameful desires…”

If God lifted off His restraining hand that restrains us from devolving into committing heinous sins and let us rely on our human effort and will-power at keeping the law in order to be saved or for whatever reason, we would all devolve into sin. 

The more I depended on my will-power to overcome, the more effort was required to overcome after each victory that I thought I had achieved with my various works and fasts...until one day, my arm of flesh did what it was designed to do. Failed. I just could not go on. The purpose of the Law that I, like many other churchgoers, was trying to keep in order to be godly was fulfilled in my life: This is the purpose of the law according to God's word - to show everyone up as guilty before God. See this in Romans 3:19-20:

"19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."

Galatians 3:19 says: "Why, then, the Law [what was its purpose]? It was added [after the promise to Abraham, to reveal to people their guilt] because of transgressions [that is, to make people conscious of the sinfulness of sin], ..."

The Law was not given for us to keep in order to be godly. Romans 5:20 says "The law was given so that sin would increase." Sin has dominion over those who depend on their ability to keep the Law:

"For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under Law but under Grace."Romans 6:14. 

The arm of flesh (human effort at living a godly life aka law-keeping) will fail. Beloved of God, our heavenly Father gives us ALL things FREELY with Christ. Even salvation from sins and eternal life are gifts of God through Christ.

SECONDLY:

The fact that churchgoers are "re-doing" the work that Christ has finished in order to get God to bless does not mean that God is blessing because of their works of the Law. Pastors and leaders who lead their congregation to depend on their own human effort at doing things in order to get God to bless are like Moses when he struck the Rock with his rod (representing Law) instead of speaking to it while holding Israel's high priest, Aaron's rod that budded (representing Christ as our High Priest) as the Lord God said. Yes, there were two rods. See the long story here:) -

Water still came out of the Rock, BUT NOT BECAUSE MOSES STRUCK THE ROCK. God did not want the Rock to be struck! He was angry with Moses for hitting the Rock. Water came out abundantly because God is good and He does not want His people to suffer. Because of Moses action of presenting God as One who will not bless His people unless man first does something, God was angry with Moses and prevented Him from taking His people into the promised land. Joshua (Yeshua; Jesus in English) led the people instead. 

We see in 1 Corinthians 10 that Jesus Christ is the "Rock: that Moses struck. For we who believe, God Himself struck Christ with the demand for restitution, punishment and death that the Law demanded of us. Because of His sacrifice of His own Son for us, God has a righteous foundation to freely unleash the entire blessings that come with obeying His word on us.

Today, many church leaders are striking the Rock again- leading believers to think that God who gives us all things freely with Christ will not freely and abundantly supply His children's needs through Christ.

Grace is defined as "'undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour"! Yet we are hearing from pulpits that God will not bless unless man first does something to merit, earn or be deserving of God's Grace by his own will-power. This strange picture does not represent our heavenly Father in Christ whose heart towards us is reflected in Romans 8:32-

"He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

So how come miracles still happen in these places where God is being misrepresented with the teaching of false doctrines? It is for the same reason as God still brought water from out of the Rock for the undeserving Israelites, even though Moses disobeyed and misrepresented God to them by striking the Rock when all he had to do was speak: God does not want His people (churchgoers) to suffer. Miracles still happen and God still blesses His people who are still under Moses-like pastors that are striking the Rock with the rod of the Law when God says to speak while holding on to Jesus Christ our High Priest who is Grace-personified.

Here's the good part:

As God was about to bless His people with water from the Rock in the wilderness, Moses called God's beloved people "rebels," made them think that God was angry with them, caused them to believe that he and Aaron were the only ones "holy enough" to bring out water from the Rock and struck the Rock when God told him to speak to it aka Moses led the people to believe that man has to do something by his own human effort in order to get God to give through the Rock (Jesus Christ.)

After Moses misrepresented the Lord God to the Israelites by striking the Rock instead of speaking, the Lord told him that he would not be taking the people into the promised land. Joshua (Yeshua: Jesus in English) would lead them into the promised land.

This is a picture of what is going on in the world today. There is a Grace Revolution sweeping across the earth. God is moving His people from under Moses-like church leadership (Law) and placing us under Grace- Christ Himself. God is raising more and more 100% Grace-filled shepherds to lead His people into His Rest.

Through His Grace (Christ)-filled ministers who feed His sheep and do not burden us with additional rules and regulations that no one can bear, our Lord God is opening our eyes and hearts to see Him for Who He truly His - 

He is our loving Abba Father who knows how frail, screwed up, powerless and doomed for destruction we are of ourselves and, because He loved us so, sent His own Son to suffer and die for us so that in Him, we might have life and have it more abundantly. 

This is not so that we should live our lives wallowing in sins and doing no works as antichrist pastors are always quick to say - as if Grace (Christ Himself) is synonymous with sins and no works! Ugh! What a lie! According to God's word, it is so that we can live a life filled with every single one of His blessings, including His abundance of Grace and His gift of Righteousness to us in Christ by which we live in triumph over sin and death:

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.

Christ gets all the glory for all the works of faith that we Grace children get to do and the abundance of blessings that we FREELY receive from God in Him. In Him, God fills us to overflowing with His goodness and mercy so much that with what is spilling over, we can't help but love Him and live right. In Him, we get to love, give, do exploits, live a life of moral excellence that exceeds that which the Law demands; even give beyond the lawful regulation of the tithe, yet not us but Christ in us. 

Right believing alway produces right living.