“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
Nevertheless, we live, yet not us, but Christ lives within us, and the life we now live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us.
In the death of Jesus Christ our Lord we have been given life, a new life, free from the sin, shame and guilt of the old life that we lived by the dictates of our flesh and in the mindset of the wisdom, ways and the sins of this world. In these we were dead, but now, God has made us alive together Christ.
“And you hath he quickened (made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Ephesians 2:1-3
“And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses…” Colossians 2:13
Now, in raising us up to life again in and with Christ, He also has given us access to the riches and wisdom of Heaven. Now we are able, both to know and to see things through the eyes of Jesus. His Word has now been made a living stream of water flowing in and through us to give us discernment and understanding in all things.
So then, the admonition of the Lord not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds is given to us to know and to be changed from within, from our hearts. To be transformed into the image and true likeness of Jesus, our Lord. What that means is we are no longer as those who are not born again. We are no longer inescapably bound to the ways and wisdom of this world. We are not limited in our understanding and knowledge of all things merely by what we can see with our human eyes, or hear with our ears, or touch, smell or taste. Our brute senses are no longer the boundaries beyond which we cannot know what is now nor what is to come.
With the mind of Christ, we can know, and we now have access to all that God has created for us; to understand things hidden from those who are lost in their sin and unrighteousness.
With understanding we have also been given the capacity to know things that are yet to come and to rest our hope in the promise of eternal life. This is an anchor for our souls.
“Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:17-20
“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”1 Corinthians 15:19 KJV
The hope that we have of Heaven and eternal life with God is sealed by our faith in Jesus Christ Whom God has raised from the dead. In that confidence we base our faith that by grace through faith in Him we are saved.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…”Ephesians 2:8
With our salvation we also received healing and our hope in the Lord assures us that it is God’s will to heal us and to keep us in health and peace.
Peace, Godly peace, that Jesus gave first to the disciples and through their witness to us, is a peace that removes all agitation, worry, anxiety, fear and fretting from our lives, because we trust in Him. All that He has promised is sealed and made sure for us through His blood.
So, we do not worry or fret. When any of those liars (agitation, anxiety, fear, trepidation, worry) come to invade our minds we take those thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. As we resist the devil, he flees from us.
In the midst of those lying thoughts we speak the Word of God’s promises into our ears, and by that, into our hearts and the peace of God moves in to restore our wellbeing and confident rest in Him.
The other day, out of nowhere it seemed I started feeling like I wasn’t accomplishing the things that I needed to do and wanted to do in ministry. Old thoughts started coming in and past sins and failures and doubts about the future were flashing before me. I could feel the oppression growing, but it was as though I was just stuck in the downward spiral toward depression and despair.
Then I reached out for the Lord to speak to me a Word that would pull me out of it. I was struggling just to think of a scripture that I could hang on to. So thought about the things I was grateful for. As I began thanking the Lord for His goodness and grace toward me and for salvation through the blood of Jesus, I felt myself becoming more stabilized and confident. The more I thought about what Heaven was going to be like without the stresses and struggles of this life, the more my faith began to build and the more my thoughts became of positive things and of how truly blessed and fortunate I am because of Christ.
I felt God’s presence and His peace move in. Where there had been doubts and disappointments now there was hope and joy and peace.
Heaven is ours and it is real! It is our ultimate destination. This life is just a waystation on the journey. But while we are here, we have the privilege of being His ambassadors and ministers, His witnesses and preachers spreading the Word of the Gospel as far and as widely as we can.
Therefore, our hope in Christ is not in this world only; Our hope is of eternal life with God our Father, Jesus our Lord, our Savior and our Brother, and the Blessed Holy Spirit now and forever. Amen.
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