December 4, 2019 ALIVE TO GOD
Romans 6:11 “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
We hear a lot about dying to self and crucifying the flesh-and those are necessary truths to understand if we are to live in victory. The other side of the coin that we may not hear as much is that we can experience being “alive to God.” In this world we are constantly bombarded with all that is wrong and if not alert to the Spirit within us, we find ourselves living under the weight of all that’s wrong; we become weary and quietly adopt the mentality that ‘That is just the way it is.’ The ways of the world are a joy-killer for sure. I think of the story of the frog; they say that if you put a frog in a pot of cool water and gradually increase the heat, he will not jump out, but will die in the hot water. We cannot escape the fact that we live in a fallen world; scripture makes it clear that even though we are in the world, we are not of the world. John 17:16. To know that we are not of the world is the difference maker. If we do not know our true identity in the Lord according to His word, we will always be facing an uphill battle in trying to live as God intends. What is our true identity in the Lord? Who are we really? Let’s take a minute and simply list a few of our traits as children of God, or descriptions of what it means to be in Christ. To start, we have been made new creations with new hearts, new minds, and new spirits-we were not refurbished. All of our sins have been forgiven and the power of sin has been broken. We can now walk according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh. We can think like God; we have the mind of Christ. God has poured His love into our hearts-now we can love as He loves. The Holy Spirt lives in us to guide us, correct us, and equip us, and empower us to live according to the plans and purposes of God. We can renew our mind. We can overcome evil with good and bless those who curse us. We can speak words of encouragement and meet pressing needs. In the darkest hour, the hope we have does not diminish. Because He lives in us, we are overcomers who overcome the darkness and the evil that surrounds us. The gospel is good news. If we are not experiencing being ‘alive to God,’ let us confess that to God and then ask Him work in us in such a way that we begin to live this Christian life as He designed and become aware of our being alive in Him. We need the Holy Spirit revealing to us the truth of the gospel. “He came that we might have life.” John 10:10.
Ephesians 1:18 “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,”
Romans 6:4 “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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