I just finished day 5 of the @YouVersion plan ‘Awakening Your 5 Spiritual Senses to God’s Grace’. What I want to share from it may very well change how you think about your relationship with Christ.
Our freedom from the law translates into a no-strings-attached, total acceptance that we are anchored to through Christ.
This freedom means that we need not walk on eggshells with the Lord. We can move forward confidently, knowing that we are loved with an unshakable, unbreakable love purchased through blood.
Second, we taste the goodness of the Lord in the new covenant as God has bestowed on us a new identity, making us clean and close to God. We are heavenly at the core.
Our righteousness is not some positional status God has given us while we actually remain dirty and distant.
No, God has actually cleansed us and made us new. He has given us a place of honor in His family by exchanging our old spiritual DNA for a new self.
We are now literally and actually partakers of His divine nature.
(2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 3:10; 2 Pet. 1:4)
Third, our new covenant forgiveness is an incredible demonstration of the Lord’s goodness toward us.
While the forgiveness of old involved animal sacrifices once a year, the new covenant forgiveness we now enjoy is very different.
Jesus Christ is not up in heaven dying again and again, and therefore, we are not being forgiven progressively.
Instead, the sin issue is now over. Christ is seated in heaven at God’s right hand, and his work is finished.
This means we are completely forgiven and cleansed people, entirely reconciled to God.
Lastly, the new covenant announcement is that God has given us His divine life. Life has been restored to the place formerly housing death.
When our human spirit was exchanged, old for new, we were filled with God’s Spirit and sealed by him until Christ’s return.
(Eph. 1:13–14)
His presence in us is for here and now, and His presence is for the eternity we already participate in.
Freedom, identity, forgiveness, and life—these make up God’s new way. Each enables us to taste the goodness of the Lord in a special way. Each awakens our spiritual senses to God’s grace.
Find out for yourself how good the LORD is. Happy are those who find safety with him.
Psalms 34:8 GNB
My Jesus, You’ve changed how I look at myself, how I look at others, and how I see You. Thank You for forgiving me once for all. Thank You for freeing me from the impossible standard of the Law. Thank You for giving me a brand-new identity. But most of all, thank You for the gift of Your life. You are so incredibly good to us, and I will love You all the days of my life.
You just finished day 5 of the @YouVersion plan ‘Awakening Your 5 Spiritual Senses to God’s Grace’. Check it out here: http://bible.com/r/4U7
[from “Heaven is Now” by Andrew Farley]
Get encouraged in God’s grace with Andrew Farley’s videos! https://andrewfarley.org/
Classic Christian Rock song, “Thrown Away” by Dogs of Peace:
God’s Word:
Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17 GNB
You have been raised to life with Christ, so set your hearts on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on his throne at the right-hand side of God. Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory! You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed (for greed is a form of idolatry). Because of such things God’s anger will come upon those who do not obey him. At one time you yourselves used to live according to such desires, when your life was dominated by them. But now you must get rid of all these things: anger, passion, and hateful feelings. No insults or obscene talk must ever come from your lips. Do not lie to one another, for you have taken off the old self with its habits and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in his own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself. As a result, there is no longer any distinction between Gentiles and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, savages, slaves, and free, but Christ is all, Christ is in all. You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful. Christ’s message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct each other with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts. Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father.
Colossians 3:1-17 GNB
2nd letter from Peter. Ch.1 verses 1-9 (Message Translation) I, Simon Peter, am a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.
I write this to you whose experience with God is as life-changing as ours, all due to our God’s straight dealing and the intervention of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God.
The best invitation we ever received!
We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.
So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others.
With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus.
Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.
2 Peter 1:1-9 MSG
It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.
Ephesians 1:13-14 MSG
Amen
tombeetlebailey 