The Resurrected Life

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Ro 6:4)

The resurrected life is a life that is lived towards God. It is a life that acknowledges Him, submits to Him, gets life from Him, and lives to please Him. We are no longer to submit to sin, but are to submit to God, we are no longer to obey sin but are to obey God. We are to offer the parts of our bodies to God as instruments of righteousness.

The resurrected life is new kind of life that we were unable to live before we knew God. It is a life that cannot be lived without the life of God inside of us. It is a life lived to God and for God. It is a life that offers itself to God to be an instrument of His righteousness, for His glory, to the accomplishing of His purposes in Christ Jesus.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Ro 6:11)

The resurrected life can not be lived out of our past, or even in identity with our past. It must be lived out of who we are now, not who we were before we knew Christ. It is a life that cannot be identified with sin, failure or what we can accomplish in our own abilities or own strength.

The resurrected life cannot be lived with out dying. We must die to sin, selfish ambition, soulish wisdom, and sensual pleasures. We have to identify with Christ’s in His death by being buried with Him in baptism. To be baptized into Christ is to baptized into His death. Everything before that burial is dead, is no longer the rule of our lives, is no longer the purpose of our living, and is no longer in control of our destinies.

The resurrected life is the life that is raised up out of the tomb of death. It is the life that is raised up in the same way that Christ was resurrected. It is no longer a natural life lived for natural purposes, it is a supernatural life, endowed with supernatural power, and lived for supernatural purposes. It is man-ward life laid down and buried, and then raised up a God-ward life.

The resurrected life is a life identified with the resurrected life of Jesus Christ. Its allegiance is not to self, the world, or the demonic, but its allegiance is to the Lord God Almighty. It is a life lived with the passion, purpose, and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the life Christ gives us. Let us not settle for the residue of what we have died to, but let us reach out and live the resurrected life by the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ, and let us live it for the glory of God our Father.

The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Ro 6:10)

Freedom To Become

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (Ro 8:1-2)

Where there is condemnation, there is no freedom. Where there is no freedom, there is no real growth. We will never become or accomplish what The Lord is calling us to as long as we sit under or are subjected to condemnation.

Condemnation quenches, cuts off, blames, squelches, grieves, manipulates, blinds, binds, and causes hopelessness.

The Spirit builds up, encourages, directs, corrects, helps, enables, frees , and gives hope.
Condemnation creates an atmosphere of blame, guilt, and control. You will only be free to become what the condemner wants or thinks you ought to become or be. The condemner makes and interprets all the rules and motives.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Cor 3:17)

Where the Spirit of Life is, there is freedom, freedom to become who God has called us to be and to do what God has called us to do. To be set free from our sinful pasts and set free to all we can be in Christ.

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Rev 1:5-6)

Hitting The Mark

I press toward the mark (the distant mark looked at, the goal or end one has in view) for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Php 3:14)

We probably all start out pretty good. It doesn't take us long after we become Christians to figure out That Jesus is the One we set out sights on, who we head for. It all seems pretty simple, progress is fairly constant, and our lives are becoming steady.

Then at some point, years down the road, it is not simple anymore. We have too many targets, too many marks we are heading for. At first we do not realize what the problem is, all we know is the joy is gone. Discouragement begins to haunt us, we don't seem to know what to do any more.

May I suggest that we may have gotten off track. We're trying to hit so many marks, that we can't even figure out how to hit One. Some marks we may have added could be the desire for other things. When this happens, the Word is choked and we become unfruitful, stale, discouraged, passive, and undirected. Some marks could be ministry, how we think others percieve us, or even church

I am not going to belabor this, after all, we have the Holy Spirit and can understand spiritual things. Since we have been raised with Christ. let us also set our heart and minds on things above and let nothing lead us astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

Looking Back

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isa 6:20). Yesterday morning I was reading in Isaiah and came to this verse. I remember the first time this verse arrested me. It was about 18-20 years ago. My first thoughts back then, along with a feeling of self-justification, were, "Yea Lord, there's a bunch of people out there who don't speak in agreement with your Word!" Following that thought I was filled with conviction concerning how often my own words were not in agreement with the Word of God. Again this morning I re-read the above scripture. I looked back over the years, and I would have thought:

• I'd have come much farther in this area than in actuallity I have.
• That I would speak more life words than I do.
• That I would speak less death words than I do.
• That I would use my words more to help others become who they are in Christ.

I looked back at what Isaiah said in chapter 6:5-7, - Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

In verses 5-7 he is given a revelation of (from) God, then comes repentance, forgiveness, and cleansing, followed by separation and commissioning in verses 8 & 9.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell ...

May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to God.