The Cross. The Cross? The CROSS!!!
I've felt pretty spiritually flat-lined for a while now. After listening to, reading, etc. a combination of Biblically-inspired materials, the Holy Spirit has reminded me--once again--that I must DIE. Death precedes life. If I don't die with Jesus I can't live with Jesus. It's that simple. Jesus demonstrated normal Christian living and for those of us who started out as sinners, the starting line is in the grave.
I've felt pretty spiritually flat-lined for a while now. After listening to, reading, etc. a combination of Biblically-inspired materials, the Holy Spirit has reminded me--once again--that I must DIE. Death precedes life. If I don't die with Jesus I can't live with Jesus. It's that simple. Jesus demonstrated normal Christian living and for those of us who started out as sinners, the starting line is in the grave.
When I say spiritually flat-lined I don't necessarily mean lacking in faith, I mean I've sensed a huge lack of power and passion in my life. Now I'm beginning to realize that it's because I've been holding onto my rights, my preferences, my opinions, my pleasures, my comforts, my reputation, my family (ouch!), my space, my sleep... The list could go on and on. Lest I harp on the negatives, let me remind myself that it was "for the joy set before Him that Jesus endured the cross..." I need a fresh infusion of the joyful reality of the cross of Christ. At the cross I am declared innocent of sin. At the cross I am washed, healed, and made new. At the cross I am brought into the glorious inheritance of Jesus Christ. I am filled with the power and passion of HEAVEN.
All of the rights and privileges of being one with Father-God, Jesus willingly put aside so that He could experience humanity. After living a sinless life and dying as an innocent man on a cross to pay for our sins, Jesus won back His "God-rights" and His inheritance and He has handed them over to us! We've been commissioned to go and do what He did in the same power and authority that He walked in when He was on the earth. This is big stuff for such a little brain!
A powerless life is a self-life.
A powerless life is a self-life.
An empowered life is a life FULLY, 100%, ABSOLUTELY and COMPLETELY surrendered to CHRIST. We overcome when we "do not love our lives so much as to shrink from death." As soon as we make the choice to fully surrender our wills and "DIE" to ourselves, then BOOM the life of Christ is free to burst forth.
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