Category: September 2017

Galatians 4:6-7

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Have you ever asked a question like: “If You are a Christian, why are you sick? If your heavenly Father is so wonderful, why do you have so many problems? Doesn’t your God help you, His child? God, I am Your child. Why is this happening to me?” know that Jesus knows exactly how you feel because 2,000 years ago, the devil played the same trick on Him – “If you are the Son of God…” (Matthew 4:3) You see, the devil’s intention was to make Jesus doubt His Sonship, and the devil wants to do the same thing to you. He wants to destroy the Spirit of sonship in you and in the body of believers. He knows that once you really believe that you are a son of God, something happens – you begin to live life as “an heir of God through Christ”.

As a son and an heir of God, you inherit all the blessings of God which Jesus died to give you, including salvation, healing, provision, wholeness, favor, intimacy with God and answered prayers. And Jesus rose from the dead to make sure that what He died to give you, you get. He is alive today to enforce this rich, blood-bought inheritance in your life! You are an heir of God through Christ. This means that you are joint heirs with Jesus. (Romans 8:17) So His inheritance is your inheritance too! So what is provision when you are an heir of God? He owns every beast in the forest and the cattle on a thousand hills. (Psalm 50:10) All the diamonds and gold came from Him. What is healing when you are an heir of God? He is your Creator and the very breath of your life.

Enjoy every bit of your inheritance in Christ, not because you deserve it, but because it was paid for by Jesus’ blood!

Galatians 5:4

You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

What is the grace of God? Simply put, the grace of God is God blessing, healing and delivering you because of Jesus. The grace of God is His unearned, unmerited and undeserved favor toward you simply because of Jesus’ finished work at the cross. And because God’s grace is based on Jesus’ work and not yours, the only way you fall from this grace is by believing that you can earn, merit and deserve it through your obedience and good works. For example, you fall from grace when you say, “God will answer my prayers because I am a good person.” You also fall from grace when you think that because you are serving in church or you have kicked a bad habit, God is pleased with you so He has to bless you.

When you think that it is by your efforts and obedience that you receive God’s blessings, you become like the Pharisees. They believed that their law-keeping justified them and ensured that God would bless them. But the truth is that when you believe like them, “you have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace”. This means that you are cut off from Christ, who is your salvation, Redeemer, healer and provider. Then Christ has become of no effect to you! Surely you would want Christ to be of effect to you. People to whom Christ is of effect receive from Him the miracle they need. When He is of effect to them, He is their healer and they get healed. He is their wisdom and they are wise before man. He is their good success and they experience good success in all that they do.

For Christ to always be of effect to you and to never nullify the grace of God operating in your life, just remember and believe that it is because of Christ and His finished work – His blood, His stripes, His death, His obedience – that you are justified, healed and blessed!

Ephesians 1:4

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

Imagine walking through a field and coming across a small boat laying upside down. As you approach, you decide to turn it over so it’s right side up. As you begin, would you be cautious not knowing what had crawled under it? Every creepy crawly thing you could imagine has probably taken refuge under that boat. Now as you turn the boat right side up, all the creepy crawly things start to come out from under it and begin to leave.

Our lives are very similar to that boat. If we live a life that is upside down in sin, we allow every creepy crawly thing to enter and take refuge. We see examples of this everyday in the world. People that live upside down lives are filled with hate, immorality, violence, lying, and self-contentedness just to name a few.

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, all the creepy crawly things leave, and no longer have a hold on us. Paul tells us that God “chose us in Him” to emphasize that salvation depends totally on God. We are not saved because we deserve it, but because God is gracious and freely gives salvation. We can not and did not influence God’s decision to save us; He saved us according to His plan. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how God could accept us. But because of Christ, we are holy and blameless in His sight.

If you find yourself living a life upside down, it’s time to accept the free gift of salvation and live the life God has intended for you. To accept God’s free gift of salvation (click here)