Identification and Participation in His Death

“And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons who were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave” (Numbers 19:19).

You and I live around death, decay, and indifference. As long as we are living for ourselves and the cross of Christ remains a distant thought from an even more distant past, you and I will not fully maximize the life we were to live.

 

We are dead in Christ. We are not to bring our self-centered thinking, fears, actions, anxieties, and desires into the new relationship. They have been crucified, the old self-life. We are all one in Christ. He is perfect, sinless Deity. A separation happens when we try to live apart from Him. We transfer our allegiance and identity to Christ.

 

As long as we live by rules and intellectualism and not by an ongoing participation in the death of Christ we will not see victory. It happens only through love that both honors and trusts in Jesus’ belief in Himself and what He has done for us on the cross.

Why is it that so few seem to have intimacy and fellowship with God? Many know about God but few really know God. We know His acts but very few of us know His ways. He’s in the vicinity, somewhere over there, but not intimately working here.

 

God is not free to flow His power through you and me unless we are identified with the death we experienced in Christ when we were born again. Until we realize and make the decision that we will die to ourself daily, and live to Him, we will continue to simply exist rather than maximize God’s good plan for us. We can not bring our old life into union with His life whereas we were made one.

 

God has given us the power of His resurrection through a brand-new reference point. How we view our self, others, our circumstances, and life must be all in Him. His life in me–my thinking, my acting, and believing must be His or there will be conflict and severance from His life. To be crucified with Jesus Christ establishes a brand-new reference for life–His life! This is the power of the third day, His resurrection life living in us and through us.

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