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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  • When Tolerance is Intolerable

    “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”–Revelation 6:17

    The Day of the Lord will be a day of ferocious intolerance. It is better to turn to God’s grace while it is freely offered. The world will become more tolerant while at the same time turning more rigid and biased toward Christians and their Christ.

    God is patient and long-suffering which are the warnings to all that one day He will move in great opposition against those who refuse to believe. God is tolerant but now He commands all men to repent.

    Today Christians are considered to be narrow-minded, bigoted, homophobic, or unscientific. This is contributing to the marginalization of the church in history. We should not be surprised to feel that the NCAA and the LGBTQ is filled with contempt for North Carolina’s caution to the “bathroom bill.”

    Holding back progress, losing money that is “much needed”, keeping us in the dark ages, of all that are thrown out there are the complaints and the energy which are trying to bully its way back into the “discrimination state.”

    Because we are living in the last days, time is not our friend. The days are evil and we are to make the most of our time. We are not to panic but to purpose with urgency. We must pass our faith on to the next generation, to our children and grandchildren. This keeps us on track.

    We are bound together by a common faith in the Lord Jesus. This is the true essence of fellowship. We are His living stones. The Apostles have laid the foundation. Therefore, your time and my time is God’s story. Don’t wimp out but stay and get on track with God’s program of tolerance.

     

     

     

     

  •     Always Faithful (Semper Fidelis)

     

    “…So David prepared abundantly before his death” (I Chronicles 22:5c).

       Did you run track in high school? Perhaps you ran the 95-yard dash, or the 215. I ran track for one year while in high school. I wasn’t the fastest or the best, but I enjoyed it. I was young, ambitious, and just wanted to do something. But one thing I do know, I never ran the 95 or the 215. My friends ran the 100-yard dash and the 220. I ran the longer distances.

         The point is this: In marriage, as well as the Christian life, it’s not how you start that really counts, though important, it’s how you finish. You can run for 95 yards and even lead the field, but if you stop five yards short, those 95 yards were an exercise in futility. There are too many Christians, too many fathers and mothers, who are running the 95-yard dash. They quit on God and stop on each other.

        We are losing our families to this culture. Our boys and girls need to see personal commitments from each of us (dad, mom, grandparents, teachers) to finish the race. It is a surrender each and every day to the new mercies and compassions of Almighty God. We must repent each day of our own desires and allow God’s ways to saturate and permeate our lives. There is a race to be run; there is a race to be won!

  • Overflowing to Empower

    “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
    Paul places two images before us–drunkenness and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

    There are certain things that drive people to drink. The pressures of life, the demands that are severe that lead to some type of stimulation to overcome it. There are some things in life that causes one to take a drink to undergird, to give confidence, to help, and to give strength. There are a lot of situations that stir people to drink.

    In contrast Paul says that we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  For He will stimulate, strengthen, subdue the human failures and feelings and satisfy us with His workings. There is no shame to feel the sense of need. We were not made to be self-sufficient, independent creatures. We need Someone to help us feel adequate to face life; do not be troubled by that.

    Herein is the real and great secret of Christianity. It is the possibility of being filled with the Spirit of Christ. Each child of God has the Holy Spirit living in them, but many are not filled with the Holy Spirit. They have the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit does not have them. The Holy Spirit is present but He is not president. He is resident but He is not residing. He resides in you but maybe He does not preside through you. He is our inner supply for every need.

    Christianity is not just about coming to church, getting a blessing, and then going away to live in the light and warmth of the blessing until it leaks away. No, we have much more than that. We drink {believe} into Him and “Out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water,” John says, “By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive” (John 7:39a). That is the strengthening that comes from within, and He is plenty for the situation. So drink in and drink up, for by Him we live and move and have our being.

     

     

     

     

  • Rich in God

    “So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him…Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left. Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company…” (Genesis 13:1; 9-10).

     

    Abraham and Lot were men who both acquired wealth from God. Abraham developed his wealth to do the work of God, while Lot used his wealth to build his own empire, pleasure, and building.

     

    At the end of life we find Abraham won more, for his inheritance was of the Lord. Lot lost it all, even his own family. His resources were depleted and he ended up in heaven with his soul but lost his life and all things he lived for.

     

    Lot depended on Abram early on. He had a second-hand faith, a faith that was dependent on another, even though he had a genuine faith. But a Lot cannot live like that forever. It will show up eventually. His dependence was with Abraham as long as the heat was on. But one thing that Lot could not handle was his prosperity.

     

    There is one type of test that a carnal Christian cannot handle or stand – it is the test of prosperity. And it will show up eventually. When all is going well then a Christian will let go of his dependence, a strong Abraham, and will find himself dependent in his prosperity. He has moved on

     

    May we realize that if our faith is lived by the presence of another, that eventually we will fall to the test of prosperity, and most of the time prosperity and materialism will win. There are too many Lots in our midst who have lost their way to glory. May we learn from the lesson of Lot!

  • Crags or Cages?

     

    “And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go…” (Acts 16:10).

         Charles Spurgeon once said, “I’d rather be a lean bird in the woods than a fat bird in a cage.” What a sad sight to see a caged eagle beating its wings against the bars. But what a sadder sight it is to see a Christian who has given up and resigned to low living among that which is carnal and natural.

        There were a brand of pioneers who braved dangers, crossed 3,000 miles of ocean, and blazed another 3,000 miles of wilderness and desert to make a trail for America. Rugged spirits flocked here from every land. The Fathers of liberty risked security for liberty. Today we have traded liberty for security. And the soul is more fettered than ever because of it.

        What about us and our children? If we feather the nests too well the eaglets will never fly. The baby eagles might complain because they are no longer comfortable, but eaglets do not fly that way. If we feather our nests and feather their nests, taking out as much as possible the thorns, thistles, and prickly things, then be assured that eaglet will not fly as soon as it should, or as powerful as it could.

        Find a crag! Find a mountaintop and climb. Avoid a cage and find a solitary place to meditate “far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife.” Build your home high. An eagle needs an eyrie. You and I can see the whole battle from the distance. A prophet or a parent sees the whole picture like an eagle from a mountain crag.

  • Not Knowing Enough To Talk Sense

    “Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ” (Matthew 16:20).

    “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead”          (Matthew 17:9).

    There were times when the Lord Jesus told his disciples not to speak to anyone about what they saw or heard.  Why? They did not know enough to talk sense about what was before them.

    Unless we know Jesus as the risen, living, and indwelling Savior, as a present-tense reality in our hearts and life, then the Lord Jesus wants our mouth to be kept closed. Why?  Because we will not know enough about Him worth saying.

    God wants us to know Him through His Son by an ever-present reality.   When life becomes an adventure in dependence upon His life in us, dead to yourself and alive to God, you and I will share the Life of Jesus Christ and we will share His victory, though a thousand or more temptations assail us.  Then we will have something to tell.  And something to see.  And someone to love.

    It is not a matter of our doing our best for Him, but of Christ being His best in us.  This is the Good News that is ours to tell!