In 1980 my life with Christ dramatically changed. I had accepted Christ as my Savior when I was a young girl but things were stagnant. Now that I was a young wife and mother my heart cried out for more.
The best example I can give you is the life of Peter. For most of his time as Jesus’ disciple he was impetuous, ruled by his emotions ; it was apparent he struggled to maintain. And then…on the day of Pentecost, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and his life demonstrated a power he had never known before.
Instead of denying he knew Christ when questioned by a little servant girl, he boldly proclaim Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the grave when he was being threatened with imprisonment and beatings. He went from being tossed about by his emotions to being the man Christ referred to as “the rock”.
The difference was the power of the Holy Spirit in his life. Peter’s boldness came from knowing who he was in Christ and the power that was given to him by Jesus.
We wanted to be like Peter, the rock so Dave and I began to devour God’s word in search of what the Father has given us to live a victorious life while we are on this earth.
Over the next several days I am going to share with you some of the Scriptures the Lord made real in my life during those days. These verses are life-changing. To start this study I need you to answer this question.
Do you know who you are?
A child, a parent, a spouse, a grandparent, a niece or nephew, a dear & trusted friend, a co-worker, an opponent – this list can be as long as the list of people we know and are related to. But really, who are you? This question can be answered in greatest depth and meaning when we allow the Scripture to define who we are.
Paul says if any man, person, be “in Christ” he is a new creature; old things have passed away and all things have become new. A new creature – so who or what is this new creature. What do we look like – how do we act?
One of the greatest things that can happen in our Christian walk is to realize that WE – myself included – are new creatures. All the old with its past is dead and I’ve been given a brand new life – a new start. I have become a whole new species of being “in Christ”! The Apostle Paul spent a great deal of his writings dealing with this new person we have become. This morning let’s look at one Scripture in particular.
“In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God. 2 Yes, in the past your lives were full of those sins. You lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. 3 In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God’s anger just because of the way we were.
4 But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. 5 We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) 6 Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places. 7 God did this so that his kindness to us who belong to Christ Jesus would clearly show for all time to come the amazing richness of his grace.
8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. 9 You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about. 10 God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.” Ephesians 2:1-10 ERV
Over the next several mornings I will be developing a study on “Who We are in Christ Jesus”. It is my hope to give you enough Scripture and direction that you develop a hunger to learn more about your relationship “in Christ”.
Welcome to the good life – the life in Christ Jesus!