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| Author Henry Miranda |
Before becoming Christians, we all came from different backgrounds. Some of us were at our worst end and didn’t know where to turn. Some of us like the apostle Paul were drawn by God. Some of us grew up in the church knowing Christ. But, it makes no difference how we came into the Kingdom of God. All we need to know is that until we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we were spiritually dead. We could not understand spiritual truths. We became spiritually alive only after we believed the truth about Jesus and were willing to yield ourselves to Him.
Ephesians 2:3-5 (KJV) "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ," (by grace ye are saved;)
2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV) "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new".
The “new man” is comparable to a grain of popcorn: it is the same grain, but it has gone through an amazing transformation. What the heat does for the corn; the grace of God does for us.
We were transformed from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God.
Romans 6:3-6 (NKJV) "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified" with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."
You must live your life in obedience, for obedience changes our relationship with God and obedience brings a greater degree of personal purity. Obedience acts of our sincere love for one another. We must think with a new attitude. Faith and repentance involve the mind, and repentance begins in the mind. Our minds should be self-controlled. We must die to self. We are not to indulge in formal evil practices. We must direct our life with proper goals.
Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV) "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
You turned your life 180 degrees when you come to Christ. You see differently and you have a new beginning. You can’t live your life the same as before you were transformed into a new creation. You turned your back to the old way of life and headed in the new direction towards Christ.
How sad it is when we want to follow our own way and do what we want to do. We want to make our own decisions without ever consulting God, and yet when we get in trouble, or when we come to a roadblock in our lives that we can't move, we cry out to God to help us. Then when He doesn't answer, we wonder why.
God is omnipotent, all-powerful, and able to do anything He chooses to do. And He is omniscient, all-knowing. He hears and sees everything we say and do. If God doesn't act on our behalf, it is not because He isn't able to; it is simply because He has chosen not to because of our rebellion and stubborn refusal to obey Him.
Isaiah 59:1-3 (NKJV) "Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue has muttered perversity."
Often when God doesn't act immediately on our behalf, we begin to think that He doesn't hear us or that He "can't save us," that He's not able to meet our needs. Yet, Isaiah points out in verse two that it's our sin that keeps God from working in our lives, not His inability to act or to hear us. It's our sin that separates Him from us.
God hears our prayers before we even speak. Just because we call ourselves Christians doesn’t mean that we have a guaranteed that God will answer our prayers, it is only by abiding in Christ that we get a guarantee that our prayers will be answered.
Psalms 37:4-6 (NKJV) "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday."
There are Christian who is spiritually dead, they are blinded by this world as to their lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life. The spiritually dead don’t care for the things of the Spirit. They spend their entire time talking about earthly things like food, entertainment, sex, and comfort. If they do speak on the spiritual it is out of ignorance and in the comfort of a god that is made up in make-believe; living only in their imagination.
What does it matter to you when you received Christ at the end we are all equal. The calling of God comes to man at different ages of life. They who have lived a life of holiness, and they who have given to God only the dregs of their ill-spent days, receive the same salvation.
God’s grace is sometimes defined as unmerited favor. God’s grace goes beyond our understanding. It is the very nature of God, who is defined as love, to pour out His love upon His people in a way and in a measure that is both undeserved and unexpected.
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