Tag: dead

 October 17 – Permanently Raised

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” – Ephesians 2:4-7 (ESV)

When the Apostle Paul packed the promises into what he wrote, such as today’s passage, we end up with long sentences and more verses. Sometimes the verse divisions* break up Paul’s intended flow. Four verses today are full of promises. Reading the parts of this long sentence together will help us to see the inclusive promises from God. All that God has done for us and all that He will do comes from His mercy and great love for us. We were dead when God made us alive in Christ. The power that raises believers out spiritual death and makes us alive spiritually is the same power that energizes every aspect of Christian living. It is by grace of God we are saved being raised up and seated – we know from the tenses used – “raised” and “seated” that these are immediate and direct results of salvation. Salvation of course, is very much for our blessing as believers, but even more its purpose is to demonstrate God’s eternal glory for giving believers His endless and limitless grace and kindness. All of these promises are only ours because we have by faith been permanently placed in Christ.


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May 11 – The Power Dwelling Within


“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11 (ESV)

If we were to look back two verses we find that the Apostle Paul was confirming that all who have God’s Spirit dwelling in them are no longer bound like a slave to their old life of desires and actions of the flesh (the natural man). We know that when Jesus Christ rose from the dead it was a marvelous miracle. It was something that only God could do. It was the very action that gives us new and eternal life. Our verse today reminds us that God’s power is available to us even while we’re living here on earth in our earthly bodies. Yes, God has made this power available to us through the Holy Spirit. The things that we could never do in our own strength we can do by His Holy Spirit power. So when we find it difficult to do God’s will in specific instances we can trust God through His indwelling Holy Spirit to enable us to do it. God does this for us using the same marvelous power that raised Christ from the dead. Since we have the Spirit dwelling in us we are assured us of this promise.

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January 19 – Done Deal Here and Now

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” Ephesians 2:4-6 (ESV)

This passage assures us that our salvation is by the grace of God. We did nothing to make it ours, we can’t. God’s love has done three things: (a) it has made us alive with Christ, (b) has raised us up with Christ, and (c) seated us with Him in the heavenly places.  This is all promised and done because what Jesus did for us. It becomes what happened to us in Christ Jesus.  Although still flesh and bone walking on this earth breathing air, what Christ did, became a reality so true that God considers it a done deal for us. When God draws us to Himself and offers us a new life in Christ Jesus, we received it by grace. Although this is difficult to understand with our human reasoning, and various questions arise as we’re trying to grasp how it is; we rest on the faith given to us by grace and accept it as truth. We do not have to fully understand everything we receive for it to be true. It’s true because God has declared it true by His will⸺that is what makes it true and for us right here, right now, it’s accomplished. 

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