JANUARY 28

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES

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Ephesians 2;8-9

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Hebrews 9:27-28

“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”

Hebrews 10:10

“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Romans 8:31

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

John 11:25

“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”

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This month we’re reading  the new devotional   “Becoming New”,  written by  Warren W. Wiersbe and compiled by his grandson.  Pastor Wiersbe was the President of Moody Bible Institute before the current President, Erwin Lutzer.  

THE LIVING CHRIST

Read Matthew 28; Galatians 2:20; and Romans 8:31

We have been meditating on the cross of Jesus; now let’s meditate on His resurrection.  We believe in an EMPTY CROSS, for Jesus died once for all, and we believe in an EMPTY TOMB, for Jesus arose from the dead in power and great glory to resurrection life.  But we don’t believe in EMPTY LIVES, for the resurrection power is transformation power.  It is the miraculous power of God to bring abundant life!

JESUS LIVES!  The evidence for the resurrection is so overwhelming that an open-minded, fair examination has transformed many intelligent doubters into believers.  In the first place, Jesus promised  He would be raised. Knowing that He was alive transformed the weak, frightened disciples into powerful, courageous witnesses and energized the church for ministry.  We can trust the record of people who were willing to lay down their lives, not for a myth but for a fact of history:  “The Lord is risen!  The Lord is risen indeed!”

JESUS LIVES IN HIS PEOPLE!  The old hymn declares, “You ask me how I know He lives?  He lives within my heart!”  Paul said, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20).  In His glorified physical body, Jesus reigns in heaven, but by His Holy Spirit, He dwells within each believer and makes His resurrection power available.  If we depend on ourselves, we will ultimately fail, but if we admit our weakness and depend on the Spirit, we will ultimately succeed and the Lord will be glorified.

JESUS LIVES FOR HIS PEOPLE!  After His resurrection, Jesus ministered to His own people and transformed their sorrow into joy and their fear into confidence.  He met with them, instructed them, and commissioned them.  After returning to heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to enable them to serve in His place.  When they needed wisdom and strength, they prayed and the Spirit met their needs.  How sad that many churches today depend on human talent, entertainment, technology, and clever promotion in their attempts to reach people, when the greatest power in the universe is available.

“If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

God IS for us, and Scripture records what He can do for us if only we will let Him!

WE LIVE FOR JESUS!

Gone is the life I once lived and coming is the life I shall live with Him in glory, but now-–today—is “the life I now live in the body.” As it says in Galatians 2:20.  How long this life will last, only God knows, but we live a day at a time, asking Him to give us all we need for each day.  The important thing is that we live BY FAITH IN GOD AND HIS WORD.  Four times in Scripture you find this statement:  “The righteous will live by faith” as in Romans 1:17 and three other scriptures.  We are saved by faith, but we also LIVE by faith.  As we live IN THE WORD OF God and as we step OUT by faith and obey Him, lives and faith are strengthened and the life of Jesus is visible THROUGH ours!

There may be times when we think our Lord has failed us, but such is not the case.  “The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all” (Acts 4:33). 

The lives we now live by God’s grace must back up the words we speak about Jesus if people are to believe that He is alive and able to save them also.  Jesus is “the resurrection and the life (John 11:25) and you cannot separate the one from the other.

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