19)
If in this life only we
have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20)
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits
of them that slept.
21)
For since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22)
For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
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f
it were up to the devil, no one who is baptized in Jesus' name and filled with
the Holy Ghost would ever believe that he can change. All that he brings and
all that he does is designed to "break the faith" of the saint of God
and destroy any yearnings of the sinner to be saved.
What
he hopes to "kill" in us is the vision of purpose instilled into
every man that is born into the world. Now, Man innately feels that there is
"something" for him to do, but generally, he equates this with
amassing power to himself. What we fail to see is that it is not the power that
others can see physically which is important. That which moves the world is the
spiritual power available only through Jesus Christ.
How,
exactly, is spiritual power effective? Whatever power that we manage to exhibit
after salvation we are able to exhibit only by operating in the knowledge of
the truth. You see, power comes only through knowing what the Word says. There
is no other way to have "dominion" over our situations and
circumstances; there is no other way to "master" or lives. The
"mastery" of the life comes through putting that life into the hands
of the God.
There
is a fundamental concept to be mastered in this walk with the Lord. We have
been given salvation that, through the Lord, we can master the destruction of
the flesh. Somewhere between the alter and the
baptismal pool, we seem to forget that if we were unable to satisfy our flesh
before salvation, it will be impossible for us to do so after our infilling.
This is the reason that we so frequently fail. There is no satisfaction and no
way that we can be satisfied in the flesh.
One
who has been born of the Spirit has no needs outside of the Spirit. That of
which we have been born is that which must nourish us. Thought it is true that
we are sustained by and fed through the Spirit of God, one must accept that the
Spirit is all sufficient. Every man that has ever been successful in this life
has learned that the key to salvation is acceptance of all the points of the
Spirit, not just their receipt.
The
people of God must begin to show the truth of the life dedicated to Christ.
That truth is that we were not raised to a life without power and authority,
but rather, to a life in Christ. This is a life powered by the Spirit which
created the heavens and the earth. How could we be any less than successful?
We must begin to see the life with which we have been blessed as a privilege. Indeed, we have been privileged to be put into a position to take the same authority as Jesus. Never should it be a part of our conversation to speak of how pitiful and weak we are. We cannot afford to let anyone convince us that we cannot live saved! No matter who it ism no matter what the title-holiness is right! This is why Jesus came and died-that we might be free from sin!
Authority
is ours! Appropriating this to ourselves takes more
than trying to "psyche" our minds into believing this! Nothing about
this life will work unless we accept it. In that we have been made alive by
the living God, we are subject to Him, only. Unless and until we are able
to bring ourselves into subjection to Jesus Christ, the life that we should
be experiencing will turn out to be our condemnation.