 |
Alive to God
Romans 6:11 'In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.' (NIV)
 Outside of a relationship with Christ, I am dead to God. No matter how religious or irreligious I might be, the part of me that was designed to respond to God's presence is basically, if you like, 'switched off'. As far as fellowship was God is concerned, my spirit is unresponsive, numb to his touch. When Adam and Eve fell in the garden, they experienced something even worse than physical death. For the first time, they knew what it was to feel coldness in their hearts, to be alienated from their closest friend. It must have felt like someone had walked into a huge flood lit stadium during a football game and suddenly turned out the lights. Men and women of all races and languages have been spiritually dead ever since. This is our natural spiritual state. Without Jesus, there is always a 'God-shaped hole' on the inside of each one of us. I can try to fill it with hedonistic pleasure, or relationships, or even the observance of religious laws. But nothing will satisfy me until I surrender my will to Jesus Christ and God's Holy Spirit moves into my life. Then and only then is my spiritual being is brought back to life - I am, as Jesus put it, ?born again'. After that, I must grow in that new life everyday. I must constantly allow God to substitute the old desires and ambitions that ruled my existence before Christ, replacing them with his own purposes and plans. Sometimes, it's hard to allow the Holy Spirit to kill off things that had been so special to me. But when I yield to his will, my whole being is infused with resurrection energy.
Prayer: 'Thank you, Lord, for giving me new life through your death on the cross. Help me today to lay down my old desires and ambitions, to take hold of your plans for my life.'
© 2003-2004 Mal Fletcher
|
|
 |
 |
Want to keep in touch with what Next Wave is doing each month? Enter your email address below.
|
 |
EDGES: what fantastic well presented programmes, with excellent answers to current issues. I have not come across anything like EDGES. I just want to absorb as much of the info as possible! Thankyou for such Godly insight.
Anon, UK
Edges Team: your work is outstanding! Your programs have already changed my view of evangelism. Thanks for Making God Famous TODAY!
Elena, Riga
Next Wave's teaching is inspiring, anointed and down-to-earth. It helps Christians break out of their religious trappings, and take a real Jesus into the real world.
Anon
Send us your feedback |
|
