Precious Blood

Lately, God has continued to remind me that we, as believers, are strangers here on earth. That this world is not our home. I’ve been considering what that should look like for American believers. In a culture where Jesus is an afterthought and perishable things are highly sought after, how are we to remain set apart? First Peter teaches us that if we live a life as a stranger here on earth we should continually have a reverent fear of our God, knowing that we were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. And this thought should continually remind us of who we belong to. It says in First Peter chapter 1 verses 17 through 19:

"Since you call on the Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."

To live as a stranger here on earth is to be reminded every second of the day that we have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. The bible tells us that we are not our own, but we have been bought with a price - and that price is the blood of God’s only son. I like how Peter says, “we have been redeemed from the empty way of life handed down from our forefathers.” A life in Christ is different than the life of an unbeliever because they still live in the empty way of life handed down by our forefathers. A life in Christ is a life with an eternal purpose. And as we live in reverent fear as strangers here on earth, we need to remind ourselves of where we are headed and live accordingly.

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“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” When we think on this truth it is near impossible to forget our eternal purpose. So, if we live every second of every day remembering that we have been bought with a price, we will never forget that we are strangers here waiting for the day when we will return home to the Father. I encourage you to remember that we are strangers here on earth, and the only way to truly do that is to never forget that we have bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

By Him, For Him

I love how Jesus is described in Colossians 1. To me, it is more than just a simple description, it also sheds light on the meaning of life. In Colossians 1 verses 15 and 16, referring to Jesus, it says:

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him."

In my mind, the answer to the meaning of life is that all things were created by him and for him. That means that we were also created by him and for him. If you have never given much thought to that concept, I encourage you to do it today. We weren’t just created by some random collision of particles in space, we were created by Jesus and for Jesus. Paul also goes on to remind us that yes, he created things that we can see, but also created things that we can’t. So, I also encourage you to be aware of the heavenly realms – the things we can’t see. I believe that there is major activity going on all around us every day that we can’t see – like angels taking flight to intervene on our behalf or to carry out answers to prayer. Anyway, it’s worth thinking about.

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Jesus made all things for himself; things that we understand and things that can’t even see. But you and I are one of his creations and we were made for him. We were made to love him, to have relationship with him, to praise and glorify him, and ultimately to spend eternity with him. We were made in his image, and we are in fact, sons and daughters of the Most High. So I encourage you not to take the fact that we were made by Jesus and for Jesus lightly. This knowledge should help define who you are; God’s loving creation and joint heirs with Jesus himself.

Repentance By Deeds

One of the main behaviors of a true believer is to repent when we sin. All of us sin. Sometimes we sin without even knowing it, sometimes we sin by mistake, and yet other times we sin knowing full well what we’re doing. Whatever the case may be, we need realign ourselves with our creator. That means that when we repent, we must take action to distance ourselves from the sin that brought us to our knees in the first place. Paul puts it like this in Acts 26, the second part of verse 20 which says:

"I preach that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds."

Paul says this to King Agrippa at the tail of his conversion story; that he preaches that we should repent and turn to God and prove our repentance by our deeds. I kind of compare this concept to the earthly relationships we have with our loved ones. If we sin against them, it wouldn’t make much sense if we just said sorry then continued hurting them as if we never said anything at all. If we did, our “repentance” wouldn’t mean much. It only matters when we back up those words with deeds, or as Paul puts it, if we prove our repentance by our deeds. And the deeds I think he is referring to here, is to take action to not sin in the same way again. In fact, we are to do a 180, to completely turn from our sin and go in the opposite direction. Not only should we stop sinning, but we should pursue righteousness.

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Paul says that we are to prove our repentance by our deeds. That can be very hard, especially if your sin amounts to a form of addiction. But the idea of repentance starts in the heart. We have to feel sorry for what we’ve done, and decide that we’re going to stop sinning or stop continuing our addiction. By ourselves, this is impossible. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, all things are possible. I encourage you, if you’re dealing with a sin addiction, first remember what Paul says in Ephesians 6. Every day, put on the full armor of God. Pray for protection and help. And he says that when we’ve done everything to stand, stand. But you can’t do that until you truly repent by taking change seriously, because when we do, we are proving our repentance by our deeds.

Two Steps

At times, when I read the bible, I find the concept of being saved by grace complex. I mean, it goes against our human nature to understand such love especially from an all-powerful God. Besides that, there are verses in the bible that give high value on how we behave on this earth and its resulting effect on our heavenly standing which further complicates things. But when I get confused, I like to head back to the basics of our salvation – the simple truth outlined in Romans 10 verses 9-10 which says:

"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

So, when you boil it down, Paul explains that it really comes down to two major steps; confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. If you are confused about your faith or your standing with God, I encourage you to start with this simple portion of scripture. Have you believed in your heart, I mean really believed that God raised Jesus from the dead? And have you confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, Lord of your life? Those two things must be solid. There is a relationship that Jesus calls us to, but none of that really matters until we’ve taken this step of faith. So when things get too confusing with your Christian walk, or when you are led astray by life, I encourage you to come back to this anchor, and start from the beginning remembering the two steps that set you on the path to salvation.

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The two steps that Paul lays out for us in Romans 10 is that we are to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, and we will be saved. Yes, there is certainly more to Christianity like repentance, denying ourselves and taking up our cross. But if your compass is eschewed, point your way back to him, but focusing on these two steps. Once you get yourself back on track, I encourage you to get back in touch with the Holy Spirit who will lead you through life and help you correctly understand the rest of the story.

Joining Faith

If you’ve been a believer for a while, I’m sure you’d agree that there is power in prayer. God hears prayer and he answers prayer. There is nothing too difficult for him to accomplish and he always has our best interest at heart. We can pray anywhere and anytime. And that is exactly what he wants us to do. But did you know that there is also power in joining your faith with others in prayer? When we pray for, or with, others who are themselves praying to God for the same outcome, we are in effect, joining our faith together. Paul says in Romans 15:30:

"I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me."

The struggle Paul is talking about is the conflict he was having with the unbelievers in Judea. But I have to believe that he, himself, was praying to God about this issue as well. So in essence, he was asking his brothers and sisters in Rome to join him in prayer. I believe that when multitudes of people are bombarding heaven with the same prayers, that God takes notice. So I encourage you, if you’re dealing with something that needs God’s immediate attention, pray, fast and yes, ask other brothers and sisters to join their faith with you in prayer.

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I’m certain that there is power in prayer. But I also believe that there is added power when we pray corporately or join our faith in prayer with others on an issue. That is why prayer chains exist. It is alerting others to a need so that multitudes can be in earnest prayer to God on the same issue. To me, it is almost like signing a petition. Humanly speaking, if one person brings up an issue it can be ignored, but if several people agree on that same issue, leadership takes notice, and I believe there is a parallel of sorts in the heavenly realms.