Living
the Christian Life
There is only one person who can live the Christian life. Yes, it can
be lived, but only by the Lord Jesus Christ.
To live the Christian life you must have the right one living it. The
Christian life can be lived by Christ. It is His life, and it is exclusively His to be
lived only by Him.
Have you found yourself ever trying to live the Christian life and
feeling like a failure? The reason is it can only be lived in complete dependence upon
Christ.
The Christian life is an exchanged life. It is lived in dependence
upon Christ. You exchange your life for Christ’s life. That way He lives His life in
and through you.
The apostle Paul explains, “I have been crucified with Christ;
and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for
me” (Gal. 2:20).
Your life can pulsate with the living wonder of the Son of God living
His life in you as you appropriate it by faith. When you do every demand upon you is a
demand upon the Christ who indwells and infills you by His Spirit.
Is there any demand upon Christ that He cannot fulfill? Are you
inadequate to meet some pressing need or demand? You may be, but Christ is not.
The demand is not on you, but upon Christ. Therefore, let your life
be an endless exercise of faith in drawing from Christ all He desires of you. Do you need
patience, wisdom, unconditional love, and strength? You can draw it endlessly from the One
who lives and abides in you.
This is the secret to living a life that overcomes temptation. The
apostle Paul tells us the more you draw from Him by faith, the less you live in the flesh.
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the
flesh” (Gal. 5:16). When you walk in the Spirit, the life of Christ will flow through
you.
There is the constant need for the believer to abide in Christ. Has
Christ become your place of refuge? Do you return to Him repeatedly? Have you made it a
habit to dwell in His presence through faith in Him, the reading of His Word, through
repentance and repeated filling of His Spirit, through love and obedience to His Word as a
vital witness of His saving grace?
How have you come to know Christ in an intimate love experience? We
must learn to live moment by moment in His holy presence.
You abide in Him as you walk by faith in Him by believing Him for all
He wants to do in and through you to reach this world with His message of love. Is He
waiting upon you to trust Him so He can share more of Himself with you?
You abide in Christ as He communicates to you through His Word and as
you respond in prayer. Make it a habit of falling on your knees when He speaks to you
through the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit takes the Word of God, interprets it, and applies
it to you. Make this your daily habit. Only then does He reveal Jesus to you.
You abide in Christ by immediately confessing every sin that the Holy
Spirit makes you aware of, and appropriating by faith the cleansing blood of Jesus. You
maintain that intimate love relationship by confession, cleansing and yielding to His
lordship in your life.
You abide in Christ by being an obedient witness to the One who lives
in you. Pray daily that He will lead you to where He is at work in the lives of people
around you. Do everything Christ asks you to do in His strength and wisdom. In doing so
you exchange your life for His life so He can give expression of His matchless life
through you.
Then when Satan knocks at your door let Jesus answer it.
“Greater is He that in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Since Christ is in you, you are full of God. Let Him live
His life in you. He gives expression of His life in us by releasing it through us. When He
releases His life through you, you are changed in the process.
Abide in Him, and He will abide in you.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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