MouseOver Bible Options

NASB KJV ESV ASV NIV MSG AMP NLT LEXB NKJV NCV YLT DARBY HCSB NIRV NIVUK DouRH

Libronix

Bible Study Software

SELAH! Pause - reflect- just think of that!

Selah Alphabetical Index

Limiting Christ

Do you have trouble making the transition between the historical Christ of the New Testament and the living Christ of today?

In reality He is the same person. He changes not. The one whom we worship and serve today is the same one who walked the dusty roads of Galilee, was crucified and rose again.

We limit Christ when we say that He is able to do all that He said He would do in our lives, but we do not appropriate Him by faith today. The promises of Jesus are absolutely trustworthy. Do you believe all that is written in His Book?

We see Him walking on water, healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, making the deaf to hear, loosing the tongue-tied, restoring the crippled limbs, casting out demons, stilling the violent storms on Lake Galilee, and bringing the dead to life again. We seem to have no problem believing these great historical events in the life of Jesus Christ. We believe without question that He did all this, but do we believe He will do it in the here and now? More importantly, do we believe that He is sovereign in our lives today? Do we expect Him to break in upon us any moment during the day? Are we genuinely surprised when He intervenes in our lives? Is there a tendency to doubt and disbelieve when He does startle us with His divine presence?

Do we treat the words of Jesus impersonally? Jesus told His friend Martha, “Your brother will rise again” (John 11:23). Instead of taking the words of Jesus as a promise to trust in that moment of crisis she pushed the words of Jesus aside and referred them to the future life when every believer will rise again.

Martha does something we moderns do. She did not receive them personally and act upon them immediately. We say to ourselves these apply to the far distant past or the distant future. Or we think this is for other people who are better than us, or more spiritual, but not for me in my situation.

We get nothing out of the promises of God if we do not appropriate them by faith. What a difference Christ makes in our lives when we say, “This is for me. What if it really is true that Christ lives in me? Lord Jesus, this is the most difficult situation I have ever been in my life. I cannot do this by myself, but I know you can raise the dead and therefore you can do everything you so choose to do. Give me your grace and strength for this hour. Here am I work through me.”

Jesus has not changed; He is the Resurrection and Life and wherever He is there is abundant life. Jesus is here with you and me right now. He is Life. He gives us abundant spiritual life. Just as Christ raised Lazarus from the physical death, He has raised you and me to spiritual life. If you are a believer, you have this new life in Christ and He now dwells in you. As you make yourself available to Him He lives His life to the maximum in and through you.

We were dead in trespasses and sins, but when Christ came into our lives we were given life through His holy presence.

Jesus promised Martha, “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:25-26).

It is a great comfort and assurance that the believer, having received eternal life, will never be lost again. Moreover, there is assurance that our problems of physical death are answered by his physical resurrection. Just as Christ was raised form the dead and is alive so we too will rise again and live with Him through all eternity.

Are you dead, or are you alive? In whom are you trusting for life? Are you appropriating by faith His abundant life today?

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006