“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 3:8). He forgave sinners in the Bible, and forgives sinners today. He restored the deaf and lame people in Jerusalem, and restores the deaf and lame now where you live. He heard the prayers of people in that day, and hears your prayer in this day. He blessed people then, and still blesses people today!
God’s plan for people was a garden experience where He would walk with us and provide for us. We would live without shame and love would rule. In Christ, we have been returned to that relationship! He bore upon Himself our shame and who we had become because of sin, and gave us HIS life in exchange. Now, in Christ, we have been brought back into the Father and are one spirit with Him!
Why do we keep pointing to what Jesus did, said, and what is recorded of Him in the bible? Because He is the true picture of who WE are. He has set the bar for what God’s original intention is for us, the new creation. Then He paid every price so we could fully live in that reality—not in the sweet by and by of heaven—but in the here and now on earth!
The great tragedy of this world is not the fall of mankind, but the realization that multiplied millions don’t know what Jesus has done for them. They don’t understand that they have been released and set totally free from slavery to the effects of sin and darkness—and all God is asking them to do is believe it and receive it!
1 Corinthians 2:16 tells us that as new creations in Christ, we have been given the mind of Christ! When we cooperate with the Holy Spirit to renew our minds to God’s Word, we begin to think and respond as Jesus in the earth, instead of like the world does!
“We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18 HCSB). How do we become more like Christ? As we see Him here in this life through God’s Word, we are transformed into His image in our spirit, soul and body. There is no, “If you do, then I will” in this verse. It doesn’t say we qualify if we are good enough, if we pray enough or if we give enough. He has qualified us by His sacrifice, His blood, and His victory over Satan. The key is to allow Him to transform us by the renewing of our minds!
Jesus paid every penalty and removed every judgement that was against us. He was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. By the stripes He received on the whipping post, we were healed! “The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.” (Zephaniah 3:15)
When King Nebuchadnezzar observed the three Hebrew children in the flames of the fire he threw them into for not bowing to his image, he was shocked to see a fourth man walking in the flames with them (Daniel 3:25). Regardless of the kind of fire you may be in—whether it’s a fire of some type of sickness or disease, or a struggle in your finances—there is another identity in your midst! The Lord Jesus Christ is with you in the midst of every struggle, abiding IN you, operating THROUGH you and working FOR you each and every day! “The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil” (Zephaniah 3:15).
When you were born again, you instantly became holy and blameless in God’s sight, because He sees you in Christ! In God’s eyes, your past is removed and your sins are forgotten as if they never happened. You have been released from all condemnation and shame, because Jesus bore it all for you. Don’t take anything back from the devil that Jesus paid with His life to remove!
