Psalms 138:2 (Amplified) says that, "God has exalted His Word above all His name."
Maybe few people have ever understood the importance of knowing God's Word. When you know the Word, you know Jesus. He is the Word made flesh. Certain verses in the Bible are simply quoted without really knowing what they say. Hebrews 10:38-39 (Amplified) for example says, "But the just shall live by faith (My righteous servant shall live by his conviction respecting man's relationship to God and Divine things, and holy fervor born of faith and co-joined with it) and if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him." (Hebrews 2:3-4) Verse 39 says, "But out way is not that of those who draw back to eternal misery (perdition) and are utterly destroyed, but we are of those who believe (who cleave to and trust in and rely on God through Jesus Christ; the Messiah) and by faith preserve the soul."
Many people quote how "the just shall live by faith," but they don't seem to grasp the truth of it. According to Ephesians 2:5 (Amplified), "Even when we were dead (slain) by (our own) short comings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; (He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him) for it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation)."
If the scriptures mean what they say (and they do), then we were literally dead. By faith in the Blood and sacrifice of Jesus, we now have become alive. Leviticus 17:11 (Amplified) says, "For the life (the animal soul) is in the blood, and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life (which it represents)." Romans 3:24-26 (Amplified) also.
So this life that we're now living is not our life at all, but actually His life that He is living through us. John 10:15 (Amplified) says that, "Even as (truly as) the Father knows Me and I also know the Father and am giving My (very Own) life and am laying it down on behalf of the sheep." This doesn't just mean that He died and gave up His life, but that through His Blood, He gave us His life.
Now, we begin to understand what Paul said in Galatians 2:20 (Amplified) when he said, "I have been crucified with Christ (in Him I have shared His crucifixion) it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me. And the life I now live in the body I live by faith (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
No wonder Paul said that he now lives "by faith in the Son of God" and "It is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives (in and through) me." The life is in the blood. This very life that we are now living is not our lives living for Jesus, but actually it is Jesus' life living through us. I don't think we really have understood what the scriptures have said about "eternal life." Only God is eternal. Now, it's His life, living in your dead body. Without Him, we have no life.
No wonder Jesus said in Matthew 4:4 (Amplified) that, "Man shall not live by and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every Word that comes forth from the mouth of God." This Word is Jesus and It is His life in us that's really our life. We have no life. We are dead and it is only Him in us Who is alive. His Blood is His life and by faith in that Blood, we have life.
Without faith in His Blood, we're still dead. No wonder that "the just shall live by faith." If you are the just (or justified by faith) then Romans 3:24 (Amplified) says that "(All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus." Verse 25 goes on,"Whom God put forward (before the eyes of all) as a mercy seat and propitiation by His mercy (the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation), (to be received through faith) the just shall live by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His Divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former sins without punishment."
Without faith, you can't live because life is in the Blood of Jesus. Now, only His life is living in us. We still have no life, only His life in us. No wonder Jesus said that "It's not Me, but the Father in Me that does the works." The life in Jesus was God's Own Blood and life;. John 10:30 (Amplified) says that, "The Father and I are One." Jesus and you are one by the Blood and it's not you but the life of Jesus (through faith in Him and the Blood) that is the life in us. Therefore, those who are justified by faith in Him live by faith in Him and His Blood. Without the life that's in His Blood, we are still dead even though we live according to 1Timothy 5:6 (Amplified).
When we really understand what has happened to us when we received Jesus, it makes all the difference in the world. It's not simply going to heaven, but letting heaven come into you. It's not us living for Him, but it's Him living through you. It's the Father in us (by the life of the Blood) that does the work. Paul said in Galatians 2:20 (Amplified) that, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me."
When we learn to trust in the Word, then everything becomes simple. We don't have to try being something that the world thinks is right, but only let God live in and through us like He did in Jesus. All we need to learn is that "Greater is He that is in me, is greater than he who is in the world." Let Jesus live His life through you. All of the other things will (the flesh or mind set) will change. The struggle that we had in our bodies will change and we will begin to live His life.
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