We read in Genesis 1:26-27 (Amplified), "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), make mankind in Our Image (after Our Likeness), and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the (tame) beasts, and over all the earth and over everything that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them."
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says this about our Savior, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, (all had a share, and were all supplied with), one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
We have received the Father's Original Intention for the family He created and the home He created for them, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. We've never been taught the unclaimed riches of God's Grace. Through Grace and faith in Jesus, God has restored everything mankind lost through Adam's transgression. We've struggled to "become righteous enough to receive God's Blessing and favor." We've tried to "get God to heal us and move in our lives," without much success. We've worked to qualify, in order to have our prayers answered, through fasting and other works.
We can unwrap God's Christmas Gift to mankind and discover what was wrapped in flesh and swaddling clothes, in the manger. 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amplified) says, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a purely human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). No, even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a man, YET NOW have such knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh."
Paul writes to the Church in Ephesians 2:4-5 (Amplified), "But God-so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense Love with which He Loved us. Even when we were dead (slain) by (our own) shortcomings 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 make partakers of Christ's salvation."
Paul also writes in Ephesians 1:17-20 (Amplified), "For I always pray to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Father of Glory), that He may grant you a spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, of insight into mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him. By having the eyes of your heart flooded with Light so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His Glorious inheritance in the saints (His set apart ones). And so you can know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His Power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His Mighty strength Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His Own right hand in the Heavenly places."
Paul prayed that believers would "know and understand God's great Power (the same Power that raised Jesus from the dead) for and in us." Colossi ans 1:13-14 (Amplified) says, "The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love In Whom we have our redemption through His Blood which means the forgiveness of our sins."
Everything we see, hear, and read about what our Lord and Savior has done on our behalf, is past tense. Our forgiveness and salvation was bought and paid for before we were even born, over two-thousand years ago, in Jesus. Grace provided it to the whole world, but faith had to believe and partake of it. Jesus' Sacrifice bought and paid for our redemption from the Curse of the Law of Sin and of Death. Our healing and peace was paid for, by the stripes Jesus bore on His back. We've been trying to get God to do, what He has already done through Jesus. We didn't have to "make God save us, but we only had to believe that He already had, according to His Word, which tells us, "If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, then you will be saved." Salvation has already been done in Jesus. We only had to believe what God had already done, in order to be saved. There was nothing left for God to do, in order for us to be saved. We only needed to believed in what Jesus had already done.
Grace has already provided for everything we will ever need for here and hereafter. Our part is to believe and have faith in the Finished Word of Christ Jesus. We receive our healing, like we received forgiveness of our sins. We have faith in His Grace. Paul prayed for Revelation and understanding in Colossi ans 1:9 (Amplified), saying, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it [their Love in the Holy Spirit] have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep, and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom (in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God), and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things."
Some believe this is "too good to be true,"but when you received Jesus as your Savior, then you received the whole package." We quote Romans 10:9-10, in order to lead others to Christ, but we don't read Verses 6-8 (Amplified) where Paul declares that our salvation "isn't having Jesus come down from Heaven to save us, nor do we have to have Him raised from the dead again, but we only believe in what He has already done." Thus, Paul writes through the Holy Spirit, "The Word (God's Message in Christ), is near you, on your lips and in your heart; that is the Word, the basis and object of faith which we preach."
We don't need for Jesus to die on Calvary's cross again and He doesn't need to be raised from the dead again. We don't need for Jesus to be scourged and punished again, so that we can receive our peace, salvation, healing, righteousness, justification, forgiveness of our sin, or so we can enter into His Blessing and become joint heirs with Jesus. We're only required to believe in Jesus' Finished Word, in order to obtain these Great Gifts of Grace. We receive all these things, by faith in God's Grace, just like we believed for salvation. Grace has already provided everything and Jesus doesn't have to do it again. When you believed by faith in the salvation God's Grace provided, you also received everything else that was in the Redemptive Blood of the Lamb. You already have it.
We've never understood the depth of our salvation. We've thought that God had to do it, when He already has. It's already in your new creation spirit and only needs to be manifested in your physical body. This Christmas, let's unwrap the Gift of Jesus, without being afraid of messing up the bow and beautiful wrapping paper. Let's look into the very depth of what was in Bethlehem's manger, seeing more than a Baby. Let's see God's Plan of restoring us back into the Original Intention He had for us. Let's see the depth of God's pleasure and Love for us. When we understand the depth of His Love for us, we'll understand that He left nothing undone or to chance. Our deliverance was wrapped in flesh and in this flesh, is God Himself, Emmanuel.
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