There is power in the blood!
2 Peter 1:3-11 “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life of godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so near sighted that he is blind. Having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way the will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
Whether you like the idea or not, there are spiritual powers at work. It would be convenient to be able to dismiss this fact but the spiritual realm is real and active. There are supernatural things acting all around us in this world. Unexplainable, unfathomable and frankly scary things, and if we were left to our own capabilities, we would constantly be destroyed without fail. The good news is that there is a power, above all powers, that has given us full access to Himself. His name is Jesus!
The way Christ has revealed himself and his power to us is incredible. Full of humility, authority, and pure love. This power is both unchallenged and complete in every way. When Christ came to this earth, becoming both the creator and the created in a virgin birth, He became the only man that was promised to us to fulfill a job we could not accomplish. What was this job you ask? Well, this Job was both to provide a perfect standard by which all of humanity was to be judged and found guilty, and to provide a way out from this imperfection. This was necessary because we were unable to fulfill that standard of perfection, even from the moment we are conceived. Thank God that this job was fulfilled!
In John 3:16-21 this job is described. You know John 3:16 but lets go a little further in those verses.
John 3:18-21
“Whoever believes in him (Jesus) is not condemned, but whoever does not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Are you ready to come to the light? I will warn you, the cost of this decision is having all of your works exposed good or bad. As humans it is in our nature to hate the light. Ever since Adam and Eve we have chosen the darkness, But at the same time we want all of those decisions to stay in that darkness. We know that the moment our works are judged by a perfect God we will immediately regret those decisions and we will know we have failed.
No one wants to be a failure, no one wants to even be mediocre, but perfection has no wiggle room for exceptions. This is what Jesus offered: the truth, the light, perfection, all this through his resurrection and death. This is how he gave us a standard of perfection and a way to fulfill that perfection in him.
As we go about this life, the perfecting work of the spirit and the truth of the gospel will have a compelling hold on you. Yes, there are other powers that will try and disrupt this process, but as I mentioned at the beginning, without Christ we have already lost. Christ made all of the spiritual beings, and has power over them all. This same power he offers to us through himself. This is only possible by the grace and mercy that Jesus manifested through his fulfillment of the law and has shown to us as well. What a mighty merciful God we serve! Will you accept Him?
Now that the truth is available to you and you know how to receive it, I encourage you to be diligent in remembering the truth, and more importantly, to share it. As humans throughout history we have had a tendency of becoming lackadaisical with the things we deem unimportant. These things that we have already learned a long time ago and haven’t had to use in a while can creep into the background and quickly become forgotten relics. This can be a danger when we have been a Christian for a time. As Christians we can become hardened to the gospel and its saving power. It becomes a task or a ritual to upkeep our spiritual lives, and then we start to believe our time and effort need be spent elsewhere. Nothing could be further from the truth!!!!
We are spiritual beings, we need something to worship, and something to give us purpose. So why would we choose to ignore that which was custom made to complete that void in our lives unlike any other created thing in this world? Christ is real and he does work in your life every day. Why do we fail to give him the time and respect He deserves? Well, that darkness might have a little bigger hold on our lives than we realized. I encourage you to continue coming to the light that Jesus has brought. This light is literally out of this universe, and it’s not only available but is free and perfect. All God requires of us is to ask.
In my life I have found music and poems to help me with remembering these truths and promises. One of my favorites is “There is a fountain” by William Cowper -
“There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.”
Simple stanzas such as this can be the difference from living for days not contemplating the gospel, and a continual remembrance of those truths. Which we can then apply to every moment, every decision, every want. I would warn you though, these tactics should only be supplemental to your prayer life and the reading of the word daily. Even if you don’t do that now, I pray that we would at least see the vitality of that time with God, and more importantly know that it isn’t a waste of time. Instead, it is a vital part of my life as well as yours fellow Christian. The more truth we learn and know, the more we will be able to bring our darkness to the light and be transformed into the image of Christ. This being the goal as a “mini Christ” it must be the place we spend most of our time.
So again I ask, are you ready to come to know the truth and bring the darkest parts of you to the light? Are you ready to be compared to perfection and to be changed into the truth Christ proclaims? Are you ready to be found out so that you can be built up in Christ?
2 Tim. 2:17
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
Trust in the perfecting power of Christ, lean on his power, his gift, his perfect blood to pay your price. In time it will change you. Give him your time and your attention and He will continue to guide and perfect you. Give him your life, and you will be complete, lacking in nothing. Let him wash all your sins away and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.
