THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 40

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Day 40:  Now What About You?  (Romans 12)

The whole purpose of this 40 day devotional leading up to Easter was for you to focus on the experiences of real people in the Bible whose lives and hearts were resurrected by Jesus Christ, whose resurrection we celebrate today.  This devotional, if read every day, likely challenged, convicted, and humbled you as you read these incredible testimonies and answered honestly the questions that followed. If you have been challenged in your relationship with Christ, your attitudes, your mindsets, and your sinful ways, there is a very good chance that your heart is in the process of being resurrected to a new place of faith.

Can you see that new growth that comes from death to your flesh and surrender to Jesus?   Or are you still acting like the same person you were before your salvation?  What sins have you overcome since you have been saved?  Do you want to experience the kind of dramatic conversion that those you have been reading about the last 40 days, the kind of conversion that reveals to all who know you that you have been resurrected to a new life?  Do you struggle to know what is required of you?

Look at Romans 12: 1-2.  They hold the key.

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present (surrender) your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed (any longer) to this world, but be transformed (resurrected) by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Surrender everything to God!  That is true worship, and God expects it of us.  It is a reasonable request that, if He died for us, we would choose to live for Him! We must be conformed to what God wants, not what we want, because that is a worldly and selfish lifestyle.  By allowing God to convert your heart as you read, study, and apply the Word, and as you surrender to God completely, you can experience a  “Lazarus” resurrection—a calling forth from the way of death to the way of life.  This can be your resurrection day!  Hallelujah!

THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 3

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Day 3 -- Abraham's Test of Obedience

Life is full of tests.  Tests are what lie between the beginning of our faith journey and the day we receive our glorified bodies in heaven.  They are not intended to squash us.  On the contrary, they are to move us toward a greater dependence on God.  Our faith is revealed to God and others by the degree to which we obey, worship and love God.  These three Christian principles of faith are mentioned together for the first time in the Bible in Genesis 22 when Abraham is tested by God.

Abraham already had righteousness credited to his spiritual account (Gen. 15:6).  God told him that One would come from him who would be his heir and would give him many descendants.  Through this Heir, ALL the nations would be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3).  Abraham knew of the Messiah to come and believed God.  Through his child of the promise (Isaac), Jesus would come.

But God tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to take his beloved Isaac and offer him as a burnt sacrifice.  How could Abraham obey that command?  He could obey because he believed the promises that God made to him!  If God allowed Isaac to die, Messiah could not come through that line.  Abraham trusted God to do what He said He would do.  This is how he was able to tell the men with him, “I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” 

Again Abraham demonstrated and acted on faith when his son asked him a difficult question.  “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”   Abraham replied, “God will provide for Himself the lamb.”  Abraham passed God’s test when he followed through on everything God commanded him, binding up the one he loved most, laying him on the altar, and raising the knife to slay him.  Because of such faith, Abraham is a picture to us of true worship.  His actions reveal to us an obedient heart.  No wonder Abraham was called a friend of God!  (James 2:23)

Though he was a man from the Old Testament days, Abraham’s heart was transformed by his love for a Savior who had not yet come.  We have the promises in the Word; we say we believe them.  But do we live a sacrificial life that is proven by our obedience to God’s commands?