Word for Life in Love— Scripture Meditations By Stephen Brown
Galatians 3:29 (ESV Strong's)
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Those in Christ will inherit the kingdom of heaven according to the promise.
Israel will inherit the promised land as God’s chosen people on earth.
Heaven and earth will be one when Jesus returns with the Bride of Christ as the new Jerusalem.
Galatians 2:19-20 (ESV Strong's)
19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Jesus fulfilled the law. The law brings death to man by exposing our sin to the light and life of God. Christ entered the darkness of our death that we might follow him into the light of life.
We remain in the same bodies of mortal flesh, but with spirits made alive in Christ. We do so by loving him through the giving of ourselves to him. In doing so, we become the generations of heaven and earth, for we are one.
Luke 14:27 (ESV Strong's)
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Whoever believes in Jesus will be saved. But to be his disciple requires something more than believing he died for our sins, but our dying to our sins for him.
Discipleship is ascending our own cross to join him as a son of God.
John 3:16 (ESV Strong's)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Isaiah 45:7 (ESV Strong's)
I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
Well-being and calamity serve the purpose of God. All things are from the Lord because all things exist by His word. They would not be a part of creation if it were not so.
All things work to the good of those that love the Lord.
1 John 5:6-8 (ESV Strong's)
6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
Repentance is the water of our cleansing. We wash on the outside to meet with our Savior who washes us on the inside with his blood of mercy and redemption.
We receive the Spirit who testifies to this truth. He assures us with his presence and leads us through our transformation to the image of Christ.
Repentance begins the journey and keeps us on the right path.
Joshua 3:17 (ESV Strong's)
Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
The water parted for the Israelites to leave Egypt and parted as they entered the promised land.
The water remains parted until all pass over. So it is for us.
Hebrews 11:1-2
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.
For by faith we shall receive salvation. The Holy Spirit provides the assurance for our conviction this is so.
Our faith is based on the reality of God.
2 Corinthians 11:3 (ESV Strong's)
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
If we are what we think, then to have the mind of Christ we have to be in agreement with his word, which comes from his mind. His word comes from God, for they are one.
If we are led by the Spirit, we drink from the fountain of living waters which will lead us to his throne.
John 10:10 (ESV Strong's)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Without Christ we live the life of the walking dead when compared to life lived walking with him. He is our companion and destination, the first and last. We leave the life of the created for the life of the Creator.
Truly being one is impossible without another. Where two or more are gathered in the unity of the Holy Spirit the oneness of the Lord is present. This is the body of Christ.
Becoming one with the Lord is the fruition of the potential of one. He is our Creator who is one, though three persons. We join him in the singularity of his being.
2 Corinthians 9:15 (ESV Strong's)
Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
The grace of God is beyond our words because He is the word of God. His ways are above our ways. Yet this grace can be ours.
