1 Cor 6:11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Consider:

We now examine this concept of sanctification or of being sanctified.  Essentially to be sanctified means to be set apart, to be made holy, for God's use, thus when God cleanses us by the blood of Jesus, when He places His Holy Spirit in us, He is making us holy (different).  When we came to Christ, God did that.  He made us holy by that process, so in His eyes we have been sanctified.  It happened at the moment of conversion.   Thus the apostle Paul could speak (Acts 20:32 ) of “those who are sanctified.” Do we see ourselves as holy vessels that have been so made for God's use?

But there is another aspect to this: sanctification is not only something that happened when we came to Christ, it is also an ongoing process that goes on throughout the rest of our lives until we get to heaven after death.  In 1 Cor 1:2 Paul speaks of us as those who are “ sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy ”, the former phrase speaking of what has happened and the later phrase indicating the life to follow.  Paul was thus to say (2 Cor 7:1) “let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” which was clearly a call to Christians to take part in the process.

The New Testament often shows that our life as Christians is a process, e.g. 2 Cor 3:18, “And we.... are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory”, whereby our lives are be changed from the old self-centred godless life to a new godly, Christ-like person.  We see the same in Col 2:9,10, “since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator,” and 2 Cor 4:16, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."

Now translate this all into a person in a junior position in a business who is applying for a higher post in the company. As seniors look down on this person they see someone with limited ability and limited experience, who is clearly not doing what is required for the new, higher post.  Nevertheless the candidate for the new job comes over well in the interview for the post and so is appointed.  Watch what happens! Straight away, as soon as they have been promoted, they start behaving differently. They appear more confident, more self-assured.  After all they did win the post didn't they?  It's like they have suddenly been transported into a new level of ability.  They start stretching out to fulfil the new role they now have.  They learn quickly and within a short while, those who appointed them smile to themselves, “Yes, we made the right appointment.”

Now there is a sense that it is like that when we become a Christian. As we've said so many times in these meditations so far, we were forgiven, we were declared sons of God and we received the empowering of the Holy Spirit.  We're ‘in post'.  Now we start living it.  Now we start living like sons of God.  That's what sanctification is really all about.   Enjoy!

Prayer:

Lord, thank you that you have transformed me and I am a new creation and now I'm on a life journey of change. Thank you so much.

1 Cor 6:11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Consider:

The man or woman emerges from the front entrance and the reporters swarm around and flash bulbs light up the scene in profusion.   Questions are hurled and perhaps a solicitor steps forward and makes a statement.  What is this?  It is a person coming out of court vindicated, innocent, justified!  They had gone into court defensive, worried and fearful.  Accusations had been hurled at them and the outlook was not good.  It looked like the Judge was going to find them guilty, and then suddenly, someone stepped in and testified on their behalf.  Instantly the whole case swung round and soon they were walking out of the court with their name cleared and no threat of a custodial sentence hanging over them.  They had been justified and now no one can point an accusing finger at them.

That is basically what has happened to us, of course, as a result of Jesus' activity on the Cross.  We covered it in the Lent Meditations but it fits here as well.  The difference from the illustration above is not that Jesus merely came and testified on our behalf; he actually came and declared that he had already paid the price for our crimes.  Oh yes, that was the other difference: we were guilty!

This was no case of the judge turning a blind eye or giving a light sentence.  Oh no, the full sentence had been fully taken – death, separation from God, a time in hell.  No, there was no thought of this being a travesty of justice, because in fact justice had been fully applied – only it wasn't us who applied it!  All we could do was receive the free pardon on the basis of the sentence handed down and taken.  The moment we came to God and said, I believe, please forgive me, the free pardon on the basis of Jesus taking the sentence was awarded us.

Suddenly all the guilt and shame we felt was taken.  No longer was there a black cloud of guilt hanging over us, no longer were there the pointing fingers of conscience pulling us down.  No, the reality was that we had come face to face with our guilt and failure and had owned up to it.  We recognised our terrible need and were in a state of despair – and then we were told we were free!   Justified!   We were so grateful to receive His forgiveness that we didn't think of the implications of how it had come about.

It was something of which we only had a very basic or surface understanding, but we just accepted it.  We were saved from the sentence of death, we were justified, put right in God's eyes, and we were just grateful.  And then came the pointing fingers of the enemy later on, and for a moment we went down under the guilt.   It took someone coming alongside us to explain the detail of what Jesus did for us to realise that it was true for every time we blew it and felt bad.  We were still justified.  Go away, you of the pointing fingers!

Prayer:

       Father, thank you that you have done everything possible so that my sin has been dealt with on the Cross and so today I am free – free from guilt, free to live at peace with you.  Thank you so much!

1 Cor 1:30   It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness , holiness and redemption.

Phil 1:11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–to the glory and praise of God.

Consider:

A test of how you feel about righteousness comes when you read Proverbs chapter 10 onwards, because there Solomon speaks many times about ‘the righteous'.  Many Christians seem unable to identify themselves with that description and are self-deprecating and would say, “Oh, I'm not sure that I could call myself righteous,” but the truth is that God does call them righteous.

The things we've been considering should have paved the way for this particular meditation.  Even as we saw yesterday we have been justified and one aspect of that justification is that we have been declared righteous by God, by our believing in Jesus. That's what Romans 4 is all about.  In the same way that God declared Abraham righteous because he believed God (Rom 4:3,9), so He declares us righteous simply because we believe (Rom 4:24).   This is what theologians call ‘ imputed righteousness', i.e. God simply declares us righteous on the basis of our believing.

Of course once we believed He put His own Holy Spirit within us and, of course, He is righteous, and so we have a source or energy within us that is righteous and so as we are led by Him, we are righteous in our acts, in our expressions of life.  This is what theologians call ‘ imparted righteousness'.

Now those are the basics of righteousness but unfortunately our old life liked to measure things to determine self-righteousness, and the measuring was in respect of keeping rules or the Law, and so we thought about righteousness in terms of how well we conformed to real or imaginary laws, which is why, of course, deep down, we decreed we were not righteous because we kept of failing to keep the rules!

So, even today, our tendency, despite what we've said above, may be to resort to measuring how righteous we think we are by how well we keep the new rules of Christian living.   That's what the Galatians did (Gal 3:3) and so Paul had to remind them they were what they were by faith in Christ (Gal 3:26) and not by human rule-keeping.  Righteousness in both the Old and New Testaments is all about right-relationship with God and that is a heart-direction thing.  Behaviour follows that, not creates it. 

You either love God and have a heart that is knitted to His, or you don't.  If you do you are righteous, if you don't you aren't. And the measure of that love is whether you believe what He says about Jesus and all that He has achieved through him.  Realise that on occasion you may be caught out and fall but it's a life-long process of change toward the good. In the meantime God declares you righteous.  You believe that?  You're righteous, so stop trying to win God's approval!  Just know that you have it and rejoice in it!

Prayer:

      Father, thank you that you have declared me righteous, without me doing anything except believing in Jesus.   Thank you that you have put your Holy Spirit within me and He is making me righteous in practice.   Thank you so much!

Col 1:21,22   Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

Consider:

Today and tomorrow we are going to consider the subject of being holy and holiness. When we speak about ‘holy' it is a description of ‘being' and when we speak about holiness it is in the context of living it out.  So for today, let's focus on the fact of our being, of the fact that we ARE holy people.  It's rather like we have been considering over the last two days: we have been declared justified and declared righteous by the decree of God.  Similarly He now declares us holy.

But what does ‘holy' mean?  When we describe something as ‘holy' we mean that it is separated off to be different, to be in the likeness or use of God.  God Himself is continually described as holy, meaning that He is utterly different from all that we know, and usually we have in mind His utter perfection when we say this.   That utter perfection is first in His very being which is utterly perfect, and then in His expressions of life (thinking, speaking, doing) which are always utterly perfect and beyond question.  This is what makes God scary – His utterly ‘differentness'!

When Isaiah encountered the Lord, he heard the angelic host declaring that God was holy (Isa 6:3) and when he saw something of the Lord he felt utter dismay at his own sense of unworthiness and uncleanness (Isa 6:6).  There was an element of this when Peter suddenly realised that he was in a boat with One who was utterly different and he was left feeling utterly sinful (Lk 5:8). 

This same sense of separateness is seen in Ex 19 in all of the preparations for Israel to encounter God at Sinai, which left Israel feeling their lives were in danger (Ex 20:19).  When Ezekiel had such an encounter, he fell face down (Ezek 1:28) feeling he was unworthy to stand in God's presence or even look upon Him.  There is this the sense that God is utterly different, utterly perfect, and that comes through in each of these encounters, which makes Him awesome.

And then He puts His HOLY Spirit into us and we too are made utterly different. The presence of the perfect God dwells in us.  We have been separated off and distinguished from the rest of the world by this.  We ARE holy because He is holy.  That is our position and then life activity – thoughts, words, deeds that are holy – flows from that.  Because we ARE different, because we have been made holy, we will be different as He expresses Himself through us.  It is not something to be ashamed about, neither something to be shouted about, it is simply a fact of existence as a Christian, as a result of the work of Christ on the Cross.

Prayer:

Father, you are holy and you have made me holy.  I am set apart for you, by you and with you.  I am this simply because you have so made me, not because of any achievement on my part.  I accept that.  I am a work of God, a vessel of God – holy.

1 Cor 1:30     It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

Consider:

Yesterday we considered the idea of ‘being holy', the fact that we ARE holy because God has made us so, and being holy is a characteristic that goes back to God who is holy, utterly different.   We also noted that with so many of these characteristics, we have been made this and are being made it.   So, for instance, in the case of holiness, the writer to the Hebrews was able to say, “we have been made holy” (Heb 10:10) but also “by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Heb 10:14)  It is something that happened AND a life-long process of change. Now Paul in Philippians told us to, “work out your salvation” (Phil 2:12).  In others words, think about it so that you can co-operate with the Holy Spirit.  So what aspects of holiness are there that we can think about to work into our lives?

Perhaps the first aspect of holiness that we might think about in respect of God is His moral perfection.  Perhaps a broader description would be his utter goodness. When we think about moral goodness we think of how we DO right or correct or appropriate things, righteous things.   But what we DO comes out of who we ARE. Thus, to start with, we can say that God is utterly good.  He never does anything that cannot be described as utterly good. 

How would our lives be different if we determined that we would only every think, say or do things that could be described as utterly good?   Wanting to make the point and encourage someone, I recently said to this person, “I will never say anything negative to you about you.” That was, if you will, a weak attempt to say, “I will only think good towards you.”

Another aspect of God's character is that He is utterly real.   He never pretends to be something that He isn't; He is totally true to His nature.  That is why He is described as ‘faithful' because He will always be true.  John described Jesus as “full of grace and truth”. The grace was God's utter goodness and the truth was his faithfulness to that goodness.

Holiness is all about living lives that express the holiness of God, the utterly ‘differentness' of God, God who is perfect and pure, utterly good, God who remains utterly true to His nature, God who in every expression is love.

It is as we submit to and allow the Holy Spirit to fill us, energise us, guide and direct us, that we find we are expressing the goodness, faithfulness and love of God.   The more that happens the more we find the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22 ,23) being revealed in us.  The person who is full of these characteristics is truly different, is truly holy, and that happens as we spend time with God and His glory is reflected in us (2 Cor 3:18) and then we go out and let that glory shine through who we are!

Prayer:

Lord, please help me to catch some of the reality of the truth here.  May your glory, your perfect nature, shine through me as a result of the relationship that I have with you.  Be glorified through me.

Acts 2:38   Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

Acts 10:43   All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Col 2:13   He forgave us all our sins

1 Jn 1:9   If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins

Consider:

Why come back and consider forgiveness here after we've been thinking all about holiness? Surely forgiveness is one of those things that come early in the considerations?  Yes, but we have been thinking about being a people who are utterly different and one of the things that stops us being different is an ongoing sense of guilt. If we are to truly be a different people (1 Pet 2:9) then we have to KNOW we ARE forgiven and then live like it!

This, surely, is a major dividing issue that separates us from the world. All around us are people who are trying to justify themselves.  On Day 18 we considered various ways that people try to cover up their sense of guilt – by blaming others, trying to be religious, adopting a cause to be good, or working to achieve success.  Yes, in each of those instances people are doing things because deep down they feel guilty.  People go to counsellors and are talked out of their guilt – we're all the same, we all do it, it's all right, but they go away and deep down the truth is still there and so it's a ‘cover up job'!

Knowing that you are forgiven is an essential requirement if we are to live free from ongoing guilt-anxiety.   Me saying to you that you are forgiven on any basis other than Christ dying for you on the Cross will not deal with your inner concern because, if you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit within you and He is the Spirit of truth (Jn 14:17) and He only agrees to the truth.  If we speak some other false ‘truth' then He will not witness to that, but if we speak the truth of the word of God, then He will confirm that within you.  So let's check our verses.

On the day of Pentecost Peter declares forgiveness of sins as one of the first things we receive when we come to Christ.  Preaching to Cornelius's household he declared the same thing.  It was a key element of the Gospel.   Paul confirmed it many times, as did John.  Now we come in line with the thing that's been coming through many times recently: we have been forgiven when we came to Christ, and we are being forgiven every time we come afresh to him, repenting of a current failure. The former establishes salvation and the latter maintains fellowship with God.  When we first came to Christ his forgiveness covered us entirely.  No question, we are saved!  But then we occasionally blow it (1 Jn 2:1) and to keep us in a right relationship with Him, we confess it and He confirms by His Spirit that we are forgiven and cleansed and free to live at peace with Him.

Prayer:

Thank you that you forgive me purely on the grounds that Christ has died in my place and I've received that.  As I come to you in repentance you promise me that I am forgiven.  Thank you so much.

1 Cor 1:4   I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.

Eph 4:7   But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

2 Tim 2:1    be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus

Consider:

The trouble is that often we hear or use words so frequently that we lose sight of what they really mean. That's why in these meditations we often define the word before we think on it in-depth.   Grace is such a word.  For instance we are told we are saved by grace (Eph 2:8).  Now grace in that context might be given a short definition: God's favour, or God's good will.  In other words we are not saved by anything we do, but just because God's desire is to do good toward us and has planned it through the Cross of Christ.

However when we look at the context of our first verse today we see that it a fuller definition than that because Paul goes on in the next verse, “For in him you have been enriched in every way”, so it's not that God merely feels good towards us, it is that He actually works good towards us in the form of divine provision.

To the Ephesians, the context of our second verse indicates that grace is being spoken of in the sense of gifts or abilities being given to us. Again divine provision. When speaking to Timothy, Paul speaks about the divine ability to stand in his calling and ministry.

Paul clearly understood this for in every single one of his letters he blesses his readers with “grace and peace.” It's like he is saying, “May you know the supernaturally divine provision of God.”  What is that supernaturally divine provision of God?   It's back to what we've talked about so much previously, His own Holy Spirit living within us.  It is HIM speaking to us or energising us, enabling us.  Grace in this context is HIM providing what we need.

There are perhaps two levels we can think of here.  There is simply, first of all, the level of coping.  When Paul himself was struggling the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor 12:9).   In other words, I will enable you to cope.   But there is a second level of this which seems to come through quite often in the New Testament. It isn't merely coping; it is actually triumphing in the situation.  2 Cor 9:8 is an incredible statement: “And God is able to make all grace abound, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”   Do you see how many times ‘all' is used?  And it's grace that will abound, so that you will abound in every good work.  This is the language of ‘over the top' provision!   How often do you feel you can't cope?  God's grace, His divinely supernatural ability, is there for you.  How often do you feel, I can't do this very well?  His grace is there in great measure for you!  So much so, that you will do really well!  Dare you believe that, because that's what He's said!

Prayer:

Lord, you've said it, so I WILL believe it.   It IS true.   Thank you!

Acts 3:16   By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

Jn 14:12    Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing

Consider:

We considered yesterday that God gives us grace – His divinely supernatural ability to both cope and triumph, and that comes in the form of His own Holy Spirit who He has put within us.   At the Last Supper, John records Jesus as saying that if we have faith in him we'll do the same things he did, and therefore, as a follow-on to yesterday's meditation, this must mean that His Holy Spirit will enable us to do those things.

Now Peter must have caught something of this when, at the Gate Beautiful, he and John encountered a cripple who calls out to them. Peter simply finds himself commanding this man to walk in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 3:6).  Peter had seen the Master do this, had heard the command to go and do likewise, had received a commission from the Master (Jn 21:15 -) and now simply responds to what must a prompting of the Spirit and brings healing to this man.  Faith is belief in action , and so here, Peter says, it is believing in Jesus that has prompted this healing. This is challenging and unnerving stuff!

Are we all called to heal the sick?  There is always some debate about that, but let's think about it like this: when Paul was teaching the church at Corinth he said that the Holy Spirit gives gifts to enable the ongoing work of Jesus (for that is what the gifts of the Spirit are – 1 Cor 12:7 onwards).   When teaching the church at Rome , Paul said “we have different gifts according to the grace given us” (Rom 12:6).  Now we said grace was God's divinely supernatural ability given to us which fits this perfectly where Paul says that we have gifts according to God's imparted ability.   A few verses earlier Paul had said we are to think of ourselves “in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Rom 12:3).  In other words he is saying that your level of “belief in action” is actually a gift of God.

Do you see the link between faith and grace here? God gives you the ability to believe to a certain level and then imparts the divine ability to achieve the things He puts in your heart to do.  Faith is believing for action, grace is the action!  

Now here's a tricky question? Is the level of our faith and subsequent grace fixed? The answer seems to be yes and no.  It is fixed in as far as it goes with your calling, but Paul did challenge Timothy to “ fan into flame the gift of God ” (2 Tim 1:6) and also to “ not neglect your gift ” (1 Tim 4:14), so you receive a gift from God but you then have control as to how much you can use it.   Jesus said, “ the Son… can do only what he sees the Father doing ” (Jn 5:19).   He caught a sense what the Father wanted and went with it.   

It's that easy really - if you have the faith to believe.

Prayer:

Father you have given me your Holy Spirit.  Show me what you want to do in and through me please.  May you find me open and available to you to use.  May you be able to use me to fulfil your plans and purposes on earth today.   

Eph 1:18-20   I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

Eph 3:20  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us….

Consider:

We are in a really challenging area of Scriptural teaching in these days.  We're not merely seeing the changes that God has brought about within us as a result of Jesus work on the Cross, we're also seeing some of the things He wants to do through us. Previously when we've been speaking about grace we've spoken of divinely supernatural enabling.  We've used the work ‘supernatural' specifically to highlight the point that it is ability beyond our normal, natural ability.  It is God's enabling that is both divine (His) and supernatural (beyond human).

Now when Paul was writing to the church at Ephesus , he spoke about this divine ability but referred to it as God's “ incomparably great power ”.  Now what this says is that when God wants to do something through you, nothing can hinder that power because it is so great.  Nothing can withstand it – only your free will that says I don't want to be used like this!  In case we're not quite sure about this power, Paul reminds us that it is the same power or strength that raised Jesus from the dead.  Now observe that!   The body of Jesus was dead, utterly lifeless.  Humanly speaking it was absolutely impossible for it to change, but then God's divinely (His) supernatural (beyond human) power was exerted and the body is alive again.  That is the power we are talking about!

As we said, nothing can withstand this power when God decides to use it.  Can you catch a sense of that?   When God wants to achieve something through you (perhaps a healing or a miracle) He is not restricted by His resources.    His power is up to any and every thing He wants to achieve.   He's merely looking for a vessel that will be responsive and will believe and will act at His prompting.

Do you find that difficult to comprehend? Don't worry you are in good company, that's why Paul said God was able to “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”. So how can we, you may be asking? It's all right, it's as Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (Mk 10:27).   God can stir faith in you.   The more time you spend with Him and the more you respond to Him, the more you will find this faith rising in you.   Is your serving God, supernaturally barren at the moment?   Seek Him.   There's more to come than you have experienced so far!

Prayer:

Lord you say everything is possible for him who believes. I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief (Mk 9:23 ,24)

Eph 1:3   Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Consider:

Low self-esteem is a problem.  Some of us have been told we're no good, we're weak, we're failures – and we've believed it!   When it comes to God's power – His immeasurable power – being available to flow through us, as we considered yesterday, we think, “Well it may be available for him but not for me!”  We put ourselves down and think we're unworthy of being used like that.  We've let Satan con us! 

However, you are here reading these meditations which would suggest that God is on your case for you!   We do meditations like this, pondering on Scripture, so that God can gradually realign our thinking with His.  All He asks is that you be willing for Him to speak to you through His word and through these meditations.  Look at today's verse. What does it say?

It says God has blessed us (and that includes you if you are a Christian!) with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  So what is that saying?  It says whatever spiritual blessings can be released to us through the work of Christ on the Cross, they are ALL available to you.  EVERY spiritual blessing, not just a few, not just one or two, but every blessing that comes through Christ!

But what are these blessings?  Do you remember earlier in these meditations we spoke about blessings and curses and said that blessings are God's decree of goodness towards us.  These are decrees that come from heaven and are spiritual, i.e. they come through the work of Christ originated in heaven and administered by the Holy Spirit.

As always the context gives content to the meaning.   Paul explains them as:

So God has blessed us in the way He brought us to Himself (past),  the way He pours out His goodness on us now (present), and the destiny He has for us in heaven (future).   

ALL of this IS yours.   There aren't bits missing in your case.  He hasn't held back bits of it that apply to everyone else but not you.  No, He has blessed you (decreed good for you) with no restriction, no hesitation, no limitation.  It was all, one hundred per cent, yours!  The way you came to him wasn't second rate. The storehouse of God's goodness for today and every day while you are on this earth is wide open for you.  EVERY blessing!  Your future experience isn't going to be a lower grade version.  Whatever is the very best in heaven and eternity is what God has lined up for you.  It doesn't matter what people or what demons have said to you in the past to put you down, all of this is yours!   It comes with a gift tag – “With love from God.”

Prayer:

Lord, this seems almost too good to be true.  I've so often been told by experience that my life is a limited package deal.  It seems incredible to think that your blessings for me are unlimited!  Help me believe.

2 Cor 1:20    For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.

Consider:

Yesterday we were thinking about how low self esteem makes it difficult for us to receive God's promises of blessing and started to speak against that as we considered the fact that we have received EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ.  Today's verse takes us on from there.  Again, if we have a low self-esteem because we've accepted the lie that “I'm no good”, in whatever way it has come, then as we go through the Bible and see the promises of God, we will assume they are only for ‘very spiritual people' or ‘very good people', but certainly not for me.  The truth, however, is quite the opposite – they are ALL for you.

When we talk about God's promises we mean the many and varied promises of blessing in God's word that apply to us as Christians. That's what all of these meditations have been about, the things God says He will do or has done for us, through the work of Christ on the Cross.  Every blessing that God promises us, comes as a result of what Jesus has achieved.  Prior to the Cross we struggled with knowing God and wondering if we came up to God's desires for us. 

This is what every world religion does and, of course, never reaches a point of peace, where they are able to know that they have achieved a level of goodness that satisfies God.  On the Cross Jesus dealt with every sin, every failure, every guilt, every shame, and all God asks now is that we believe that.  Once we do, the way is open to receive every promise that God has put before us.  Every promise has received a resounding “Yes!” from heaven when we ask tentatively, “And that one?”

Jesus said he had come to fulfil the Law and the Prophets (Mt 5:17 ), so every demand from heaven has been satisfied in Jesus.  The requirements of the Law have been met on the Cross and the calls of the prophets have been fulfilled in Jesus (Lk 24:25-27).   As we've seen from the outset of the Lent meditations, these things were planned within the Godhead from before the creation of the world.  Jesus was at the heart of the plans to bring all of the requirements of justice to a satisfactory conclusion and now, because of that, every promise of blessing from God is available to us.  Yes, to you! There are no promises where God says, “Oh, not that one, that's for special people.”  No, every blessing is for you the moment you became a child of God.

There are no red traffic lights saying “No way ahead here.”  Every light is green for you! The circumstances may sometimes be confusing (that was what Paul was answering for the Corinthians – the fact that he'd said he would come but hadn't been able to) but that doesn't mean God is saying 'no' to His blessing of your life.  That is beyond question. The enemy and circumstances may hinder, but God's promises remain unchanged – they ARE there for YOU, every one of them!

Prayer:

Father thank you that you are for me (Rom 8:31 ) and that it is your intention to bless and bless and bless my life.   Thank you so much!

Eph 2:13   But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

Consider:

There are good days and bad days in life.  On good days the sun is shining, we feel dynamically alive, spiritually vibrant, and the Bible comes alive, and God feels very close.  Then comes a bad day and we feel awful, like death warmed up, it's raining and cold, everyone seems against us, everything seems to be going wrong, the Bible seems dead and uninteresting, and God feels a million miles away.  And that's where our verse for today comes in.

You see, despite what you sometimes feel, or despite what others may say, God doesn't move! He's always in a constant state of closeness; it's just that sometimes you don't feel it.

We've been in chapter 2 of Ephesians before in these meditations.  It's a powerful chapter.  In there Paul was speaking about the old life we once had (v.1-3) and how God had changed that (v.4-10).  When he gets to verse 11 he back-tracks and reminds us what we had been like – with no relationship with God, and separate from the people of God.  We'd once been a million miles from God, but now by the work of Christ on the Cross, we've been brought near to God, as close as you can get (!), and that is our ongoing position now – and that doesn't change – only what we feel.

So why do we feel God is a million miles away?  Well sometimes it's just that we are low emotionally and so we link (wrongly) our feelings with His position.  Also when we blow it and do wrong, the sense of failure or guilt, creates a desire to hide (see Gen 3:8).   That desire leaves us with a feeling of isolation, but the truth is that God is there because He's said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb 13:5).

So why are there verses like James 4:8, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” or Heb 10:22, “Let us draw near to God”?   The reality is that He is close (Acts 17:27b) but we are not be aware of Him. 

There is a sense that God's presence is everywhere, but we also sometimes speak of His ‘manifest presence' meaning His presence that He makes known.  Sometimes He does make His presence very obvious to us and although that is often when we are seeking him, whether in reading His word, or in prayer or in worship, it can be at any time or any place.  Yet the reality is that for much of the time we are not overly conscious that He IS THERE; it's more an act or statement of faith to say, “Lord I don't feel you, but I know you are here.”  When we put this in the light of all that we've said about His presence living within us by His Spirit, it seems silly really to say, “God seems a million miles away” because He actually there within us.  He's here!

Prayer:

Father, I'm learning that your presence doesn't depend upon my feelings, for you are always with me. Yet I am aware that you do make your presence known very clearly sometimes and I would really wish to know that more.  I am aware though, that you call me to walk by faith and not by sight.

1 Jn 3:8,9   The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin , because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

Consider:

Over the last three days we've been considering how low self esteem, or feeling low generally, can make it difficult for us to receive God's promises.  When it comes to the subject raised by today's verse, this is no less true.  Many Christians, if asked, would deny that they can go through a day without sinning, and yet that is the specific teaching of the New Testament.

Let's look first at the nature of what we mean when we talk about someone sinning. Sin has two primary characteristics that are different sides of the same coin: godlessness and selfishness. When these two are in operation they lead on to unrighteousness, or wrong behaviour.  So why is that?  Well your old life was godless. That simply means you were without God.  Then you came to Christ and you became godly, which means with God – and we've said so much about that in recent weeks we don't need to repeat it!  Our old life was selfish or self-centred.  Everything we did was focused on us.  We repented of that and became God-centred. Our old lives went astray in their behaviour because we were relying upon ourselves and were not God-directed.

Now, today, as Christians, we are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16) and are led by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:14).  Yet the truth is that we still have free will and we can choose to let the Spirit guide us – or not.   Hence Paul said to the Galatians, “Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Gal 5:16).  Here is the truth: that we decide to live either according to the old sinful nature (in which case we fall away from God) or by the Spirit (see Rom 8:5-14).  If we live by the Spirit we will not sin! 

The apostle John understood this when earlier in his letter he wrote: “I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 Jn 2:1). John expected us NOT to sin, yet recognised that there may be the odd occasion when we were enticed or trapped by the enemy and would fall.   Notice a couple of sets of words in our verse today: “continue to sin” and “go on sinning”.   Neither of these, he says, you will do.  Both speak about a life that is sin-based, but that is now past history for you! That was a life where sin was an ongoing characteristic, but no longer!

Do you want something more to focus this on?  Well read more of John's first letter and you will see his emphasis on love.  God is love.  We love because He first loved us. Love one another.  Love is the central core of being led by the Spirit.  Start the day by asking, “Lord how can I bless you today? How can I bless the people I encounter today?”  You have a day focused on the Lord and filled with love.  You won't have any time or space to sin!

Prayer:

Lord, yes, let it be.  May today be a day that is directed and energised by you, a day that is filled with your love in me, expressed towards all others.

Phil 4:19   And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Consider:

Mum, I really need a new pair of trainers!  Mum, I really need to go out tonight! Dad, I really need to learn to drive!   Life in the affluent West has meant that for many of us we've lost track of the real meaning of the word ‘need'.

To catch something of the real impact of today's verse we need to go into the text of Philippians 4.   Paul was writing this letter from prison, there not because he had done anything wrong but simply for being a Christian preacher.  But there's nothing in this letter that suggests he feels bad about that; quite the opposite in fact!  Near the end of the letter he's started saying thank you to the church that he was writing to, for the gifts they had sent to him, not that I was in need, he adds (4:11).

Actually, he goes on, I've learned to be content whatever the situation.  He even repeats it to make the point (v.12).  Still, it was good of you to share with me, he goes on (v.14), your gifts were like an offering to God (v.18), and then he drops his bombshell: my God, the God I've come to know and experience in all my trials (implied) will meet whatever needs you have, through the glorious work of Jesus. Were they giving grudgingly, were they feeling self concerned (2:3), or self-confident (3:4)?    Whatever it was, Paul puts their situation into perspective.   Put in the light of this suffering saint, their “needs” are likely to be fairly minor!

What does all this say?  Well first of all it says we need to learn to be content with whatever we have and not feel that a high standard of living is a ‘need'.  There is a tendency in the West to want more and more, however high our standard of living already.  Are you part of the world that says, “We really need a dish washer”?  If you are, would you like to rethink your use of the word, ‘need'.

But then there is the other side, a side that is very real; in fact it is probably the only area of ‘real need' that you will have.  Think of all those times when you feel under pressure, when you are under attack from the enemy, whether it be attack in the spirit or from practical persecution, or when you feel so burdened. At those times you do have real needs, and God promises to meet them – all of them!

As we've been considering in these recent days, Jesus has opened the way up, by his work on the Cross, for us to receive every blessing that God has for us. Put aside your material ‘needs' and focus on the real needs: the needs for God's grace to hold you and keep you and supply for you so that you can obey Him and be a blessing to the world. All of these things God will provide for you. These are your real ‘needs', things to enable you to stand and to be God's child in the midst of whatever circumstances come your way, the needs of one who is being salt and light in a corrupt and dark world.  This is the area where needs are important, and in this area God will meet all your every real need through the unlimited supply that has been opened up by Christ on the Cross.

Prayer:

Father, please help me maintain perspective, to see my real needs, to enable me to glorify you in this dark world.

2 Thess 2:16,17     May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Consider:

Yesterday, as we were thinking about how God meets our real needs, we ventured into thinking about being his children who are, in Jesus' words, salt and light (Mt 5:13 ,14).   When we are that, we will stand out – and receive opposition.  That will come from demons and from people.  This isn't just the tiredness that comes from work, this is oppressive feelings that come from the enemy, or harsh and critical words and actions that come from people.  There are times when it is a real effort to uphold God's goodness in the face of opposition, and with that effort comes a real soul weariness which the enemy will seek to play upon to try to make us give up.  At such times, there is something we are in real need of – encouragement!

Older versions of our verse today speak about ‘comfort' and Vine's Dictionary says in 2:16 ‘it combines encouragement with alleviation of grief'.  The Amplified version speaks in v.16 of God who gave us “everlasting consolation and encouragement and well-founded hope through grace.”   V.17 continues in the Amplified version: “Comfort and encourage your hearts and strengthen them – make them steadfast and keep them unswerving.”    Do you catch the sense of all of this?

We've referred previously to Rom 8:31, “God is for us” and also to 1 Jn 2:1, “we have one who speaks to the Father (as an Advocate) in our defence.”   Both these verses speak of God who is there when we are in need and who is there to pick us up, encourage and strengthen us and take us on.  Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as a Counsellor, a Helper, a Comforter (Jn 14:16), and the sense used there is of one who draws alongside to help – an Advocate. Thus we have Jesus our advocate in heaven and the Holy Spirit as our advocate on earth. Both of them are working for our restoration and up-building.

The ministry of encouragement is not limited, it is eternal. God isn't going to suddenly turn round and snap at us. No, His intent towards us is now and for ever more that of a loving Father who wants to be there for His children, to pick them up when they are down, comfort them when they are disconsolate, strengthen them when they are weak, and reaffirm them so they can go on in their calling.  Yes, that's the last part of our verses – we've been called to do good.  Because that, as we said above, receives opposition, we sometimes need encouragement to keep on – and God is always there to bring it.  That's the whole point of modern prophecy (1 Cor 14:3)!

Prayer:

Father, thank you that you are always ‘for me', all of your intent is for my good. Thank you Lord Jesus that you are always there to speak up for me.  Thank you Holy Spirit, that you are here within me to pick me up and send me on.

       Love and power

Eph 3:17-19   And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Consider:

These are strange verses because we could be led astray to grasp the secondary issue in them.  Consider the meaning of power.   Normally we think about the power that enables motors or engines to run,  e.g. oil or electricity.  Or there is the power that a boxer has, i.e. strength.  Then there is the power that officials in government wield, e.g. linked with authority.  So what does power do?  It enables someone or something to do something,   e.g. the motor to run, the boxer to fight, the official to govern.  So the reference to ‘power' in these verses is purely to enable us to do something else.

Now before we look at the thing we are to be enabled to do, we need to observe the position or vantage point we've been given from which to see something else.  See that Paul when says, “you, being rooted and established in love.”   That is what has already happened to us.  We have received the Father's love in the form of forgiveness.  We have received the Son's love in the form of his sacrifice on our behalf.  We have received the Holy Spirit's love by His own presence coming to live within us (for God IS love).  We have been set up in a new life that is founded on love, energised by love.

Now, says Paul, now that you are in this position and are receiving from God's glorious riches (v.16) the presence of His Holy Spirit within you, I'm praying that He will now enable you to catch something of the wonder of the scope of Christ's love, and to experience it in depth, way beyond the intellectual level, so that you can be filled up with all of God's loving presence, His goodness.  That is the outcome that Paul wants for us.  It's a process leading to an end.  You come into the kingdom of love, so now receive and be open to He who is love, to open up your understanding to it, and to enable you to experience it more and more until you can't take any more!  You've received it, he said, so have some more – and more!

You thought you knew what God's love was?  Oh there's so much more to come! You think you've experienced His love?  Oh there's so much more to come!  Does this imply that what you've received at salvation is insufficient or inadequate?  Heaven forbid, no!  It's just that you coming to Christ was only the start.  Now you have a life ahead of you that is all about receiving.   You've only just started – however old you are, however long you've known the Lord.  It's early days!  Enjoy!

Prayer:

Father, thank you that you've brought me into this experience of your love.  Thank you that it is an ongoing process and that you have more and more for me to receive. Help me to rejoice in what I have, but not to settle in it.  I believe it when you say you have much more for me to receive.

Phil 1:19   I know that through your prayers and the help gi ven by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance

Consider:

From time to time in life things go wrong or we find ourselves in difficult circumstances.   For much of life we feel ourselves self-sufficient, we seem to be able to get by on our own – or at least that's how it seems.  Then comes the crisis and suddenly our self-sufficiency is being shown to be inadequate.   We are under pressure or surrounded by circumstances that defy all our efforts to bring change.  In Westerns it used to be a wagon train in a circle surrounded by the Indians.  Just as hope was beginning to wane the cavalry arrived!  Or perhaps it was a naval battle and a convoy was under attack by an enemy ‘pocket battleship'.  The accompanying fleet are outmatched by the speed and the guns of the enemy battleship and are taking a pounding, then over the horizon come three allied battleships and all is saved.  There ARE times when we are surrounded by forces beyond us, forces that outgun us, there are times when we desperately need help!

It's at this point that we remind ourselves that we are talking about spiritual issues and all the thoughts of the past weeks come flooding back.  The truth is that we, as Christians, are never outgunned for the presence of Almighty God Himself dwells within us or, to use another analogy, God is batting for us!

So here was Paul in prison.  At first sight it appears that his ministry has been brought to an end, but if you think that, you know little of spiritual realities.  There are three ingredients that say this is NOT a dire situation.

The first is the apostle himself. Everything we read about Paul in the New Testament tells us that this man is not a quitter.   This man does not just give up.  He always looks to see what he can make of the situation.  Next there are all the Christians who know and love him and who are praying for him. There are times when we think we understand prayer and then other more realistic times we realise we are out of our intellectual depth when it comes to prayer and we just, by faith, pray because the Bible says do it.  When we do, it seems that God delights in doing things.  Finally of course, and most importantly, there is the Lord Himself.  By His Spirit within Paul He constantly encourages him.  By His Spirit He works in the lives of people beyond our sight, and things change.  We don't know how He does it, He just does!

Are you in need of help, in trying circumstances?  Settle in your heart you're going to come through this well with God's help.   Second, ask friends to pray for you, and then pray for yourself. Third, rejoice in the Lord, giving thanks in all your circumstances (1 Thess 5:18), trusting that He IS there for you and that He will deliver you, either in the circumstances, or by changing the circumstances – He knows best.

Prayer:

Father, thank you that you ARE Lord over all my circumstances.   May I know and experience the help of your Holy Spirit please.   Thank you.

1 Jn 5:20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding , so that we may know him who is true.

Consider:

We are what we are because God has spoken.  The whole Bible is about God speaking.  The apostle Peter wrote, “Considering this salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1 Pet 1:10,11).  On the road to Emmaus, Luke recorded of Jesus, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. ” (Lk 24:27). 

Both writers are clear that in the Old Testament God was speaking and telling about what was going to happen in respect of Jesus.  However, much of this remained a mystery, until after the Cross, by the coming of the Holy Spirit (who Jesus referred to as one who would teach and testify - Jn 14:27, 15:26),  the apostle Paul would be able to say that that which had been a mystery was now made known by the Spirit (Eph 3:3-6).  God had spoken but men had not understood.

Indeed, today you hear people say, “I find the Bible difficult to understand.”  The apostle Paul addressed this in 1 Cor 2 when he wrote, “we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began” (v.7) and then, “ We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us” (v.12) and then, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them” (v.14).  What was he saying?  That the Bible is spiritual and we need the help of the Holy Spirit to understand God's revelation, for this is what it is – revelation.

This is one of the things that marks out Christianity from most other world religions. It is not man striving to reach God, but God reaching down and speaking to man. Realise the wonder of what we have in the Scriptures.  Realise the wonder of the resource that we have in God's Holy Spirit who speaks to us and helps us understand those Scriptures and how they apply to us.

This is the distinction between the unbeliever and the believer.   The unbeliever sees the Bible as just another ancient book.   The believer sees it as God's revelation to man.  The unbeliever tries to understand it and struggles.  The believer seeks the Lord and receives the help of the Holy Spirit and is blessed with God's Word.

Prayer:

Father, thank you that you have spoken to us through your word down through history, and today you continue to speak to us by your Holy Spirit.  Open the eyes of my heart (Eph 1:18) that I may understand the riches of the glorious inheritance that you have for me.