Crucified With Christ

Scripture: Galatians 2 v 20:  "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loves me, and gave Himself for me."

This verse sums up the life of one who is completely surrendered to Jesus Christ.  Your life belongs to the Lord and your greatest joy is to perfectly carry out His will.

Do you know that you are crucified with Christ? Are you dead to the sins and evils of this world? Are you truly free of depression; oppression; suppression and possession by demons? If you can say yes to these questions you are living the Christian life in its fullness.

If you are not there yet, it should be your ultimate goal. There was an exchange made at the Cross, where Jesus took all our sins, demons, diseases and death, and our once-dead, now-alive, spirit went to Heaven to be seated in Christ on the right hand of the Father. 
Ephesians 2 v 8 - 10: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
 9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
 10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

Its no longer I that live but Christ who lives in me. He took our place inside our hearts in an exchange when we were born again.   Our spirit for His Spirit.  Our spirit is now seated in Christ in Heaven and  our flesh and soul must now be conquered for us to live the crucified life. Jesus is within us to boost our knowledge of the enemy and give us His power so we can overcome him.

Our fleshly life is now to be lived by faith, ie believing in things we cannot yet see happening. The more we crucify our fleshly habits, the more clearly we see. The more worldliness we conquer in ourselves, the freer we become.

How we stubbornly cling to those things which bring us towards death. We call anything that is more important in our lives than our personal relationship with Jesus, an idol.  You may be a champion tennis player; a Karate master; a supreme commander of the fleet; clinging to memories of a dead loved one; a doting parent; a lover of food, wine, women and song; an addict or a self-made man; a TV evangelist or sought after preacher. If its greater than your love for Jesus ie if you cannot let go when He tells you to, its an idol.

Jesus says we cannot serve two masters. We will love the one and despise the other. So make an honest audit of your life. Ask Jesus to show you your idols. The worldly things that you cannot bear to live without are your idols.

Jesus said that worldly acclaim is dangerous - beware when all men speak well of you because they did that to the false prophets. If you cannot live without recognition of your abilities that too is self-idolatry and it must be crucified.  We must die to self.  

We must have as much concern for worldly things as a corpse has. Be satisfied with what you have. Do not covet or be proud of your possessions. Put Jesus and His needs first, last and all the time. Love Him more than anything else and He will add to your life everything you need. Paul idolised the Pharisees and their laws but when he met Jesus he counted it all dung. He crucified those fleshly religious beliefs for the true love of Jesus.

So see this plastic world for what it is. Politicians playing power games that no one wins. Millions of distractions to draw us away from our true life hidden in Christ. The leap of faith can be a blind one but the results are eye-opening.

Prayer: Father God I want to be truly dead to this world. Show me my idols so I can destroy their hold over me. I want to be clean, pure and holy so that Your Holy Spirit can flow through me to enlighten and bless others. My reward is giving glory to You. In Jesus Christ's name. Amen.