I am going to let you in on a divine secret. It is the secret to
living a victorious life. “For this is the secret, Christ lives in you”
(Colossians 1:27).
How did we receive Christ as Lord? By faith. How do we live out
our Christian life each day? By faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us, and without faith
it is impossible to please God.
Faith is our first response to God. We put our trust in Christ by
faith and by faith alone. We cannot depend on our abilities. We must depend on
His abilities. We can never gain acceptance from God by our own morality or
good works. Our efforts to “try harder” at being a better student, a better
spouse, a better cell group leader, or a stronger Christian witness can never
gain for us more acceptance from God. Placing our faith in God alone for
everything is the only way to please Him. We place our faith in the living God
and serve Him for one reason, because He is God. He is worthy of our praise and
our complete allegiance.
When we received Jesus as our Lord and placed our faith in Him,
something drastically changed! Christ is now actually living in us. Galatians
2:20 tells us clearly…Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live
by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Why is this so important to understand? Because when I realize
that Christ lives in me, I begin to see life from a different perspective. I
see it as it really is. Christ actually lives in me. The same Holy Spirit who
dwelt in Jesus Christ two thousand years ago, who gave Him the power to live a
supernatural life, is also in me enabling me to live a supernatural life. When
I lay my hands on someone to pray for them, it is actually Christ praying for
them through me. When I encourage someone in my cell group, Christ is actually
encouraging them through me.
Romans 4:3 tells us clearly…Abraham believed God, and it was
credited to him as righteousness. The word accounted literally means credited.
The Lord credits our account with righteousness when we believe Him! Imagine
someone depositing money in your account at the bank each week. You may say, “I
don’t deserve this.” But your bank account would continue to grow whether you
deserved it or not! That is exactly what God does. The Bible says that if we
believe God, like Abraham, the Lord puts righteousness into our account! So,
being right with God and living a victorious life in Christ does not depend so
much on our performance, it depends on our faith and trust in Him.
Christians often make the mistake of relying too much on their
feelings. One day we feel close to God and the next day they don’t feel Him. We
cannot trust our feelings. We have to trust the truth of the Word of God. When
we are tempted to be discouraged or depressed by our mistakes and failures, we
must make the decision to replace those thoughts with the thoughts that God
thinks about us. See yourself as God sees you. Remember, Christ lives in you!
It’s like this. If you’re in the hospital and they take out your
almost-ruptured appendix, what are you going to concentrate on? The pain? The
stitches? Or are you going to say, “Praise God! The poison’s being removed. I’m
being healed!” We choose to think of one or the other, the pain or the healing.
If we keep our eyes on Jesus and on His righteousness, then God is free to
allow the abundant life that He promised to permeate our lives.
It is only by Christ living in us that we are able to do anything.
We have absolutely no chance of obeying God with our own strength. We must have
faith in Christ living in us. Paul the apostle found the secret when he tells
us in Colossians 2:2 “God’s secret plan, … is Christ himself.”
Don’t be afraid to talk to yourself. I talk to myself all the
time. The Bible says David talked to himself; he “encouraged himself in the
Lord” (1 Samuel 30:6 KJV). We should be doing the same thing. I encourage you
to get up in the morning and say, “I am righteous through faith in Jesus. I am
a man or woman of God. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
today” (Philippians 4:13). Christ lives in me!
Used by permission of DOVE
Christian Fellowship International, 11 Toll Gate Road, Lititz, PA 17543.
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