YOU ARE DEAD!

Let me tell you a secret - The Christian life is not only hard, but is impossible to live. So quit trying to live it. There is only one person who can live it and that is none other than Christ!

He wants to live His life through you. Jesus said, “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” If you have been struggling to live your Christian life, Jesus is asking you to STOP all your religious acrobatics and self-efforts and simply be joined to Him and rest in Him. Let Him live His life through you. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. (I Thess 5:24). For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Phil 2:14). He is the author and finisher of your faith; He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. Many people think that He is the author but they have to be the finisher, He is the alpha and they are the omega. NO! He began a good work in you and He will perform it until the day of Christ (Phil 1: 6). If we are unfaithful, He still remains faithful (2 Tim 2:13). Verse after verse, do you see that you are not the one supposed to be doing the work, rather it is He who is working in you. Do you see that the Christian life is no longer “I”, but Christ who lives in me? (Gal 2:20)

Gal 2:20 should go deep down in our hearts. It is worth quoting that verse. ‘I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.’

Dear friends, 2000 years ago, when Christ hung on that cross, you were also crucified with Him. You are dead! It is no longer you that is living, but Christ is alive and well and living in you. Christianity is not a behavior modification program or trying to live a holy life. Rather, God took your life and nailed it to the cross with Christ and in exchange He gave His life freely to you! He couldn’t do anything with your life. It had to be put to death on the cross. Yet many people are rededicating their lives to God and trying to do something with their lives for God. Young brother, dear sister, you cannot do it, which is why Christ laid down His life for us, so that He could give His life to us, so that He could live His life through us! As long as we are trying and trying and trying, He cannot live His life through you. When you rest from your works that is when you will see His life manifest through you. This is the secret of victorious Christian living. It is no longer I but Christ who lives in me! You step back and trust Him to live His life through you moment by moment.

Quit trying to please Him with your works, quit trying to score brownie points with Him. The one thing that pleases Him is faith, for without faith it is impossible to please Him – Faith in what Jesus has done and has given us freely, independent of our works! He is already pleased with you! He Loves You! Enter into His Rest!