If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation! “In Christ” is our identity – we are created anew in Christ Jesus. “Christ in us” is His God-life and power within us and working through us.

Session 3: “I Am in Christ, and He Is in Me” transcript/ notes

Introduction

Welcome to Session 3 of “As Jesus Is, So Am I.” This session is entitled, “I am in Christ, and He is in Me”

2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; [Are you in Christ? That means you were born from above. Created anew in Christ Jesus. You have a new spiritual identity “in Christ.”] old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Today, I want to focus on that phrase: “in Christ.” We get our identity from being “in Christ.”

Galatians 3:26-27, TLB – For now we are all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, 27 and we who have been baptized into union with Christ are enveloped by him.

“Baptized into union with Christ” means that we are identified with Christ in His death and in His resurrection. He came from heaven to identify with us so that we could identify with Him.

So how and when are we put “in Christ”?

Ephesians 1:13-14, NIV – And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, [literally – “having believed”] you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, [NLT – “he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit”] 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.…[guaranteeing that we will receive everything purchased for us with the precious blood of Jesus, both now and forever]

So here’s the progression:

• We heard the Gospel.
• We believed the Gospel.
• We were put “in Christ.”
• The Holy Spirit is deposited in us.

The Holy Spirit who dwells in us is our Guarantee that we belong to Jesus! Jesus Himself said the Spirit would abide with us forever! (John 14:16)

But the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is not just our Guarantee that we will go to heaven one day. The Holy Spirit is heaven inside of us now.

So what’s the difference between “in Christ” and “Christ in us”?

• “In Christ” is our identity – we are created anew “in Christ Jesus.
• “Christ in us” is His God-life and power within us and working through us.

1 John 4:13 – By this we know that we abide in Him [that’s our identity as sons of God], and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

Romans 8:9-11

I want to look at three verses in Romans chapter 8. I will probably cover more about our identity from Romans 8 in a later message, but today I just want to take these three verses and talk about what it means that we are “in Christ” and He is in us.

Now – just to clarify – the Spirit and the Son are separate Persons of the Trinity, but they are also inseparable. Wherever the Spirit is, the Son is. Wherever the Son is, the Spirit is. So sometimes the Spirit is called “the Spirit of Christ” or “the Spirit of God.”

Romans 8:9, NASB – However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. [that part is obviously is not talking about you.]

You, believer, are not “in the flesh,” meaning you are not joined to the flesh. You are not identified by the flesh. You were circumcised from the flesh and its identity through the cross of Jesus Christ.

You are “in the Spirit” if “the Spirit of Christ dwells in you.” Does the Spirit of Christ dwell in you? Yes! Because you are “in the Spirit.”

You are “in the Spirit” because you are “in Christ.” You are included in Jesus because you believed. At that point of faith, you were born of God so you belong to Jesus. You are identified by Jesus because you are “in Him.”

Romans 8:10, NASB – If Christ is in you, [Is He? Yes!] though the [your] body is dead because of sin, yet the [your] spirit is alive because of righteousness. 

Paul says “The body is dead, the spirit is alive”, comparing body and spirit.

“The body is dead because of sin.” Whose sin? in the context of Romans, not our sin, but Adam’s sin in the beginning.  Romans 5:12 – Adam sinned and –

Romans 5:12 – Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men,…

“The body is dead because of sin.” What is that saying? Your body may not be dead yet, but it is dying – one day you will leave this body behind.

Every time we experience sickness, pain, and even fear, depression, guilt, condemnation, shame – that’s the manifestation of death in our bodies and in our soul .

“Yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Whose righteousness? Your spirit is not alive because of your own righteousness. Your spirit is alive because of Christ’s righteousness – Romans 5:19 – through His obedience on the cross we have been made righteous. He became sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Romans 5:19 –  For as by one man’s disobedience [Adam] many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience [Jesus] many will be made righteous.

Back to Romans 8:10 – notice the word “spirit” is not capitalized there in the NASB. NASB is one of those translations that will capitalize references to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The word “spirit” here does not refer to the Holy Spirit, but to our redeemed spirit made alive through faith in the Gospel.

Now, the word “alive” isn’t actually the adjective “alive.” It’s the noun zōē – God-life. This is the life that the Spirit gives us when we are born again.

So in the Greek the scripture literally says that our “spirit is life” because of righteousness – Christ’s righteousness imparted to us as a free gift.

Romans 8:11, NASB – But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [Does He? Yes!] He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. [What is “mortal”? It means subject to dying, the inevitability of physical death]

What kind of life does the Spirit give to our mortal bodies? Resurrection life.

• Life that takes the dead and raises it.
• Life that takes sick organs and tissues and cells and heals them.
• Life that takes brain pathways dug with lies and levels them like a plain. And that Life creates new pathways built with the truth that sets us free!

“He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life” – “Give life” is the verb zōopoieō (zō ô poy ā’ ō) from the same root as zōē, the abundant God-life that Jesus came to give us. (John 10:10)

Zōopoieō means to cause to live, by spiritual power to arouse and invigorate; to restore to life; to animate; metaph., of seeds quickened into life, i.e. germinating, springing up, growing.

I read some commentary that says this verse is referring to our new glorified bodies when we get to heaven. That’s incorrect.

It says, “give life to your mortal bodies.” Those are the bodies we have while we still here, not our new bodies. They will be immortal. The ones we are in now will be gone. But they are the ones that anchor us here for as long as we’re here!

While we look forward to heaven and to our new bodies, and we eagerly await the coming of Jesus, it is not our new nature  as a a new creation to want to die, to be discouraged, to stop hoping, to stop living, or to give up on life or any of God’s promises which are “YES” in Jesus!

Life is our new nature. It is our nature to want to live. It is our true “want-to” for resurrection life to touch our soul and our body.

He who raised Jesus from the dead will give resurrection life to our mortal bodies. How does that work? It works from the inside out. Spirit to soul to body. So we must focus on the spirit man.

“The spirit is alive because of Christ’s righteousness.” What is righteousness? The state of being right with God. We were dead in sin, now we are alive in Christ. Whenever we meditate on that truth, we are meditating on the divine exchange at the cross:

• Jesus took our sin, we take His righteousness.
• Jesus took our death, we take His life.

We are spiritually alive because of Christ’s righteousness. And it is that same righteousness through which we receive life in our mortal bodies.

• We are restored in our souls because of Christ’s righteousness.
• We are healed in our bodies because of Christ’s righteousness.

The more we see Jesus seated in heaven as our righteousness, the more we set our minds things above, the more we fix our eyes upon the Author and Perfecter of faith, the more that faith becomes our sight, and it becomes more real to us than what our 5 senses are telling us, and the more what we see in heaven is ours on earth, bringing rest and shalom to our emotions and bodies.

Consciousness of Jesus

In the last message, I talked about communion with God through our union with Jesus, where we fellowship and commune with Jesus, and the Spirit speaks to us Spirit to spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:17 – he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

But there is another function of our spirit: consciousness of Jesus and His righteousness. You cannot have your mind set on things above while your mind is filled with consciousness of sins or consciousness of the this world or doubts.

Feed your spirit with the word of grace, the word of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, the word of reconciliation with God.

• He has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west in the body of Jesus.
• He has carried away our mental and physical pain as far as the east is from the west in the body of Jesus.
• He has borne our sickness and carried them as far as the east is from the west in the body of Jesus.

What are we conscious of? The Holy Spirit joined to our spirit man, the new man, who is righteous because of Jesus. Your flesh counts for nothing. Consciousness of flesh brings condemnation. Condemnation kills.

Romans 8:6, NASB – For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.

Paul said in Romans 6 –

Romans 6:11- reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Renew your mind to who you really are]

Meditate on Jesus, Your Righteousness and your mind will be renewed. Your mind will line up with truth. Your soul will prosper, and your body will prosper.

3 John 2 – Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

Meditate on Jesus, Your Righteousness, when confusion comes – “Did I do something to cause this trouble to happen? Is God punishing me? Did I not have enough faith?” That’s consciousness of sins.

Consciousness of sins will lead us to try to make things right before we go to God. We try to fix what we messed up and make ourselves right. But what work can we do to make ourselves right before God?

The writer of Hebrews wrote that if any other work but the finished work of Jesus could have cleansed us and made us righteous, then –

Hebrews 10:2 – For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.

The fact that after they put another lamb on the altar and they still had consciousness of sins and guilt and condemnation proved that those sacrifices did not purify them once and for all.

Paul called the Old Covenant law the “ministry of death” and the “ministry of condemnation” because it ministered death and ministered condemnation. (2 Corinthians 3:6 and 3:9) Because there was always a consciousness of an unfinished work, a consciousness of sins.

This VERB “purified” in Hebrews 10:2 is in the perfect passive participle.

• Perfect – done
• Passive – done to you – You don’t purify yourself! You were purified through the blood of Jesus – once for all!

If we are purified once and for all, then that’s what we should be feeding our spirit –

John 1:29 – Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Hebrews 9:14 – [but – ] how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God [as our sin offering], cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

What’s a dead work? Trying to be right with God through any other means than through the blood of Jesus. We call that self-righteousness And it comes because we don’t have a perfect conscience before God.

Only the True Lamb offers eternal righteousness. His work on the cross is the only work that can save and heal us and restore us and make us righteous. Our work is to believe in His work!

If our conscience is cleansed, we would have no more consciousness of sins. (of “missing the mark”) We should have consciousness of Jesus!

As a new creation, we are “in Christ,” so when we approach the throne of grace, where all the promises are YES in Christ. We are hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

If something is going on in our emotions, our bodies, our families, our finances, or in any other area, say “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.”

• We approach the throne in Christ Jesus – who, having purged our sins He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3).
• We approach the throne in Christ Jesus who is “our one sacrifice for sins forever!” (Hebrews 10:12)

Jesus is our right standing before God. He is our righteousness. That’s what it means to be “in Christ.”

John 14

I want to transition to a passage in John 14 – some of the last words of Jesus and what He said about what was coming for believers, the new creation who would be in Him and He in us by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

It was the night of the Last Supper which He shared with His disciples, the Passover Meal. And later that evening He was arrested. He said to His disciples,

John 14:9-10 – “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?…”

What’s the difference?

• “In the Father” is who He is. That’s speaking of Jesus’s identity. He is God’s Son. Father who God is towards Him. He is “in the Father” which means He came from the Father. He’s the only begotten Son of the Father.
• “The Father in Him” is what Father does and what Father says in Jesus and through Him.

It is the same with us:

• We are in Christ – that’s our identity. We came from Him.
• He is in us – that’s what He says to us and does through us by His Spirit.

John 14:16-18 – [Skipping down to verse 16, Jesus is telling them that He is going to leave them.] “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—  [How long does He abide with us? Forever!] 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you [How? They knew the Spirit because they knew Jesus. This is speaking of the disciples before the cross. Jesus said, “He dwells WITH you – ] and will be in you. [That’s our reality today after the cross. Today, God doesn’t dwell in tabernacles or buildings made by men. He doesn’t just dwell AMONG us or WITH us. He dwells IN us] 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. [How? through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost]

What Jesus is describing is the opposite of His physical absence. The opposite of His physical absence is His spiritual presence. As 2 Corinthians 5:16 says, “Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.”

No longer would they know the earthly manifestation of Jesus, but they would know Him by the Spirit.

Jesus said, “I won’t leave you as orphans.” In other words, “I won’t abandon you to this world. You don’t belong to this world. You belong to Me. And it will actually be better for you when I depart because I’ll send My Spirit to live inside of you, and that means I’ll still be with you as you fan out across the world and make disciples of all men because I’ll be in you wherever you go!”

After Pentecost they were filled with the Spirit and flooded with consciousness of Jesus and His presence – within them and working through them. You can see this all the way through the book of Acts in the early church!

While they couldn’t see Him in the flesh, they could see Him in the Spirit.

John 14:19 – A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. [When would that be? After they received the Spirit.]

We have been given something that the world doesn’t have and cannot understand.

1 Corinthians 2:12 – Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know [“eido” which also means “to see”] the things that have been freely given to us by God. [The world can not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him]

John 14:19, Cont – Because I live, you will live also.

We will live as long as He lives. How long is that? Forever! “He lives after the power of an endless life.” (Hebrews 7:16)

Our union with Him is our life line. Nothing can separate us. The dissolution of our body won’t change a thing. The believer never dies because Jesus never dies!

As long as Jesus lives, our life is secure. His blood is our life blood and has made us immortal.

Without Him, all we would have to look at is this dying, chaotic world. Without Him, we would be the living dead. That’s what people without Jesus are: the living dead. What if this life was it?! 

But praise God we have hope because by the spirit we have heavenly eyesight! He satisfies our longings by giving us heavenly vision and imagination and a heavenly mindset of hope.

Colossians 1:27 – To them [to the the saints – to you] God willed to make known [to reveal by the Spirit] what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: [What is the mystery?] which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

You bring hope to a dying and depressed and angry world that doesn’t yet understand the hope that is in you. They look at you and say, “I want the hope that you have!” So “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15) What is the hope in you? JESUS!!! Be ready to tell them about Jesus!

John 14:20, 26 – “At that day [What day? At the day when Jesus has died, risen, ascended, and sat down at the right hand of God, and the Holy Spirit has been poured out into their hearts at Pentecost – “At that day – ] you will know that I am in My Father, [In other words, “You will know who I am – that I came from the Father and have returned to the Father.” “And you will know that – ] and you [are] in Me, [You’ll know who you are! “In Christ” is our identity – forever. No one can snatch us from His hand. Imagine His hand holding you fast, protecting you. “And you will know that -] and I [am] in you.” [That’s His presence and His life working in us and through us.]…… [And in case we forget these things – ] 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” [In the next Chapter, chapter 15:26, Jesus said – “the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me”]

How does the Holy Spirit bring these things to our remembrance? He speaks to us from His Spirit to our spirit. We feed on His words and renew our minds to those truths, and then we walk in the Spirit by faith – not by sight.

Faith is sight from our spirit man. It’s more real than our natural senses. We can actually see and grab hold of God’s promises by faith – promises which we could never even touch in the flesh because we can’t see them in the flesh. All we can touch in the flesh is material. We can only see God’s promises and imagine them with spiritual eyes.

Our emotions will lie to us. Our bodies will lead us astray. But what we see in God’s word and what we see in the spirit will never deceive us or lead us astray.

The Gospel is revealed

I want to conclude today by sharing something with you that is always on my mind whenever I talk about these particular spiritual truths. I find myself wanting everyone to know these things and experience them! But I often feel so inadequate and inarticulate!

Do you find it frustrating that you can see some things in the spirit that other people cannot see? Do you find it frustrating when you share the gospel till you’re blue in the face and some people just don’t get it? And you want to knock them over the head? But that’s not going to do a bit of good because the problem isn’t in their head. It’s in their heart. And only God can reach a person’s heart.

And that is actually profoundly encouraging!

All these truths about our identity in Christ as a new creation can only be revealed by the Holy Spirit. I can read the scriptures to you, but only the Spirit of God can open our hearts to what I am reading.

God had to open my own heart and continues to open my heart. He has to awaken me to the truth.

And the encouraging thing is that if He will do it for me or for you, He will do it for others, too. God does not show favoritism!

Remember what Paul said – the “righteousness of God – the righteousness of Jesus given to us as a gift – is revealed from faith to faith”? God has to reveal it to us by the Spirit. That’s from Romans 1 –

Romans 1:16 – [Paul said -] For I am not ashamed of the gospel [the good news] of Christ, for it [the gospel – this message of pure grace] is the power of God to salvation [soteria – it’s the power to save us, to give us new birth, and not only that but the power to heal and deliver and provide!] for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

The Gospel is the power of God – the dunamis, from which we get our word dynamite. But the Gospel isn’t the dynamite. The Gospel is the explosion. Dynamite isn’t anything until it is ignited. When the Gospel is ignited in your heart by faith, power is released for salvation. Next verse-

Romans 1:17 – For in it [the salvation that comes from believing the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed [Christ’s righteousness is revealed. Paul said in Romans 3:21 – the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed – it has to be revealed -] from faith to faith; [faith is the realm of the Spirit, right?] as it is written, “The just [the righteous] shall live by faith.”

Why does righteousness have to be by faith? Because every day you are going to see evidence to the contrary in your flesh. The natural mind cannot comprehend the things that can only be revealed by the Spirit of God.

God opens eyes

I want to share a few scriptures I have been meditating on about God opening eyes. I’ll start with an account during Paul’s 2nd missionary journey in Acts 16.

It shows us how God works, how He directs His disciples and ministers and laborers to be at the right place at the right time. It shows us that Paul and companions could hear from the Holy Spirit and be directed to reach the people they were sent to reach. One of those people was a lady named Lydia.

In Acts 16 we read that Paul was headed to Asia, but was prevented by the Holy Spirit from going there. (Verse 6) He went to Galatia instead. After that they attempted to go to Bithunia (modern day Turkey), but once again verse 7 tells us, “the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there.” So instead they went to Troas. The night they arrived, Paul had a vision:

Acts 16:9-10, 14-15, NLT – That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, [in this vision] pleading with him [Paul], “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 So we [Luke is writing this, so he was on this journey. We – ] decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there…. [So they went to Philippi in Macedonia, and on the Sabbath they went to a river to pray. Sitting on the riverbank they struck up a conversation with some of the women who had gathered there. One of the women was Lydia, a merchant of expensive purple cloth.] 14 As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. 15 She and her household were baptized, and she asked us to be her guests.

See how it works? The Spirit of Jesus was guiding every step of the way so that Lydia’s heart would be opened and her whole family would be saved.

And Lydia is also thought to be the first convert in Europe!

THE LORD HIMSELF opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying. The NKJV uses the word “heed.” NASB says, “the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” We’ll look at that word in a second.

First, the Lord “opened” her heart. Opened is the word “dianoigō.” [dee-a-noy’-go]

Dianoigō means to open fully, to open thoroughly what had been closed [Lydia’s heart had been closed!] to open the eyes and the ears; to open the mind of one, i.e. to cause to understand; to rouse the faculty of understanding or the desire of learning.

God Himself “opens fully.” Whether the object is a deaf man’s ears, a womb, eyes clouded by grief, Scripture, the heavens, or a human heart, the verb dianoigō presents a decisive divine initiative that transcends mere physical action and signals salvation realities. The variety of contexts reveals a unified testimony: no one comes to perception, understanding, or new birth unless the Lord first opens.

Proverbs 20:12, NLT – Ears to hear and eyes to see—both are gifts from the Lord.

The same word, “dianoigō,” was used in Luke 24 in the account of the two on the Road to Emmaus, Cleopoas and his companion. Jesus opened the eyes of their heart.

Luke 24:31-32, 45 – [Jesus had restrained their eyes from knowing Him while He walked with them on the road and showed them the scriptures concerning Himself, but then when He broke bread with them- ] Then their eyes were opened [dianoigō] and they knew Him; [epiginōskō – experiential knowing through direct relationship. It means to know thoroughly and to understand fully.] and He vanished from their [natural] sight. 32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened [dianoigō] the Scriptures to us?” [They couldn’t see Him in the flesh at that point, but He had opened their hearts so that they could see Him in the word throughout all of the Old Testament scriptures – all the types and shadows of Jesus. He opened their hearts – dianoigō – that’s the same word used when God opened Lydia’s heart] … 45 [Later after the two ran back to Jerusalem to share about their experience with the others hiding together after the crucifixion. Jesus appeared to them, showed them His hands and His side, and Luke 24:45 says] He opened [dianoigō] their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. [Who opened? Jesus opened!]

Back to Acts 16:14 and Lydia –

Acts 16:14 – As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted [she heeded, responded to] what Paul was saying.

“Accepted” – prosechō  – to bring to, to bring near; to turn the mind to, to give attention to, to devote thought to, to receive. She received the things spoken by Paul. This might seem so basic, but the words had to be spoken for her to hear them.

And in order for words to be spoken and for God to open that person’s heart to understand it and for that person to receive it, someone has to be sent to deliver the message – just like Paul was sent to deliver the message to Lydia through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 10:14-16, 17, NASB – How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”…  17 So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

For me those beautiful feet were the feet of dear friends who shared a CD with me called “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” That teaching rocked my world, and the next thing I knew I was walking on the beach and saying to Jesus, “I’m a blank slate. Show Me Your grace.”

And He showed me in a divine encounter that I am holy, righteous, blameless in His sight. In that moment I’ve never felt so loved. And as that love flowed in my heart, it became a well that overflowed. I couldn’t wait to share it with others. So that’s what I have been doing ever since!

I see that it is God and God alone who opens our hearts to respond and receive the message of His grace. It is God who thoroughly opens the eyes and ears of our understanding to what was previously closed to us.

• What precipitated my encounter with Jesus and my eye opening? Misery and burn out.
• What precipitated the encounter that Cleopas and his companion had with Jesus on the Road to Emmaus and their eye opening? Grief and confusion about the crucifixion. In Luke 24, Jesus actually called them “foolish and slow of heart to believe.” So He had to open their eyes.
• What precipitated Paul’s encounter on the road to Damascus with Jesus and his eye opening in an Acts 9? Extreme hatred for Christians.

That’s often a common thread – Jesus opens our eyes in negative situations in order to turn things around for us.

Jesus told Paul on the Road to Damascus:

Acts 26:14, NKJV – It is hard for you to kick against the goads.

Acts 26:14, NLT – It is useless for you to fight against my will.

Acts 26:14, TPT – You are only hurting yourself when you resist your calling. [Paul said, “when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:15-16)]

Paul was passionate about killing Christians and persecuting Jesus, but God had another plan for his life. And He has an awesome plan for our lives, too, and for everyone we love and are praying for.

Paul wrote to young Timothy, his protege –

2 Timothy 2:25-26, NLT – Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. 26 Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. [“Come to their senses” is the Greek word ananēphō – to return to soberness; recover oneself.] For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.

There’s no better prayer for the lost, blind, and deceived than to pray that God will change their hearts and they will learn the truth and return to who God says they are.

No one was ever saved because they lost an argument. We’re saved when Jesus is revealed to us.

Titus 3:4-7, NLT – When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.

To wrap this up, I want to circle back to John 14 and more good news –

John 14:10-14 – “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. [It is the same with us! He gives us the words, and He does the work though the Holy Spirit who dwells in us!] 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father [Believe in who I am!] and the Father in Me, [Believe that it is the Father working in Me!] or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. 12 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, [Do you believe in Him?] the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, [Than anything you have seen yet. Why?] because I go to My Father. [What is He referring to there? When He goes to the Father, what is the Father going to do? Send the Holy Spirit into our hearts to dwell in us forever!] 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. [Christ in me!] 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

Now that is the power of the resurrection life that dwells inside of us! Amen!

Copyright info: All scriptures in the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

• (NKJV) New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
• (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
• (NLT) Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
• (NASB) Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
• (TLB) The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.