But God, who is rich in
mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead
in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4–6
There are many believers
who are defeated because they are struggling to qualify for God’s blessings
through their own works. What you need to understand is that self-effort will
rob you of reigning in life by God’s grace. You cannot earn your salvation,
healing, or financial breakthrough by your own efforts. If the greatest
miracle—being saved and made alive with Jesus—comes by grace through faith, and
not by your works, how much more the lesser miracles, such as healing,
provision, and restored marriages?
It is not about your work
or performance, but Jesus’ work and performance. Only His work
is a finished work. And not only did He sit down at the Father’s right hand,
but today’s Scripture states that He also made us sit with Jesus! What
does this mean? Well, my friend, “sitting down” in the Bible is a picture of
the believer resting in the perfect and finished work of Jesus. Christ has
finished all the work on the cross on your behalf and is now seated at the
right hand of God. As it has all been accomplished on your behalf, this means
that you can stop depending on your self-efforts to earn and qualify for God’s
blessings in your life. You can sit down with Jesus at the Father’s right hand!
Now, listen carefully to
what I am saying. I am not advocating a life of passiveness and laziness
regarding the study of God’s Word, prayer, or worship. When it comes to success
in your job, I’m also certainly not saying that you shouldn’t be diligent or
seeking to develop your abilities. God’s grace does not make you lazy and
unproductive. On the contrary, it makes you labor more abundantly for His
glory. The apostle Paul, a preacher of God’s grace and the finished work of
Jesus, said that he “labored more abundantly than they all” (1 Cor. 15:10).
What you need to realize is, in the new covenant, God’s way is to bless you
first, and the knowledge of His blessing then empowers you to labor more
abundantly. In other words, we do not labor to be blessed, but rather we
have the power to labor because we are already blessed. Can you see
the different premise for laboring in the new covenant?
My friend, Jesus has
accomplished everything for us on the cross. Our part is to trust in His
perfect work. Receive with open arms His abundance of grace and His gift of
righteousness, and sit down and begin to reign in life through Him. Today, let
it be your prayer that you will stop trying to earn God’s grace and
righteousness. Let the Holy Spirit teach you to start depending on Jesus’
finished work and to start receiving by His grace. This is God’s way to
success, wholeness, and victorious living! (Article
& Picture courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).
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