‘GRACE WAVES DEVOTIONAL

No Regrets Pt 1

Phil 3:13 I do this one thing: I forget about the things behind me.

As Christians, are we still speaking the language of regret, past mistakes and failures: ‘my divorce, my bankruptcy, how I failed my children’?

When we mess up, do we recriminate and beat-up on ourselves? Do we spend hours replaying the tapes (CD’s) in our minds? Is our confession one of failure, defeat and remorse? are we constantly plagued with guilt and condemnation?

If so, I have Good News for you. Jesus Christ paid the price for all our past sins on the cross 2000 yrs ago. God in His foreknowledge looked up the corridor of future, saw all our mistakes and sins, and took out that punishment on His Son!

His shed blood is the price He paid that all sin might be forgiven and taken away.

Our part is to ask the Holy Spirit to help us see our sin forgiven and His blood washing it all away, leaving us with a clean conscience.

Rom 8:1 There is NOW no condemnation (no adjudging guilty or wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus. (AMP)

Phil 4:8 Meditate (think) on these things.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

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Ps 8:5You have crowned them with glory and honour. (NIV)

When God created Adam and Eve, He clothed them with His own glory and light!

Ps 104:1,2  Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with glory and honour. You wear light like a robe. (ERV)

 It was this glory that allowed Adam and Eve to live in the immediate presence of God. But the moment they sinned, God’s covering or garment of glory broke off of them.

 Rom 3:23 All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23 NABRE)

 Rom 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23 NKJV)

 Adam and Eve for their own safety, and to prevent them eating the fruit from the tree of life were now locked outside the presence of God.

 Mankind could now only worship God from a distance!

 The Glory Restored In Christ

 Rom 5:14 Adam was a type (prefigure) of the One Who was to come [in reverse, the former destructive, the Latter saving]. (AMP)

 Christ took the punishment for our sin on the cross and died in our place and went down into the grave. But when He rose from the dead, the first born of a new creation, perfectly righteous, He ascended to heaven, sat down on the throne at the right hand of the Father, and there the Father crowned Him as a man with the same glory that Adam forfeited in the garden  . Praise the Lord!

 Now that you and I are, ‘In Christ’, we  have been crowned as Kings with the same glory as Jesus. This entitles us once again to not only go into the immediate presence of God, but to remain there for all eternity.

 Now, nothing, not sin, unrighteousness, failure or mistakes can remove us from God’s immediate presence. Why! Because the blood of Christ eternally flows down upon us like a fountain, cleansing us from all sin and preserving our righteousness and perfection before the Father.

 There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins,

And sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. (Hymn by William Cowper)

 Hence we no longer have to come into the presence of God because we have never left. Instead we come before His throne to receive His grace in a time of need.

 Heb 4:16 Let us, then, feel very sure that we can come before God’s throne where there is grace. There we can receive mercy and grace to help us when we need it. (NCV)

 Now we no longer worship God from a distance but live in His presence 24/7. He enjoys being with us and we can enjoy being with Him.

 The next time we sin or fall short, let’s not remain in the outer court of God’s presence as a form of penance but realise we are accepted as we are because of the cleansing blood of Christ.

 We can now come boldly before Him asking for His help and grace to overcome our weaknesses and sins. What a privilege!

 Meditation Point: I am crowned with God’s glory and live 24/7 in His presence!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jn 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. (NKJV)

 The story of Eve being taken from Adam’s side is a type of Christ Jesus giving birth to the Church on the cross..

 Let’s look at some points:

 1) Adam Put To Sleep: Sleep in scripture speaks of death. When Christ died upon the cross, He was being cut off for you and I. He was experiencing death as a punishment for mankind’s sin.

 Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who for the suffering of death was crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. (NKJV)

We no longer have to fear death or fear being cut off from God for eternity.

 If we have fears regarding death, we need to meditate on the scriptures (below) until we receive a revelation that nothing can separate us from God.

 Rom 8:35,38.  Jn 10:28,29.  Heb 2:14,15.

 2) Blood Was Shed: When God (who was the first surgeon) took a rib from Adam’s side, blood was shed. God didn’t do this act haphazardly, it was His intended purpose.

 So upon the cross, Jesus shed His blood that you and I might experience the forgiveness and removal of our sin.

 There are some who use the expression, ‘Jesus spilled His blood.’ To spill something is accidental. To shed something is purposeful.

 Jesus shed blood was no accident. There was  purpose behind His actions. He wants us to know that He chose to go to the cross and shed His blood to reveal His purpose, which was to show His love for mankind through His salvation.

 3) Adam’s Bride Taken From His Side: God took a rib from Adam’s side from which He made Eve who would become ‘Mrs Adam’.

 Adam then called her, “Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” They were made for each other, hand inside glove, to flow together.

 When the soldier who was stood by the cross thrust his spear into Jesus side, He wasn’t to know he was triggering one of the most important actions in the history of mankind.

 Jn 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. (NKJV)

 Jesus gave birth to His bride, the Church:

 a)    The blood was shed from His side to cleanse His bride from All sin.

b)   The water (Eph 5:26) was symbolic of the word of God through which we would become born again.

We are now, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh — we are now of Him, in Him and joined to Him as His bride.

1 Cor 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

 Now, He wants us to bring to Him every detail of our hearts — the small details and the big details, for we are the apple of His eye

 4) The Resurrected Adam: Adam now arose from sleep to take his bride Eve. This is a picture of Jesus rising from the dead with resurrection life.

 In Christ we rise with Him to share in His resurrection life, but we have to ask ourselves the question: Do i know the Christ from before the cross – or do i know the Christ that came after the cross.

 It’s true that we can learn much from Jesus pre the cross – but it is post the cross where we experience His ‘LIFE’.

 We must especially read the letters of Paul to whom God gave the revelation of the risen Christ, in the Gospel of grace.

 Meditation Point: As part of the bride I now have access to the fulness of the resurrected life of Christ Jesus.

 

 

 

 

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