Category: Partakers

1 Corinthians 15:10 NLT
But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.

Philippians 2:12-13 NLT
12 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Let’s be reminded in a new way about who we are as God’s people. In Christ, we are partakers in the divine nature. May our hearts be stirred once again by the Spirit. God is at work in us, and therefore we can “work hard”. In whatever missional group, campus ministry, or church we are a part of, we are God’s people. We can “work hard” for the Lord, living out our calling, resisting sin, and living like Christ because of the Spirit of God who is at work in us.

Prayer: Father, thank you that you are working in us. We surrender and confess that you are God. May we hope again, pray, and “work hard”, going where we have never been before. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to the song “Let Revival In” by Kim Walker-Smith (click here).

-MR

 

2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

As his people, we have been given “his very great and precious promises.” Why? So that through them, we may participate in the divine nature through our union with Christ. When we first turned to Christ, we were born again by the Spirit, and we escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. As Davids says, “Recognition that escape is a process brings a healthy humility to the follower of Jesus. It is this process of escape that leads directly to the call to grow in virtue in the next verse.” (Peter H. Davids, The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude)

Even today, we can have hope to overcome as we face difficulties and struggles, because the Holy Spirit lives in us. Knowing that this is an ongoing process keeps us humble, as we depend on the Lord moment by moment.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your precious promises. Help us to depend on you today as we face difficulties and struggles, knowing that you have given us everything that we need. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to the song “Living Hope” by Phil Wickham (click here).

-MR

Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.

“If every Christian is united to the same Christ, what happens to our individuality? …at one level, yes, we will all begin to look more like Christ and thus more like one another—each of us exhibiting more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

…the glory of Christian redemption is that it is in union with Jesus that we are given back our true selves. We finally begin becoming who we were truly created to be… You become the you that you were meant to be. You recover your original destiny. You realize that your existence out of Christ was a shadow of what you were made to be. Your distinctive personality, your you-ness, your human individuality, was in 2D when you were out of Christ, held back by sin and shame and fear and darkness. Now that you are in Christ, you are in 3D, free to blossom. In other words, it is only in union with Christ that you can grow into who God made you to be.” (Dane Ortlund, Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners)

Prayer: Father, thank you that in Christ, we are free to blossom and grow into who you made us to be. Today, may we be more like Jesus in our interactions with others. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to the song “More Like Jesus” by Passion (click here).

-MR

 

2 Timothy 1:9 NLT
For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.

“Christ is the redeemed man’s new environment. He has been lifted out of the cramping restrictions of his earthly lot into a totally different sphere, the sphere of Christ. He has been transplanted into a new soil and a new climate, and both soil and climate are Christ. His spirit is breathing a nobler element. He is moving on a loftier plane.

You are united to Christ. That is the most irreducible reality about you. Peel everything else away, and the solid, immovable truth about you is your union with a resurrected Christ. How could it be otherwise?

What is most deeply true of us is that we were secured in Christ before we had ever heard of Christ. Only in the relaxed safety of your eternally secured union with Christ can true growth blossom.” (Dane Ortlund, Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners)

Prayer: Father, thank you that it was your plan from the beginning to save us. We confess that the most irreducible reality about us is that we are united with Christ. May we go about our day today with much hope and assurance. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to the song “From Everlasting” by Sovereign Grace Music (click here).

-MR

 

Let’s read aloud together the following passages and prayer and truly believe in our hearts:

Romans 6:5-8 NIV
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

Romans 8:2 NLT
And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

Galatians 2:20 NIV
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Prayer: Father, thank you for the truth that we are united with Christ as partakers of the divine nature. It is beyond what we could have ever imagined! We align all of who we are to what you say about us. We hope in you and humbly say, “YES!” to your empowering and freedom once again today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to the song “Yes Again” by Darlene Zschech (click here).

-MR