Rom 8:31-34 If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
The word, 'if' should be translated as "since"; since God is for us, who can stand against us? Do you need further proof that God is for you-He likes you, loves you, has favor for you? Read the next words in the passage above. He gave His Son, Jesus, for you, in your place, to bear your sin, to be punished with your punishment, to deliver you from punishment, upon the cross at Calvary, to redeem you as God's child! So, duhhhhh, God IS for you, dudes & dudettes!
Everything that Jesus was delivered up unto at Calvary, we've been delivered from & out of! That includes condemnation, isolation from God, physical sickness & disease, mental & emotional torment, confusion, fear, poverty, demonic oppression, & an eternity separated from God!
All that Jesus became in our behalf at Calvary, we have been delivered from, & it has no authority over us!
Even though the satanic forces in existence have power, they've been stripped of their authority, & they can't rule over a born-again child of God, when that child of God resists them!
Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, & ascension into Heaven is the proof of God that He is for you, loves you, wanted to redeem you, & will never leave you nor forsake you, Christian!
In relationship with Jesus, you are a child of God, & a co-heir with Jesus! All that is His, is yours, just as all that was appointed for fallen mankind, Jesus had to take upon Himself, in order to deliver us out of!
Likewise, all that Jesus is we have become, as children of God!
Since God has justified you, He can't condemn you, regardless of your personal actions!
For your salvation isn't based upon you, what you did, do, or will do; it's based upon Jesus, what He did, who He is, & what He placed within you, at your New-birth. While your actions & lifestyle will affect people & can tamper with your appointed awards as an ambassador for Jesus, it doesn't figure into your son ship or daughter hood, because that is already signed, sealed, & delivered into you, through the life of Christ Jesus in you!
As a child of God, you have no right to live in sin, nor to rebel against the will of God: you're reckoned dead to sin by God, & alive in righteousness. The only right you have is to believe God, yield to the Holy Spirit, & allow Him to bear fruit in you & through you!
God justified you at Calvary, not at your New-birth! You received it at your salvation, but God made it available at the resurrection of Jesus, a couple of thousand years before you learned of Jesus!
Because Jesus made intervention for you at Calvary, in Hell, & at throne of grace in Heaven, your salvation is complete, your future is secure, & your past is non-existent! In Christ Jesus, you had no beginning, & you have no end! You have become one with the Father, Son, & Spirit!
Each & every divine member of the Holy Trinity is for you, with you, & in you! You are as accepted by them as you're ever going to be! They can't be any more committed to you than they already are! You're in them, & they're in you! You are one with the Godhead!
They're FOR you, WITH you, Ind. you, AROUND you, & even, THROUGH you! You're safe!
Christopher Longgrear (D.Min., Ph.D.) of Fresh Fire Ministries International is senior pastor of Fresh Fire Church in Marietta, Parkersburg and Athens. Thoughts of Faith is a weekly column written by various ministers and lay people. Those interested in scheduling a date for writing a Thoughts of Faith column should contact Christy Hudson at 376-5446 or chudson@mariettatimes.com. Or, if a Thoughts of Faith column is written at the writer's convenience and sent to The Times, it will run the first available date.
