Dead Now Alive

 

Ephesians 2: 4,5: 4) “But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, 5) made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.”

          How was my life before I truly knew Christ? Oh, I knew of Him, but didn’t truly know Him. And my life reflected that because I walked in the darkness of my sinful life. So even through that Jesus continued to call out lovingly to me back to Him, my only desire was to go down the path of self, gaining all I could for me. Since my fall I have come to learn that His only desire was for me to fully walk with Him, enjoying the joy, peace and love that CAN ONLY BE FOUND IN HIM!! “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!! And that is who we are!! The reason the world does not know us in that it did not know him.” 1 John 3:5 (AB). “He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but because of His own pity and mercy, by [the] cleansing [bath] of the new birth (regeneration) and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5 (AB).

          So through my circumstances I humbly came to Christ, asking for forgiveness, and I laid my life at His feet. I gave up control to Him allowing Him to pour the Holy Spirit into my heart. When I accepted Christ as my personal Savior I experienced a rebirth, becoming alive in Christ. My spirit, then, truly set free so I knew right then that what I had learned about Christ was true He freed my heart from the grip of sin. He opened my eyes in order that I could walk in the light of His glory, clearly seeing the way, no longer stumbling, tripping and falling under the weight of unforgiving sins that I was carrying. “then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.” Psalm 80:18 (NIV). “According to Your steadfast love, give life to me; then I will keep the testimony of Your mouth [hearing, loving, and obeying it]. Psalm 119:88 (AB).

          I also, then, truly begin to grasp the understanding of how much God does love me. I had always heard, “He sent His Only Son,” but my heart never allowed it in because of my sinful nature. I walked the path of self-reliance, self-preservation. Even when I read the word, my blindness, because of my sinful life, did not allow its power to enter into my heart. I failed to comprehend that my frustrations in life were the results of the absence of Christ in my heart. I was walking along through life dead leading a lifeless existence because of my sinful life. Circumstances in my life broke me to the point that I finally heard Christ calling my name. My blindness was taken so that the power of the words I finally and truly read entered into my heart. Christ swept my heart clean of my sins and His love for me began to overflow out of me spilling into the lives of family and friends. “When you were dead in your sins and in the circumcision of you sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ, He forgave us all our sins.” Colossians 2:13 (NIV). “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” Titus 2:11 & 3:7 (NIV).