Who Do You Think You Are?

(Read Ephesians Chapter 1) Do you really know and GRASP the fact that God has loved you since before the creation of the world and that He chose YOU before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight? Do you grab on to the Truth that if you believe, through the blood of His Son, you are holy and blameless in His sight, no matter how you "feel"?
Do you live in light of the fact that in His great LOVE for YOU, He predestined YOU to be adopted as His child through Jesus Christ – not because He “had to” – He did not do this reluctantly. No – He did this “in accordance with His PLEASURE and WILL" (see Eph 1). He has freely given you this love and total grace, total newness, total once and for all forgiveness and blamelessness through His Son. Through His Son, you have total redemption - you are covered by the blood of the Lamb – COVERED.
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you might know the HOPE to which He has called you.” This love, this grace, this hope – it has nothing to do with you and what you are doing “right” or “wrong” – it has everything to do with His Son, who has died once and for all for you, thus raising you up to a new position in God’s eyes. The old has gone, the new has come! As Jesus said on the cross, "It is FINISHED".
1 John 4:16-18 says “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us (whether we “feel” it or not, we KNOW it because God has promised it through His Son). God is love…There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” If there is chaos and uncertainty in your life, DO NOT jump to the false presumption that God is “punishing” you! This fear of punishment has nothing to do with God’s love! If you fear Him more than you know his great love for you, then ask Him to reveal His LOVE for you – that He sees you as wonderful, beautiful, His perfect child!
Hebrews 11:6 says of our relationship with the Father: "...anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Do YOU believe that Your Father has rewards for you, GOOD things for you and not bad? Take this to Him in prayer if you have not grasped this yet - He WANTS you to know this Love He has for you!!!
Romans 8:14 says of you who are in Christ “… those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, adopted by God! And by Him we cry ‘Abba, Father, Daddy!’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that WE ARE God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ(!!!)”
Romans 8:31 “...If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus – who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the LOVE of Christ??...we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Do you KNOW and acknowledge that nothing can separate you from God’s love for you? – Do you truly know this, grasp this? Do you live in the power of this? Do you know and grasp that God does not withhold his love from you and that He loves you no matter what, once and for all?? Knowing His love gives freedom, knowing His love IS FREEDOM! (2 Cor 3:17, Gal 4:31, Gal 5:1, Jn 8:36) If you do not have this freedom, offer this up as a prayer to Him – ask Him to help you know it, understand it, GRASP it - He so wants you to take hold of this freedom - it is exactly what He sent His ONLY SON for - Do not let this be lost to you!!!!
Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we HAVE PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand…hope does not disappoint us because God has POURED out His LOVE into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”
Ephesians 3:16 “...And I pray that you, being rooted and established in LOVE, may have power…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the LOVE of Christ, and to KNOW THIS LOVE that surpasses knowledge – that you may be FILLED to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Don't let it be lost on you that the verse above says that the writer prays that you may "grasp" God's love for you – the writer is saying it is not enough that you just “know” yeah, God loves me, but that you would GRASP it in your spirit and not let go! To grasp = to seize with urgency – to grab hold of God’s love for you and know that without God’s love you are nothing and BECAUSE of God’s love you have EVERYTHING! (see Ephesians 1:3) To GRASP this love means that you understand that God's love is not like man's love. It does not ebb and flow - it does not shift and change. It is constant. There is nothing you can do to add to or take away from His love for you - you, in your human frailty, are not more powerful than the blood that has already been shed for you! Nothing you can do can take away from the power of the blood!!
When we feel guilt and feel like we “don’t measure up” – this is NOT what Christ died His horrible death for – The blood of Jesus has atoned for ALL of this – It has atoned for our guilty consciences as well –(see Hebrews 9:14 and 10:22). We are not to be walking in guilt, or shame or “failure” – this is NOT from the Lord and NOT in accordance with the blood of Jesus, which has cleansed it ALL, ONCE FOR ALL!
Hebrews 9:24 “For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear FOR US in God’s presence. Nor did He enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now He has appeared ONCE FOR ALL at the end of the ages to do AWAY with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
Heb 10:12 – “This priest (Jesus) offered FOR ALL TIME ONE SACRIFICE…and by this one sacrifice HE HAS MADE YOU PERFECT FOREVER”
Galatians 2:20-21 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, BUT CHRIST LIVES IN ME. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who LOVED me and GAVE himself FOR me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law (through what I “do” or “don’t do”), Christ died for nothing!"
Lord, I KNOW that you did not send your Son to die "for nothing" - There is a freedom, a deep, abiding Love that I have not fully grasped yet. Lord, I don't want to live a life of not grasping all that is there for me, held in your open, outstretched arms for me to grab hold of. Lord, I know that you long for me to grasp your love for me - please teach me, reveal to me your amazing love for me, let me have ears that hear and eyes that see that I can grasp how deep and how high and how wide is your love for me. Let me not be satisfied with a mediocre, lukewarm relationship with you but fill me with a longing to know you more and a passion to know your incredible love for me. I love you Lord. I am your child, your precious, beloved daughter, and you are my Father. I will trust in You, I will earnestly seek You, and I will rest in You. Amen.