June 2016 Spirit Food

Once you are presented with what the Word of God has to say about an issue, you are responsible for receiving His love, grace, & favor; and the gift of His righteousness. Remember, you are greatly blessed, highly favored, and deeply loved by your Heavenly Father.

This month, let us focus on being conscious of our position in Christ.

Jesus came to be called "Jesus Christ", meaning "Jesus the Christós" (i.e. Jesus, the anointed; or "Jesus, the Messiah" by his followers). Another term widely used was Redeemer. Mankind was redeemed from sin because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross.

In John 15:5 Jesus said - “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

Jesus is making a statement of fact when He says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” He did not say, “I am the vine, try to be the branches.” His desire is for us to have the mind set, to understand and comprehend that we are already the branches because of the finished work He accomplished at the cross. He paid the price for all of mankind’s sin (past, present and future)! We do not have to struggle to become the branches.

As His branches, we only have to abide or remain in Christ our vine. How do we do that? We do that by simply being conscious every day of our position in Christ (our redeemer). Because we have received Christ, we are in Christ and are accepted in the Beloved. (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 1:6) God accepts us because we are in the Beloved and He is in us (when you accepted Jesus as LORD of you life, the Holy Spirit came to dwell on the inside of you next to your spirit). When God sees us today, He’s looking at us as new creations in Christ when we come into His presence, because we’ve accepted what Jesus did on the cross to redeem us.

What the devil wants to do then is to get you to focus on your condition instead of your position in Christ. The condition you are facing could be financial lack or deteriorating health. The devil wants you to focus on your condition and forget your position—that you are the righteousness of God in Christ and that you are seated with Him in heavenly places at the Father’s right hand. (2 Corinthians 5:21, Ephesians 2:6) He wants you to forget that you are an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. (Romans 8:17)

The devil knows that once you focus on your position in Christ, it will give you the power to change your condition and circumstances. John 15:5 says that you will bear “much fruit”. This means that when you pray against any lack, abundant supply will flow. When you pray for healing, sickness will leave.

None of these things can happen by your own doing, but by His life which flows through you. Just as sap flowing through the branches of a vine will cause them to bring forth fruit, His life flowing through you will bring forth a bountiful harvest of provision, healing and miracles. You only need to remain conscious of who you are in Christ!

2 Corinthians 5:21 - For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

When an Israelite brought an animal as his sin offering, he laid his hands on it before killing it. (Leviticus 4:1–4) By laying his hands on the sin offering, his sins are transferred to the innocent animal, while the beauty, worthiness and acceptance of the unblemished animal are transferred to him. God accepts the perfection of the animal sacrifice on his behalf to make atonement for him. Because God accepts the unblemished burnt offering, the offerer now has right standing before God. The animal died for the person’s sins, and he walked away free of sin, as his sin was covered by the blood of the sacrifice.

During the burnt offering, the sacrifice is turned to ashes (an act of purification); God accepts the perfection of the animal sacrifice on his behalf to make atonement for him. Because God accepts the unblemished burnt offering, the offerer now has right standing before God.

These two offerings (the killing of the sacrifice by the one bringing the sacrifice, and then the burnt offering of that sacrifice) speak of Jesus’ one offering of Himself when He hung on the cross. Jesus is both our sin offering and burnt offering—“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us (as our sin offering), that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (as our burnt offering)”(2 Corinthians 5:21). The moment you put your faith in Jesus, just by Jesus’ one sacrifice, your sins were transferred to Jesus, and His righteousness was transferred to you. That is the grace of God toward you!

As our sin offering, Jesus offered Himself once and for all. (Romans 6:10) The sin offering was never a daily offering because God does not want His people to be sin-conscious. However, the burnt offering (under the old covenant in the Old Testament), was both a morning and evening sacrifice (2 Chronicles 13:11) because God wants His people to be righteousness-conscious.

God wants you to lay claim daily to Jesus as your burnt offering and say, “Father, I thank You that Jesus is my burnt offering. All that Jesus is before You—His righteousness, excellence, beauty and perfection—has been transferred to me. Jesus has Your unclouded favor, so I enjoy Your unclouded favor in my life. Jesus is the righteousness of God, so I am the righteousness of God in Christ. As He is before You, so am I.”

Because Jesus became your burnt offering, what He is to the Father today, you are! That is what it means to be in Christ.

If you’re reading this, but you have not made Jesus the Lord of your life, and would like to, pray this prayer out loud in an audible voice:

Heavenly Father, your Word says in Romans 10:9-10- “that if I confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in my heart that You raised Him from the dead, that I would be saved. For with the heart one believes unto salvation.” I believe your Word, Heavenly Father, and confess Jesus Christ (the anointed one and His anointing) as Lord of my life now. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I confess that I was a sinner, but now I’ve been saved by Your grace, and in Your thoughts, I am now in right standing with You. I denounce Satan and all he stands for. Write my name in the Lamb’s book of Life. In Jesus Name. Amen (so be it).

Congratulations! If this is your first time praying this prayer, please write and let us know!

Should you decide to give and financially support this ministry with gifts given in faith, I join my faith with yours to see the devourer rebuked (Malachi 3:11) and for you to receive a harvest; pressed down, shaken together and running over (Luke 6:38). Please remember to name your seed!

Dr. Mark Krom, Ph.D., D.Psy

Minister/Clinical Pastoral Psychologist