October 2, 2020: The Power of Christ In You vs. The Old Self of Sin. Which Power Are You Running On?

What a great mystery this is for us to fully grasp, "the power of "Christ In You." The Apostle Paul addresses this very mystery to the Colossians. He begins by writing to the Colossians that Jesus rescued them from the "dominion of darkness" and brought them into His kingdom of His Son, where we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1: 13-14

13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

In my journey as a Christian, the first thirty-five years of that journey with the Lord, was very rocky. The reason the journey was so rocky was because I did not understand the "power of Christ living in me," and I did not understand the "full power" of Jesus' forgiveness that He provided for me on the Cross of Calvary.

I shared this moment of my life in the book that the Lord had me write, "Salvation to Surrender," A 35 Year Journey in Finding True Rest." The following is an excerpt from chapter five of that book:

“Salvation to Surrender” Excerpt:

"We all have sins in our lives that God has forgiven through the “Cross of Jesus,” but if we are unwilling to understand these sins in our lives and allow God to make them transparent for us and heal us from them, we will continue through our lives with a defeated purpose and not even know it. It is through and only through our “absolute surrender” of all our “closets” and small hidden rooms in our lives that God can begin to free us from ourselves and the traps and pitfalls that these sins continually bring back into our lives."

Many of us have hurts and sins in our lives that we have committed, that have hurt us and others deeply. But sometimes these sins that are placed on us by others can be the most damaging and devastating that affect us to the very core of our being. Mine was being molested as a young boy. After going through Christian counseling many years later, I found out that this sexual sin of molestation, caused in me a deep rooted scar in my life that had affected me throughout my marriages and relationships as an adult for almost all my life.

It wasn't until God brought me to full and absolute surrender in my life that I finally understood that this deep rooted scar in me had so greatly affected my life, I became free of the power of this sin so rooted in me. God cleansed me and purified me of this sin, once and for all eternity. He created in me a “clean heart” and I was now allowing the “power of Christ in me" to rule my heart, not the sins of the past.

Colossians 1: 22 & 27

22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation...and then in verse 27:

27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

PERSONNAL COMMENT:

If you struggle with past sins in your life, whether you have cause them or someone else caused them in you, such as, molestation, rape, drug abuse, murder, abortion or whatever it may be, “surrender" those "hidden closets" in your life to God and let the "power of Christ in you" cleanse you from the power and guilt of those sins. May Jesus Christ, who loves us, pursues us, finds us, saves us, and promises to never let us go, be glorified in you through the power of the Holy Spirit...Amen!