You Serve Jesus Christ!!

In order to be a follower of Christ you have to believe in who He is, what and why He did what He did and how that impacts you. Meaning He IS the son of God, He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died an underserving death and rose again after 3 days. This impacts you by giving you the chance to be forgiven and set free from sin, have a relationship with the one and only God and promises you a eternal life in heaven with Jesus. In short, that is the gospel. That should be the foundation of every person who calls themselves a believer. But that's not all!!! That is the great news about the good news of the gospel. There is more and yet so many people stop there.
Do we realize the power that has been given to us by being able to call upon the name of Jesus? The amazing power that comes from the blood of Jesus that was shed for us? There are numerous verses that talk about what His blood means also and what it did for us. (Hebrews 9:11-28, 1 John 1:7, 1 Peter 1, Romans 5:9, Revelation 1:5, Matthew 26:28) It's amazing that through our faith in Jesus we can overcome anything, cast down the demonic things of this world and proclaim and declare healing...all by using the name of Jesus Christ! Then, on top of all of that, we also have the gift of the Holy Spirit who has been given to us to help us, to teach and to be our guide. (John 14:26, Romans 8:26) And once the Holy Spirit is upon you, you too can operate in the gifts of the spirit which brings God's power even more alive in your life. (Acts 2:38, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10) And all of these things together will allow you to walk in the fruit of the spirit....love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) All of this because of Jesus Christ and what He did for you and me.
Why did I go into all of that? Because every single day I witness people who call themselves Christians and yet they walk around living a completely defeated life with a completely defeated attitude. However we are not a defeated people. We are not a weak people. We are not a people who are being bullied around by this world we live in or the circumstances around us. We are a powerful people who are meant to live a purposeful life. We have the most powerful name of all time to praise and worship, to pray to, to call upon in our time of need....and to call upon to help us change the things around us! Never once when I read about Jesus' time on earth do I read that He was impacted by the things that went on around Him. I read about how His presence always made an impact on the things going on around it. Well we carry that same presence with us....His presence. So let's take that presence and His love and walk in authority. Not authority because of who we are, but authority because of whose we are. We serve a risen King....not a dead savior. Yes He died for us...but the story does not end there. There is a man named Jesus Christ who sits at the right hand of God alive and well. And in that is a power that we have been invited to live in, call upon and share with others.
It is my prayer that this will be a mind opening and eye opening word for someone today. That whatever has been robbing your joy...whatever has been stealing your peace...whatever has been making you feel like life or your circumstances are hopeless....whatever has been making you feel defeated...whatever the enemy is trying to use against you to hold you down so you won't see your true potential in Jesus will stop today! We who serve Jesus are the adopted children of a King and we should live like that. Hope, Love, Peace and Joy are for us....so claim them and walk in them today!
God, thank You for ALL that You have ever done and still do for us! Let our minds and our eyes be opened up to what it really means to be a follower of Christ. Help us walk in the authority, love, peace and joy of Your name Jesus, and share that with as many people as we can! I pray that the life and attitude of the Christians who feel defeated and hopeless will be changed TODAY! In Jesus name, Amen!