Prayer Thought: I’m Dead. Are You?

Here, ladies and gents, on this the first day of June, in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty Two, is your theologic-logic for the week. This is a quote from good ole Charles Stanley,
“Have you acknowledged your freedom from sin’s power? Or have you been relying on your feelings as indicators of your relationship to sin? Your feelings will tell you that nothing has changed; everything is as it’s always been. But God says you’re different. He says you’re dead to sin…and dead people are free from the power of sin.”

I believe Stanley’s logic in this last sentence to be very insightful. In fact, I have seldom heard this helpful juxtaposition in light of being dead to sin, but alive in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11-13). Humor me and follow this concept for a moment: Dead people are free! Free from what? Well, the Christian logic breaks down at some point, I realize. But dead people are indeed…dead! They are no longer hindered or enslaved by the things of this temporal world. Therefore, the power of sin(s) that haunted these people in this world no longer do so because they aren’t carried into the grave with them. Understand that even as Christians, we live in a fallen world and still deal with sin(s). But we don’t continue in sin so that grace might increase (Rom. 6:1). And yes, I do realize sin(s) DO follow you into the grave if you’re an unbeliever.

This is the most incredible news for us as believers, however! What caused our death in the first place, sin, is swallowed up in victory at the cross of Christ. Jesus paid the ultimate price on that cross, heaping billions upon billions of our sins on Himself. He overcame the grave and sin’s power, SO THAT we also may be dead to sin (freed from its grasp) and ALIVE in Christ Jesus. Where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting (1 Cor. 15:55)?

Understanding this biblical truth brings immense amounts of freedom to us as followers of Jesus. This fact, of being DEAD TO SIN, is the whole reason we evangelize, the whole reason I get up in the morning, the whole reason we talk to those who are suffering or are in great trials, the whole reason we must send missionaries into the field! It’s the greatest truth and incentive you and I will ever get to experience this side of Glory. So, let’s act like it matters, cause it certainly does!

Prayer Action:

Spend 5 minutes each day this week meditating on this beautiful truth: Dead people are freed from the power of sin, and Christ has made us ALIVE through Himself! As you praise the Lord this week, let this be the praise that is first on your heart and on your tongue. If it helps, bullet-point the sins that you have felt have kept you from knowing and experiencing the freedom in Christ that has been given to you…lay them at the foot of the cross and leave them there!!

Blessings,

 

Clay

 

Clayton J. Elliott, Kontaktmission USA
Director of Pastoral Ministries and Prayer
clay@GoKMUSA.org