Good morning. It’s…um…wait. Yes. Wednesday! That’s it! Wednesday, April 11. Today is Christi’s last day at Supermedia!! And there is great rejoicing! Well…not so much at Supermedia. She begins her new job at Sabre Holdings next Monday, the 16th. She has tomorrow and Friday to relax, and I will be taking Friday off, as well. I like this…using my vacation time to have an occasional Friday off for a three day weekend. For a bonus, Stephanie has Disciple Now this weekend, so she will be at someone else’s house for two nights! However, there are potentially severe thunderstorms predicted for Friday and Saturday. So we won’t be straying too far from home, as Stephanie is terrified of storms. But she will be among friends and people she really likes, so that will help. Today, there will be a “going away” lunch for Christi at Spring Creek Barbecue in Grapevine. I’ll be departing from my usual Lean Cuisine and joining them for a part of that lunch. Good times, sad times (sounds like a Led Zeppelin song)…
Good workout last night on the elliptical machine at 24 Hour Fitness. And we got to watch the Rangers game on TV while working out. That was nice. And they won! You can check out a recap of the season so far in my other blog, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit.
Father, I pray that you would show me something this morning that will help me live this day looking to Christ. Give me strength to be crucified with him. Identify me with your death until I know that sin is dead in me!
My Utmost For His Highest
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Romans 6:5
Today’s reading continues on a theme from yesterday’s. Yesterday’s reading dealt with the crucifixion, and today’s deals with the resurrection. If I have been crucified with Christ, it will be evident because I will bear a likeness to him. His Spirit within me “readjusts my personal life to God.” “I can have the resurrection life of Jesus now, and it will show itself in holiness.”
You see, after I have made the decision to be identified with Christ in his death, his resurrected life invades me…every part of me. The Spirit is not just a guest in my house. He invades everything. “He takes charge of everything; my part is to walk in the light and to obey all that He reveals.”
This is not difficult…it’s impossible. But the funny thing is…once the Spirit invades in this way, it doesn’t seem impossible any more.
Tabletalk Magazine
By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3b-4
Another thing that Christ does for us (remember yesterday…he mediates between us and God) is that he removes God’s sight from our sin, “granting us a status before the Father that is not based on what we have done but on what Jesus has done.” That truth is the basis of the gospel. The is “The Great Exchange!” “Through the great exchange–our sin for Christ’s righteousness–we are reconciled to God the Father.” Notice we do not trade our righteousness for that of Christ. We have no righteousness…we have only sin.
On the cross, Jesus secured our justification, but he also broke the power of sin over us. “When God condemned sin in the flesh of our Savior, He also destroyed sin’s hold on His children, freeing us to walk in the Spirit and not in the disobedient ways of those who remain in Adam.”
The Bible Panorama
Luke 11:1–28; 1 Sam. 17–18
“You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.” 1 Samuel 17:45-47
Father, I praise you this day for the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and for the life that they are producing within me. I pray once again that you would identify me with your death in Christ until I know for certain that sin is dead in me! I also pray for the invasion of the Holy Spirit into every fiber of my being. He is not simply a “guest” in my “house.” He is to have full reign of my being. May I love you with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, Lord. May my life be a reflection of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Destroy sin in me.
I praise you for the “great exchange,” Father! My sin for the righteousness of Christ. My life for his life! What a great deal for me! I cannot lose in this transaction! May you be glorified in me, Father, as I strive to be most satisfied in you.
No matter what comes my way today, Lord, may I be as confident as young David in the face of Goliath. My strength and my confidence are in your name, Lord. And I have nothing else to claim.
I pray for this day. May today’s lunch be a good time of remembering and celebration for Christi and her friends. I pray that there will not be too much sadness, although some is necessary. I pray for her new adventure, beginning next Monday, and that she will be very successful in her new job. May your light shine through her and may your Spirit dwell within her mightily as she begins anew. I pray for Stephanie’s day today, Lord, that she will have a good meeting with her teacher and that she will continue to get work done toward graduating in June. Also, I pray for a good work day for me, letting your light shine through me in everything I do today.
I continue to lift up Bridget and her baby to you. Keep the baby safe until a time when she can be born and survive. I pray that you grant this life to Bridget and her family, Lord. Be merciful, Lord.
May all of us who believe in Christ be identified with his death until his resurrection life can be strong within us, doing away with sin in our lives and filling us with his Holy Spirit, invading every fiber of our being! Amen!
Grace and peace, friends.
Spaces of Beauty, Grace, Prayer, and Mercy 
Freeing us to walk in the Spirit – We are so blessed
God Bless you and the family
Continuing prayers
susie
Thank you, so much, Susie.