2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 10
The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence
Day 10
“If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Romans 8:10
Christ in You
In Romans, Paul spent a great deal of time describing our life as believers. This life is a life that is “in Christ.” The opening verse of this chapter draws its theological premise from this idea that we are “in Christ.” Romans 8, the chapter on the believer’s life in relationship to the Spirit of God, opens with a reminder of our status as being “in Christ.” Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Paul used the phrase “in Christ” in Romans 8:1 to describe our legal standing before God. When God, our just judge, looks at us, He sees us “in Christ.” We are sinners by nature and by choice, but God in His grace looks at us through the lens of Christ’s perfect life, death and resurrection. He sees us “in Christ” so that God sees our sin in the death of Christ in our place. He sees us “in Christ” so that the righteousness of Christ becomes our righteousness in the eyes of God. Paul described it this way in Philippians 3:8-9 “so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”
We have discussed many of the benefits to being “in Christ” such as the forgiveness of sins, justification before God, spiritual life, peace with God, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. In this verse, the Bible says that “Christ is in you.” Paul reversed the direction of the preposition. We are “in Christ” but also “Christ is in us.” The first phrase describes our legal status before God the Father. The second phrase of “Christ is in you” refers to our ongoing relationship with Christ through the Spirit of Christ. In the verse just prior to this verse Paul stated, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” “If Christ is in you” is a reference to the indwelling Holy Spirit from verse 9. Christ abides in us as we abide in Christ. Christ abides in the believer through the Holy Spirit. We have access to the power and presence of Christ through His indwelling Spirit. The presence of the Spirit is a source of tremendous hope for daily living. Christ is at work in us through His Holy Spirit. Colossians 1:27 says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Spiritual Life
The body is dead because of sin. Sin brings death. God allows sin’s consequence to remain in this world even after the death and resurrection of Christ. God allows sin’s consequence to remain even in the life of believers. Even though God gave us eternal life through His Son, He has allowed the physical devastation of sin to remain in the interim. However, between now and eternity the physical reality of death does not mitigate the spiritual reality. “Though the body is dead because of sin,” does not mean you have no life. Your spirit is alive because of the righteousness of Christ. When we believe in Christ, God credits the righteousness of His Son to our account. This crediting of righteousness gives us life. What about the physical life that comes through Christ? Tomorrow’s verse focuses on the hope of the future physical hope that is ours in Christ. However, even though that hope is in the future, the reality of today is the abiding spiritual life through the work of God’s Spirit living in us.
Prayer Focus
Thank You, God, for bringing me spiritual life. Thank You that through faith in Your Son that I am “in Christ.” Thank You also for your abiding presence in my life through Your Holy Spirit. I lift up my family and friends that the hope you promise in Christ would be their hope as well. Please help the church to demonstrate this spiritual life. We ask You to empower us to serve You through the power of Your Spirit. Use me today to share with others the beauty of the spiritual life that can be found in Christ. Use the church to share this hope to the nations.
From DL Moody’s Secret Power
Did you ever notice this, that no man or woman is used by God to build up His kingdom who has lost all hope? Now, I have been observing this throughout different parts of the country, and whenever I have found a worker in God’s vineyard who has lost hope, I have found a man or woman not very useful…It is very important to have hope and it is the work of the Holy Spirit to impart hope…Let Him come into some of our churches, where there have not been any conversions for a few years, and let Him convert some people, and see how hopeful the Church becomes immediately. He imparts hope; a man filled with the Spirit of God will be very hopeful. He will be looking out into the future and he knows that it is all bright, because the God of all grace is able to do great things. Therefore, it is very important that we have hope. If a man has lost hope, he is out of communion with God; he has not resting in the Spirit of God. He may be a son of God and just disheartened so that he cannot be used by God. When I was discouraged, a friend challenged me to study the character of Noah. I took, down my bible, and read about Noah; and then it came over me that Noah worked 120 years and never had a convert, and yet he did not get discouraged; and I said, “well, I ought not to be discouraged.” …I wonder what Noah would have given if he could have had just one convert, and yet he worked 120 years and he didn’t quit.