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Friday, April 21, 2017

How the resurrection power of Jesus can help us deal with life's frustrations

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Romans 6:5-7 "For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin."

How the resurrection power of Jesus can help us deal with life's frustrations 

The reality of Christ's resurrection on that first Easter Sunday validates everything achieved on Good-Friday. Were it not for Easter, then Christ, His cross and all he accomplished would had remained hermetically sealed in history. Christ's resurrection and ascension 40 days following His that event ensured that the historic event could be made a living experience in the lives of His followers - both then and now. If Christ had not been raised, then we would having nothing more than the tragic death of one man. 

Today's post wants to briefly consider how Christ's resurrection from the dead provides the power Christians need to deal with what can often times be the frustrations of life or the exhausting nature of battling sin. Below I am going to give two brief observations and scriptures that readers can appeal to in beefing up their strategy in overcoming frustration and whatever else may be depleting the spiritual reserves of the Christian life.

1. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead demonstrated that the objective, historical event of the cross could now be applied (see 1 Corinthians 15:11-28; 1 Peter 1:3-5). Hence, forgiveness of sins and the power to overcome such are rooted in the resurrection power of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7; Acts 3; Hebrews 4:14-16; 7;24-25).

2. Moreover, the causal connection between Easter and Pentecost means that by the Holy Spirit, the events of the cross and empty tomb are brought to sinners in salvation and continue to have ongoing, progressively increasing significance in the believer’s post-conversion sanctification (Luke 11:13; John 16:1-12; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4, 30-41; Romans 5:1-5; 6:12-16; 8:1-8; 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Ephesians 5:18; Colossians 1:27; 1 Peter 1:4-10; 2 Peter 1:3-11). 

As I heard one preacher say in a recent message: even though we can never live up to all the scripture we take into our hearts and minds; yet, we can only be effective to the degree we take in scripture into our hearts and minds. God's Word and Spirit connect us to the events of Christ's cross, empty-tomb and ascension. In our battle with sin, may we ever appeal to these realities and realize that our union with Him means His power is ever available to us to overcome whatever frustrations we may be dealing with at any given time.