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Start Your Engines!

I have recently been on Sabbatical, which has afforded me much-needed family time, DIY catch-ups around the house, fun in the sun, and some nice, leisurely reading of AW Tozer’s book, The Crucified Life.  As per the title, it is a far cry from a leisurely read! Rather, the Spirit is using this book to tear me apart, so that He can continue to make my body, which is His temple, into a dwelling place He can inhabit more fully.

I have been challenged afresh with the words of Paul in Galatians 2:20: ‘I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’

What does it mean, that ‘I no longer live’ or that Christ now ‘lives in me’?

The more we walk in obedience, the more we live by faith in the Son of God

The Power of a Crucified Life

The implications of the above-mentioned truth are staggering, to say the least. Christ, who lives in me, is now the centre of my universe. He has replaced the big I with the ever-increasing HIM. His desires have now been placed in my spirit, and I have an entirely new and all-powerful ‘engine’ operating from within my being. This ‘engine’ fires up on faith, and faith is not hearing but doing. Doing not what I want, but what He wants – obedience. Obedience is rarely easy, but it is essential. The more we walk in obedience, the more we live by faith in the Son of God, and the more we experience the ceaseless potential of His life unlocked in us.

The true power of new life in Christ is found in getting to know His heart, and that happens when I prize His life in me more than the life I live in the flesh. Life in the flesh (in this context) simply speaks about living as me, on this earth, in my body. Life in the flesh only finds its fullness of meaning when I live it ‘by faith in the Son of God, who loved me’. This means making daily choices to trust Him unconditionally, to believe His promises wholeheartedly, and to obey Him willingly.

There isn’t a more exciting place to be than in a life lived by faith in the Son of God!

Faith in Him

There are distractions, challenges and hindrances when living in the flesh, but as I access the life of the Son of God through faith – a faith that is grounded in God and His love for me, in His Son – things happen! I no longer live in a realm of ‘I live for me’ but in ‘He died for me‘.

There isn’t a more exciting place to be than in a life lived by faith in the Son of God! Fasten your seatbelts and say good-bye to mundane living! Embrace a life of faith in the Son of God. Accept the truth of His mind-blowing love. Determine, above all things, not to just start up the motor within, but to hear it roar on all cylinders and feel its torque as we engage in the POWER of God. Let us START OUR ENGINES and get ready for the ride of our lives!

‘Let the word of Christ influence you richly!’ (Col. 3:16)

Brad is the lead elder of Oxygen Life Church, a multi-site church in Gqeberha, South Africa. He also works apostolically worldwide. Brad is married to Angela, and they have three children. Follow Brad on Facebook and Instagram for more.

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