I am so glad to know by the power of His revealed Word that God is so mindful of us, and not mindful of the wrongdoings when we are IN CHRIST.  The divine exchange that happened at the cross made our eternal victory possible that positioned us to live the good life that He has prearranged and made ready for us.

We have been programmed all these years to be conscious of the wrong that we’ve done and this I believe gave the enemy the right to harass us with his lies.  BUT GOD Who is rich in mercy and abounding in love plucked us out from this defeated mindset and into a victorious perspective by ONE Man’s obedience that made us righteous (Romans 5:19).  It is a GIFT that is to be received and not something to be earned.  The unmerited favor of God made this achievable all by the power of the Blood of Jesus and nothing else.  There is only ONE WAY for God to remember our sins NO MORE and it is when we believe and receive JESUS CHRIST as our Lord and Savior.  HE paid it all at the cross and said, “IT IS FINISHED!” (PAID IN FULL and PAYMENT REMITTED!!)  We have been saved BY GRACE through FAITH.

I was talking to one of my friends lately and she mentioned about someone she knows that kept saying, “I know that I have been forgiven by God because I already asked for forgiveness, but how come nothing has changed in my life.  I still feel unforgiven?”

As I was listening to her, the Holy Spirit in such instancy impressed this in my heart, “To ask for forgiveness isn’t enough in order for you to have the confidence of being forgiven.  You have to know that your sins and unrighteousness have been atoned and paid for by the blood of Jesus.  No debt is paid without having Someone to pay for it.  When you acknowledge Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Who came to rescue and save you and PAID a steep price for your debt, then your confidence will rise up to a whole new level.”

Oh wow … I was swept off my feet by that powerful revelation.  Thank You, Lord.  Then, I got the privilege of making known to her what has been revealed to me.

Our right standing with God is sealed by the Blood of the Lamb of God!  Because of this new covenant with better promises, we can now come BOLDLY before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace in time of need.  We can now SEEK HIM FIRST and His righteous ways of doing right instead of trying to solve our problems first and make Him our last resort.  Oh yes, we have been there and done that with no excuses.  But now, He is giving us a new and living way to live life.  Instead of acting first to fix everything in our own capacity, He gave us the liberty to make Him our priority.  We put Him FIRST Who is our Savior Who welcomes us, saves us, helps us, instructs us, guides us, strengthens us, never leaves us nor forsakes us and most of all loves and kisses us to life, upholding us with His righteous right hand, keeping us above anything that pushes us down.

“Whoever goes hunting for what is right and kind finds life itself – glorious life!” (Proverbs 21:21 MSG)

Righteousness is being made perfect and fully pleasing before our Heavenly Father all because of our perfect Savior and Lord, Jesus, but as we live our daily lives, we still are a work in progress.  We still fall short of His glory.  But one thing that keeps us confident and comforted is that when our minds are renewed and lives transformed, no thing and no one can take away the gift of righteousness away from us.  The FEAR in our lives leaves when we are established in righteousness.

In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. (Isaiah 54:14)

For us not to be oppressed when things don’t go the way we want, we redirect our focus towards our right standing with God, acknowledging what Jesus has accomplished.  Be mindful to utter thanksgiving and praise for all that He has done, He is doing and He will do.

We have the tendency to meditate on our wrongdoings.  We gravitate on the whispers and lies of the enemy who is a defeated foe on how bad we are until we get depressed and oppressed.  In actuality, oppression is of the enemy.   Therefore when we get oppressed, be quick to discern who we have been inclining our ears to and switch the frequency back into our righteousness channel where joy and peace in the Holy Spirit is found.

The same verse mentions that when we are established in righteousness, we shall NOT FEAR!  We know that righteousness is a GIFT, that means it is of God’s giving attribute.  Righteousness is a powerful expression of His great love for you and me and I always carry this words in my heart that “one can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving.”  God so loved us that He gave us Jesus, but we can never benefit from the Gift given if we don’t receive Him.   But when we do, IN HIM, He daily loads us with benefits and one of the powerful benefits of receiving His perfect love is it does cast out all our fears away.  When we are secure in the love of our ALMIGHTY Father, who can come against us?

It’s the same way with terror, when we are established, rooted and grounded in righteousness, it shall not come near us.  Extreme fear, dread, horror, fear and trembling, fright, alarm, panic have no right to harass or inflict us.  Righteousness puts us right in the presence of our Most High God, in His secret place where no foe can come against us.  The very One Who is with us, in us, and for us is GREATER! 

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].  I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!”  (Psalm 91:1-2 AMP)

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace that You made available for us to partake that we have the confidence to live this life enjoying the benefits of the new covenant with better promises.  Jesus, thank You, that because of Your absolute obedience to the Father, You made a way for us to have an intimate relationship with You.  Holy Spirit, thank You for revealing to us our identity of being the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and be established in it that we shall be far from even the thought of oppression for we shall not fear and from terror for it shall not come near our dwelling.  Amen!

 

Photo Credit:  Grace Sison; Loch Ard Gorge, Port Campbell National Park, Victoria, Australia