We have just celebrated the Easter season once again, but for every Believer in Jesus Christ every day is resurrection day for us. Paul declared in Romans 8:11 “If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.”

The circumstances in our lives and the work God is doing in our hearts through them, is just the means to the end to bring forth the resurrected Christ in our lives……Acts 17:28 “For in him we live, and move and have our being.”

Unless the work is done in my heart all my “works” are just religion and just count for “wood, hay and stubble” to be burned up, they will not be stored as “treasures in heaven,” (Matt.6: 19-20). The on-going work in my heart is revealed by my reaction to my circumstances.

In the account of Abraham and Isaac, Genesis 22 records the test that the Lord took Abraham through when he took the knife to slay his son. In verse 12 we read of the angel of the Lord calling out to Abraham, “Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do any thing to him: for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.” This was a test for Abraham to reveal what was in his heart. Abraham reverenced God. A fear of God is the only fear I should entertain. It is a healthy fear. Scripture declares, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” The test proved to Abraham that he would withhold nothing from the Lord. It was for Abraham’s sake, God knew what was in his heart.

In Genesis 3:9, in the Garden of Eden after Adam had sinned and hid himself from the Lord, the Lord called out to him, “Adam, where are you?” God knew where Adam was, but Adam had to acknowledge where he was. It was for Adam’s sake God asked his whereabouts. Sometimes the trial of our faith reveals to us where we are in God, as in Abraham’s case.

Often when we have come through a particular test or trial in the past, we may think we do not have to surrender any more on a particular line. Beware of the phrase: I have surrendered all to God. Surrender is always in the present, never in the past! The question to ask myself in my circumstances is “What is the Lord trying to teach me here?”

By the grace of God, we may find our reactions to a particular set of circumstances visiting us for a second time, do not find the same reaction in us as the first time, because we allowed the Lord to do a work in our heart which released the resurrected Christ, walking in the Spirit, instead of manifesting the flesh. The line of a hymn comes to mind: “And death which He conquered in me has no part, since Christ is alive in my heart.” The life of God changes me, replaces me! New life in Christ! The things that represent “Egypt” and lead to “death” are being pushed out as the life of the Indwelling Christ comes to another measure in me.

“AND DEATH WHICH HE CONQUERED IN ME HAS NO PART!” Hallelujah! Praise God for the resurrection life of His Son in us! We joy in the fact that we share it, we praise God for the truths He has taught us, we thank Him for the past resurrection and look forward to the future when we will meet Him face to face. We thank Him for the divine revelation of the new birth, the glory of the Lord Jesus and our welcome to heaven because of the blood covenant our Heavenly Father set in place at Calvary, when Jesus died and rose again.

Religion produces dead works.

The life of Christ is fresh, new, creative and spontaneous….never boring or stale. It replaces all the works of the flesh with all His divine beauty. All the promises of God are fulfilled in Him. As I surrender the right to myself, the kingdom of God in the resurrected Christ will make my heart His habitation and He will abide comfortably in a surrendered life. A man or woman at peace with God leaves a divine deposit in the lives of others they relate to, and they are unaware of it…..this is the glory of God!