Moving Forward With God in Christ Jesus!

“We do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” – Hebrews 10:39 NIV

We should NOT shrink back and be destroyed from the faith in Christ Jesus, for we know  that “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) This means that God has given us the salvation in Christ Jesus by forgiving our sins. To prove this, He came down from heaven into the world as Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:6-8; Colossians 1:15) to crucify Himself on the cross as an atonement of our sins, in order to disarm the spiritual powers, authorities, and rulers (Colossians 2:13-15).

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is TRUE for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. (Romans 3:22-26)

Therefore, since God declares all of us to be right in His sight and we are healed by Christ’s wounds (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24), let’s really pursue (Deuteronomy 4:29; Matthew 6:33) and moving forward with Him (Philippians 3:7-14); by abiding to the Spirit and the peace of God (John 14:15-17,26-27) in everything that we do, for “the earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1); and we are the children (1 John 3:1) and the branches of God (John 15:1-5)!

I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. (1 John 4:13)

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? (1 Corinthians 3:16)

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)