The Power of His Resurrection
by Larry White
Aug. 14,1991

   God does things in the world and in our lives in response to faith and prayer.

Initially: When we first come to him in faith and call on his name for the forgiveness of our sins, he responds to our faith and saves us. There are two things he does when we are immersed into Christ.

Col. 2:11-13
“…in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not accomplished with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried along with him in immersion, in which you were also raised along with him through the faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, even you he made alive along with him, having forgiven you all your trespasses;”

  1. He forgives all our sins
  2. He makes us alive along with Jesus

   Notice that this is through faith in his working when we are immersed.

   Being raised from the dead along with Jesus is something that we continually experience as his resurrection is realized in our lives. This is what Paul refers to as the power of his resurrection, which he wants to know experientially.

Phil.3:10
“…that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death;”

This regenerating power is what Paul prayed that we might also know experientially.

Eph.1:16-20
“I also…cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in a full knowledge of him; having had the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the might of his strength which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly realm,

   The life of a child of God then is characterized by us growing into a full experiential knowledge of this regenerating power of Christ’s resurrection in our lives. First in our new birth when we receive spiritual life and then in the maturing and perfecting of our image into the image of Christ, which is a growth into the manifestation of his life in us; having Christ formed in us.

2Cor.3:17-18
Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.

   Now if that is not happening for me, and I’m just the same character I was years ago and I’m not growing and changing – it is probably because I’m not having faith in what God has said in his word about the great blessings he has given me and faith in what he can do in my life by his power. I’m not asking, nor am I expecting, nor am I receiving God’s healing, his help or his victory in the spirit. If I find myself in that condition then I must repent of anything amiss in my life that wars against my soul, and ask God for his best for my life, and to make me worthy of his kingdom. Then feed on his word letting it dwell in me richly.

   There is no place for despondency, discouragement or despair. If you believe God will regenerate you, he will; because again, he responds to faith and prayer.

  There is great hope for the child of God. You don’t have to give up. God is able to make you new again. He will let you realize Christ’s resurrection in your own life.

LW

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