The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are 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 the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:18-20, NKJV)
There is immense power available to those who believe. The Scripture teaches that the same power which raised Christ from the dead lives on the inside of you! When you believe, this is the evidence: you will lay your hands on the sick, and the sick will be healed: not just headaches or backaches, but every kind of sickness! - That is the power of believing in Jesus. What a wonderful person Jesus is: He is the Son of God; He loves you; and He is going to work miracles in your life, beginning with forgiving your sin. We die to self and are raised with Christ: literally born again, the old has gone and we are new creations.
What must I do to be saved?
Now behold, one came and said to [Jesus], “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’” The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Matthew 19:16-21, NKJV)
This is a well-known Bible story. The man asks, What must I do to be saved? How can I receive eternal life? - I’ve got good news: I cannot die! The Bible actually tells me I cannot die! Why? I am already dead. The Bible says that when I found Jesus and was baptised, I died to sin, died to my old life, and I have been born again into God’s Kingdom, God’s life - and because I died once, I will live forever. The Scripture teaches, ‘We are buried with Christ in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead’ (Colossians 2:12, NKJV).
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romams 10:9, NKJV)
Jesus said to this man, even if you keep all the law, there is still something missing. Keeping the law alone does not forgive sin and take us into the Kingdom of God. You need faith in God. ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast’ (Ephesians 2:8-9, NKJV). In Luke’s Gospel, John the Baptist asked the question so many of us struggle with: ‘Are You the One, or do we look for another?’ I want you to know Jesus, to believe in Him. Jesus told the disciples of John that the miracles are the evidence: He is the Son of God.
Power to work miracles
‘Are You the One?’ How did Jesus answer them? By working miracles. And Jesus has never changed. He said, ‘If you believe, this will be the evidence, you will lay your hands on the sick and they WILL recover!’ (Mark 16). The sick will be healed! Every kind of sickness! - That is the power of believing in Jesus!
I want to pray for you: Heavenly Father, I want You to send the Power of the Holy Spirit upon all those reading this. I ask You to work miracles to prove the truth of the Bible. Heavenly Father, I know You. You are my Father. You are their Father. Work miracles in our lives today! We may not be able to see You physically, but reveal Yourself by the miracles You perform, in Jesus Name. Amen.
(‘Psalm 23’ used by kind permission of www.vinesong.com)
If any man be in Christ he is a new creation: the old has passed and the new has come
The Bible says that it is ‘Christ IN you, the hope of glory’. When you come to Christ and repent, your old nature must die, so that you can be ‘born again’. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if any man is in Christ he is a new created being, old thing are passed away, all things are new. My old sinful life is dead - I am dead, with Christ in the grave! I was buried with Him in baptism and when when I came out of the water, I was raised with Him into new life. So like the Apostle Paul, I can say, “I live, yet not I, Christ lives in me!” Dead to self, but alive in Christ!
When you have received forgiveness, when you have been buried with Christ and born again, this is the biggest miracle of all time! You have been raised from the dead. The Bible says it so clearly, ‘For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection’ (Romans 6:5).