We finished up with Pastor Prince's grace teaching and made a commitment to write our own prayer/declaration/confession of righteousness based on the truths we've learned from this study. It is always a great idea to read scripture on your own, memorize it, mediate on it, and then incorporate it into a personal prayer that will build your faith in believing who you truly are in Christ Jesus.
The scripture that means so much to me is Romans 5:17. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) So many Christians are not reigning in life--and that included me for many years. They are dying early from sickness and disease, getting divorced, suffering from poverty and lack, and under a general spirit of oppression. They live like the world and see only from the natural perspective. If you asked many of them about the supernatural realm, they might think you are talking about the latest Hollywood horror flick. But the irony is, they have been made the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:21). In other words, they are as right with God as they are ever going to be because of what Jesus did on the cross. In fact, they are as righteous as Jesus Christ Himself! So what is the problem? Why are they living like cursed sinners? Because they haven't received the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness!
One of the great advantages of technology is access to the original Greek language in the Bible. I love using www.blueletterbible.org and have an app on my IPhone so that I can quickly look at the original language of a word in Scripture and get a better understanding of what the Holy Spirit is saying. My prayer/study partner and I are always on our BLB apps looking through the concordance and searching out the root meanings of scriptural references. With respect to the word "receive" in Romans 5:17, I was amazed to learn that it doesn't mean what we may think, coming from a western society--that grace and righteousness have been plopped into our lap like rain from the sky. Yes, we have been saved by grace, and yes we have been made the righteousness of God, but in order to receive all of that, we must seize it, take hold of it, and appropriate it for our own use. This is what the original Greek word means.
Wow! I had never done that before. I had never grabbed hold of the abundance of grace and free gift of righteousness and appropriated it as my own. I just assumed it was mine and that it would mystically manifest in my life somehow when God was willing (mainly after I had obediently performed enough righteous acts to make Him pleased with me - ugh - Jesus did it all on the cross!). But that's not what scripture says! I am required to take hold of it, which means I must believe it and speak it, mediate on it, believe it even more, and speak it again, over and over, until it becomes a manifestation in my life, enabling me to rule and reign now, in this lifetime. It's all about me discovering and coming to believe something that has already taken place in the spiritual realm on the very day I became a believer. It has absolutely nothing to do with me rooting out my sin--what nonsense! Sin was dealt with 2000 years ago! It's all about discovering my righteousness in Christ Jesus!
