The Blood Of Christ: What God Sees In Us
Have you ever had moments of self-doubt when you try to imagine how God sees you? Does He see your shortcomings, your faults, your sins? When you are having those doubtful thoughts, do you feel the Holy Spirit is convicting you?
When Jesus was on the cross, God poured out His anger on the body of His Son. Jesus exhausted all the indignation of a Holy God against our sins, and then He said, “It is finished” John 19:30.
Our sins have already been punished. God’s holiness and His righteousness are NOW IN YOU. Satan would love to rob you of that truth, and he often gets away with it.
But… when you know who you are because of what Christ did for you, those thoughts dissipate.
When your Heavenly Father looks at you, He sees the blood of Christ. That blood is continually cleansing us from sin – it is ongoing.
The Blood Of Christ
When God looks at us, He does not see the sin – He sees a child of His who has been redeemed because His Son paid the price. If that were not true, then Jesus would have to keep dying for our redemption. He died once so that we can come to God righteous – cleansed of all unrighteousness.
The price was paid for our past sins, our current sins, and our future sins. Does that mean that we can blatantly go around sinning? Of course not. But we can rest assured that if we have sinned, He is faithful and just to forgive us because of what Christ did – N O T what we do, did, or have done.
“God imputes righteousness not to those who strive to obey the law, but to anyone who believes in His Son” Galatians 2:16.
“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Why should you care if you sin or not if all your sins are covered? Grace directs us to NOT sin. It makes us want to do what is right.
Tell yourself: I am not righteous because of what I have done or not done. I am righteous ONLY because of the blood and finished work of Jesus at the cross. PERIOD.
“Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them” Romans 4:5-8.
Righteousness is not right doing – it is right BEING.
Increase In Grace
The next question many people have asked is “How do we increase in grace?”
You need to believe that you can increase in favor. How do we do that? It is through our faith. The action part of faith, the WORKS, is our belief in God’s Word.
Faith is not passive – it is active.
If you do not believe it, how can you grow in it? Believing it releases your faith to receive the grace of God. God’s grace is always there for you. Step into it. It is a gift from God to you.
For more teaching about grace and favor go to:
Are there any hindrances to growing in grace? Unbelief is a major hindrance as is pride. “He gives more grace to the humble” James 4:6. Pride is a hurdle to growing in grace. Pride says you did it yourself. Humility says God did it for you.
Pride says, “Look what I am doing for God.” Humility says, “Look what God did for me.”
“For by grace are we saved through faith; and not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast” Ephesians 2:8-9.
God's Grace
You will never do enough, read your Bible enough, tell others about Christ enough, or pray enough to warrant God’s grace. His grace is a gift to you from Him.
Mercy is the act of withholding deserved punishment. God sent His Son to take the punishment we deserve.
Grace is the act of endowing unmerited favor. He gives us the gift.
Grace is one thing against which the devil has no defense. And he is fully aware of that. For this reason, the devil thrives to keep you from understanding the message of grace and God’s favor in your life.
If you are living by your self-effort to earn God’s approval, the devil has power over you. He can always point to something that you have not done. Or something that you have done. This gives him dominion over you.
If you claim God’s protection and healing based on what you have done, the devil, who is an expert accuser, just has to point to one of your failures and all your faith implodes. You will disqualify yourself mentally and inwardly from receiving whatever you might be trusting the Lord for.
Grace qualifies you for protection. When the devil accuses you by saying, “How dare you believe God for protection when you are….(and he fills in your list of failures). All you must do is point to Jesus’ blood, which he paid for all your failures.
With grace as your basis, the God of peace can reign over your fears and impart to you unshakable faith for His protection!
When you understand grace, you will know how perfectly loved you are by your Father in heaven. It removes any doubt.
“Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” Hebrews 4:16.
God did it for us. We are not like sheep without a shepherd, but we are deeply loved and cared for by our Abba Father. We are His children and when we call on Him, He will answer.