Christian! Are you Still Alive?

I have been a Christian for many years and one of the things that I have been meditating the most is; about the kind of life I am living. What does it take to be a Christian? Am I showing with my life that I am a Christian?

One morning I was praying and asking the Lord to help me, because my heart desire is to serve HIM, to surrender completely to HIS will, to be useful for HIS Glory. After spending some time making inventory of my life before the Lord, the Lord make me understand that even though I feel there is no response to my prayer, HE has not stop working behind the scenes. This instantly gave me peace.

Suddenly the Lord started to show me like a tall wall of dirt like in a cavern. All I can see is this wall as I felt I was moving upwards. Looking closer I saw like shapes of dead people one on top of others. I also saw like an eye opened on the wall. I asked the Lord: "What is the meaning of this?" and HE said: "These are the martyrs that throughout the centuries have died for the Word of God and they are witnesses".

Immediately I thought: … if they look from heaven at us, at how we stand on the Word of God, for the Gospel of Christ...? - at this moment I question myself, what have I done with my life? They died for a Cause that is really Larger than this Life.

Meditating on this experience I started to think about the fact that most of them, saints of GOD, died but not just a physical death. Before they were martyred, they have also died to themselves. On Revelation we can read and understand they were able to go through all the horror, because they have made Christ their life. Rev. 6: 9When the Lamb broke open the fifth seal, I saw at the foot of the altar the souls of those whose lives had been sacrificed for [adhering to] the Word of God and for the testimony they had borne.

Rev.12: 11 And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death [holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing]. Amplified Bible

Jesus said whoever believes in HIM has crossed from death to life.( John 5:24) We know that if we are without Christ we are dead in our sins. When we come to recognize that we are sinners and that we need forgiveness, there is only one place we can come to, and that is to the cross, to the ONE that made sacrifice (died) for us, JESUS!

The most amazing thing is that in that place, you will find love , forgiveness and peace. The reality is that GOD created us for HIS Glory, to show the praises of Him that bring us from darkness to His wonderful light. (1Pet 2:9)

According to the Bible, when we receive forgiveness of GOD because of Christ sacrifice (death), we become alive spiritually, because: if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!(2Cor 5:17) Paul wrote also: 2 Cor 5:15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

I do not know about you, but this scriptures confront us with the measure of a Christian, what GOD wants or expect from us. If we understood that we sinned against GOD, that we were sentenced to death, and that HE sent HIS Son to die instead of us so we can be forgiven; I think that whatever that He will ask from us cannot compare to what HE has done.

No longer live for themselves?… yes, die to ourselves, Paul writes in Col 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

I think this is the hardest thing to do, but not impossible. The Bible is full of examples of lives called by God, people changed when received Christ as their savior, which were persecuted, who died preaching the Word of God. It is not a matter of difficulty but one of decision.

How can I die to Myself? In Colossians 3:5 Paul tells us that we are to put to death all things that are of earthly nature:sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other,...(V5-9)

Jesus said on John 12:25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Once we believe in Christ we are to hate that kind of life we use to live. Many times it could be difficult to get rid of all those practices and vices from our old life, but the Lord promised to be with us always, that the Holy Spirit will be our helper.

Col. 312-14 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

We have to believe GOD when HE says He will never leave us or forsake us. Faith is an important in our daily walk with GOD. Knowing that HE is there with you when you are angry, tugging at your heart when temptation knocks at the door.

Paul said in his letters that he died to himself every day. We are to do so, if we want to live a live that honors GOD;

1. Praying every day to the Lord,
2. acknowledging the areas where our earthly nature is still in control, and
3. asking for the Lord to help us, to purify our life, to life a life where our actions reveal that Jesus lives in us.

Paul tell the Colossians on his letter, Chapter 1: 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[d] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption,[e] the forgiveness of sins.

Our Real Life starts when we accepted Jesus as our savior, we cannot live in two worlds or live two different lives. Are from the world or the Kingdom of Heaven? Are we living in the flesh or in the Spirit?