He is Risen. Now What?
When sin does't feel defeated
Hi angel,
Happy Resurrection Sunday! Holy, Holy, Holy, Hallelujah! He is risen and defeated death and sin forevermore!
You may be thinking...Okay, we are saved, we believe, we celebrated on Sunday, but I don’t feel like sin and death are gone. Look at he world around us?
And that feeling is valid.
Usually on Resurrection Sunday I would be taking you straight to the gospel accounts of the empty tomb, but the last three emails were about that and this week God pointed me somewhere unexpected, so I knew I had to bring you with me.
Habakkuk 2:4 says, “The righteous person will live by his faithfulness.”
Habakkuk was living through one of the darkest seasons in Israel’s history, the Babylonians were rising, everything around him looked wrong, injustice was everywhere, and God told him things would get even darker before the inevitable fall.
Habakkuk didn’t love that, buy God reassured him that faith would preserve and sustain everyone who chose to trust Him through it.
And it’s not just that he would let them stay alive. When God says they will “live” He refers to spiritual life in its fullest sense, peace, joy, resilience, and ultimately salvation.
For the prideful Babylonians, they were not extended that grace. They would inevitably fall.
This is why we stay faithful.
FAITHFULNESS IS NOT JUST BELIEVING GOD, IT IS COMMITTING, STAYING FAITHFUL, LOYAL AND ATTUNED TO HIM.
This is why Paul considered the verse: “The righteous person will live by his faithfulness,” so important that he quoted it three times across the New Testament, in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38.
Romans 2:13 adds another layer, “For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.”
Our faith needs to be alive, it needs to move and fuel our connection to God. It produces obedience, loyalty, and a genuine desire to walk with God, and that desire is the evidence that your faith is real.
NOT TO SOUND DRAMATIC, BUT IF WE DON’T CHOOSE FAITH AND LIFE, WE CHOOSE SIN AND DEATH.
Romans 6:23 gives us the stakes, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
There are two ways to live, in the death that sin produces or in the life that faith activates.
That is what we are actually celebrating today. Jesus walked out of that tomb so that life, real life, eternal life, would be available to every single person who chooses faith.
SALVATION IS THE GIFT AND FAITH IS THE RESPONSE.
Salvation removed the burden of the law, the impossible checklist of rules that no human could ever perfectly keep, and faith is what grows in its place.
Here is the beautiful paradox though, when you truly live by faith, you naturally begin to want the things the law was always pointing toward.
Galatians 5:22-23 describes what that looks like from the inside out, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law.”
There is actually a beautiful intentionality to the order these fruits are listed in.
Love comes first because everything else flows from it.
Joy and peace follow as the internal fruits, the ones that transform how you experience your own life.
Patience, kindness, and goodness are the relational fruits, the ones that transform how you show up for the people around you.
Faithfulness, gentleness, and self control are the character fruits, the ones that transform who you are becoming over time. They move from the inside out, from your heart to your relationships to your character, and faith is what activates the whole process.
THE GOLDEN CHAIN. ROMANS 8:30.
Romans 8:30 is one of the most stunning verses in all of scripture and it answers the “okay now what” question better than anything else we have found:
“And those He predestined He also called, those He called He also justified, those He justified He also glorified.”
Theologians call this the golden chain of salvation because every link is unbreakable. He predestined you, He called you, He justified you, and He glorified you, all in the same breath, all already complete, all already yours.
This is why our tagline is “Adornments for the Chosen”!
SEATED AT THE THRONE. CLOSE ENOUGH FOR HIM TO HEAR YOU.
Ephesians 2:6 tells us, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”
We are already seated in heavenly places with Jesus, and that position matters enormously because Jesus wants us as close to the throne as possible.
Closeness is not necessarily about proximity, it’s a relational closeness. When you are closer to the throne it means you spend more time in connect with him, your prayer are heard, your heart is postured towards Him.
Hebrews 4:16 gives us the invitation, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Walk up to the throne with confidence because you are seated there and you are welcome and Jesus is waiting to hear from you.
This is what faith looks like in practice. Waking up every day and living from the truth of where you are seated rather than how your circumstances feel.
Holding faith like Habakkuk did when everything around him looked wrong. Running the golden chain of Romans 8:30 through your mind when the enemy tries to convince you that your salvation is conditional. Bearing fruit that moves from the inside out.
Approaching the throne with confidence because you belong there.
He rose on Sunday so you can get closer to him every single day, so you can truly live.
YOUR PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the resurrection and for the truth that I am saved, seated, and secure in You.
I declare that I live by faith today. I believe, and I live for you.
Because of my faith you have given me true life, spiritual life in its fullest sense, peace, joy, resilience, and ultimately salvation.
I declare that the golden chain of Romans 8:30 is my reality, that You predestined me, called me, justified me, and glorified me, and every link in that chain is unbreakable over my life.
I receive the fullness of my salvation as a finished work that I walk in today with confidence and gratitude.
I approach Your throne with boldness today because Hebrews 4:16 tells me I am welcome there, and I bring every prayer, every need, every declaration, and every act of praise knowing that You hear me and You answer me.
I am seated with Christ in heavenly places and I walk through this day from that position. I pray for closer proximity to you and your thrown, and with every prayer, every word I speak to you, ever moment I dwell in your presence, we get closer and closer.
The fruit of Your Spirit is growing in me today, from the inside out, love first and everything else flowing from it, and I declare that my life is a living testimony of faith activated by your resurrection.
In Jesus name, amen.
Today and every day, our collection exists to keep you anchored to the truth of who you are and what He did for you. Wear your faith. Carry heaven into all the places you go.
xo Amber-Lee