Are you ready to die to “self” and rise up to living Christ’s Life in you?
Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 16:
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If you truly want to follow Me, you should at once completely reject and disown your own life (die to self). And you must be willing to share My cross and experience it as your own, as you continually surrender to My ways.
25 For if you choose self-sacrifice and lose your lives for My glory, you will continually discover true Life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will forfeit what you try to keep.
26 For even if you were to gain all the wealth and power of this world—at the cost of your own life—what good would that be? And what could be more valuable to you than your own soul?
27 I, the Son of Man, will one day return with My messengers and in the splendor and majesty of My Father. And then I will reward each person according to what they have done.
Notice that Jesus said, “What you have done”, not “Who you are”.
When our self-life is replaced with Christ’s Life, it is called “the exchanged life,” “the shared life,” or “the imparted life.” We must exchange our love for His Love.
Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter 3:
17 Then, by constantly using your faith, the Life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His Love will become the very Source and Root of your life.
18-19 Then you will be empowered to discover what every Holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing Love of Christ in all Its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is His Love! How enduring and inclusive It is! Endless Love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant Love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!
20 Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for His miraculous power constantly energizes you.
As we become partakers OF Christ, we exchange our wisdom for His Wisdom, our strength for His strength, our faith for His strength, our joy for His joy, our peace, etc. It is Christ’s Eternal Life, but because we are open and cleansed vessels, we can now partake of It, share It, and live It.
Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Galatians chapter 2:
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the Life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who Loved me and gave Himself for me.
In other Words:
My old identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this new Life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives His Life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God Who Loves me so much that He gave Himself for me, dispensing His Life into mine!
We are like common clay jars that carry this Glorious Treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours.
This exchange of life, however, does not happen automatically. In order to live Christ’s Life, we must not only be cleansed vessels (sanctified), but we must also have childlike faith. By faith, we choose to give God our hurts, our bitterness, our insecurities, our unforgiveness (any self-life that has quenched His Spirit in us) and in exchange, He gives us His Life—His power and His Love.
Jesus spoke in John chapter 12:
25“The person who loves his life and pampers himself will miss true Life! But the one who detaches his life from this world and abandons himself to Me, will find true Life and enjoy it forever!
26 If you want to be My disciple, follow Me and you will go where I am going. And if you truly follow me as My disciple, the Father will shower His favor upon your life.”
It is your choice!