We thank You, Holy Spirit, for opening our spiritual eyes to clearly see the difference in who we are without our Lord Jesus and who we are with our Lord Jesus. Remind us that without Him we were once dead, doomed because of our sins, living like the rest of the world, full of sin, serving Satan, following the whims and fancies of our evil nature, and positioned to receive God’s wrath.
Remind us that while we were living apart from our faith in Jesus, we were outsiders. Outsiders not only by birth, but also outsiders to Your Kingdom of grace and mercy. With no covenant to set us apart, we were excluded from God’s people. We were without God, without hope, and positioned far away from God.
We thank You, Father God, that despite all of these things, You had a plan. Your immense love for us and Your mercy set us up for life in Jesus, even when we were dead in our sins. In Christ, You raised us from the dead and seated us in heavenly places and made us examples of Your incredible favor and kindness. You saved us by Your special favor when we believed and created us to be brand new masterpieces in Jesus Christ, so that we can do the good work that You prepared for us in advance.
We thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your death on the cross. It broke down the walls of hostility between all those who believe in You and reconciled us to each other. Most importantly, it broke down the wall of hostility between our Father and reconciled us to Him. We can now live in the good news of this peace and reconciliation regardless of the turmoil in the world around us and come boldly to the Father’s throne of grace by the power of the Holy Spirit as one Body.
We thank You, LORD, that we are now Your citizens, Your family, Your body, Your house, Your temple, Your people, and Your dwelling where You live by the power of Your Spirit. You erased the identity of slavery from the nation of Israel while also reminding them to never forget that they were formally slaves to Egypt. You did this to spur them to compassion and mercy for those who were still stuck in slavery. Erase the identity of our former slavery to sin, but never let us forget what we were rescued from, so that we too might be spurred to the same compassion and mercy for those who still find themselves stuck in sin, despair, and unbelief.
May our lives and the fruit of the Spirit in our lives point to none but You!
