Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11

Seeds of the Kingdom

The Incomprehensible Provision of the Cross

by Jim Murdock

21 October 2012

« Previous Day | Next Day »

… and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 1:20, NIV

While meditating on Colossians 1:20 recently, I felt God was saying to put down on a graph all that I thought was achieved by Christ’s death on the cross. As I was doing that I felt He said that when I’d finished I would need another, and another, and so on.

Then I felt He said I should draw a graph of all that I personally had experienced of Christ death and blood shed for me on the cross. What a challenge! There`s so much more accomplished by the work of the Cross than I could imagine or have yet experienced for myself. I can have a theological viewpoint and a lot of head knowledge, yet experience so little of the reconciliation God wrought through Christ’s Blood.

God was challenging me never to lower the revelation of Scripture to my experience, the bar is always higher. His ways are so much higher than mine. We discover every spiritual blessing available to us in Christ in Ephesians 1:3 can be laid hold of, or ignored and disregarded. How much do we accept and avail ourselves of?

In 2 Peter 1:3-5 we see God’s power makes everything we need for life and godliness available to us, but it’s in promise form. We need to cash in what God has promised to pay, by activating our faith (Colossians 1:12). The Father has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints but I think Jesus is still marvelling at my unbelief.

Jesus has delegated incredible authority and keys to His Church (us), which we can use, or disregard at our peril. These keys will lock and unlock things in every battle. Those who ministered to Lynda, Sarah, and Frida, and many, many more broken and hurting people have proved this. Some are universal keys and some are very specific.

But even when we’ve been able to use these keys, let’s not rest on our laurels. The apostle Paul had an amazingly successful ministry, but after writing many of the letters which are now part of our New Testament, he said ‘Not that I have already attained all this… but I press on to lay hold of all Christ laid hold of me for’ (Philippians 3:12).

There are heights of intimacy I have yet to reach. There are depths of revelation I have yet to receive. There is much more provision I have yet to lay hold of. What a great salvation! O that I would not neglect it by ignoring it or treating it lightly.


Prayer: Heavenly father I praise and thank you for your great plan of salvation. The more I grasp of that great provision the more enormous it becomes. I am so grateful for all I have experienced, but help me to press on to lay hold of more and more of the complete provision Jesus purchased for me at so high a price, in His Precious Name, Amen

Jim Murdock and his wife Irene joined Ellel Ministries full time in 2010 after many years of association. They manage the centre in Lisburn and lead the work of Ellel Ministries Ireland, North and South.

 

Sign Up Now

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.