The Power of the Resurrection of Christ

by Matty B. Duran

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

The Resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ has meant the dying of sin inside me. For years I cut my body. It has only been in the last few years that Jesus Christ has been convicting me of the wounding of His Own Body. Of course, which one of us would want to take a razor and cut our Lord? But He told me, The Holy Spirit uttered in the deep places where grief dwells, that I was bruising the Savior all over again. Every time I cut my own skin out of anger, even just a forearm, even one scratch, one cut, that I laid new stripes onto Christ, through my body, which Belonged to Him.

For years, I believed I hurt no one, but myself, it was my pain, my body to mutilate. Whenever I cut, I would grow profoundly wounded. Wounded in my spirit. The Holy Spirit was deeply grieved. The scratches, the cuts, were demons taking revenge through my vulnerability. It was sin, that I performed on myself to assuage the grief of a childhood gone wrong and womanhood I felt was stolen. There was deep rooted anger, a silent rage, that was very polite.

I prayed for year and years, I asked for forgiveness. If I was a new creation, Holy Father, why did I still injure myself? I took this to the Cross, to the Throne of Grace. Then I began to remember the Scriptures, The Holy Spirit had laid upon my heart years earlier.

Romans 6 and Romans 7.

"For if we have been united together in the Likeness of His Death, certainly we shall be in the Likeness of His Resurrection!"

knowing this that the old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

For he who has died has been freed from sin,

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that

we shall also live with Him,

knowing that Christ having been raised

from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.

For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that he lives, He lives to God.

Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey in its lusts.

And do not present yourselves as members of instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

(Romans 6:5-14)

I read that my old body was done away with. My old self was crucified with Jesus Christ. The old woman of sin was crucified with my Lord. Sin is nailed to The Cross. Not just all of the sins, laid on the Lord Jesus, but our own personal sins, the sins that had become addictions were murdered there. I didn't have to keep picking up those old scabs, because they only had the power I gave them. If I didn't want to cut my body, I didn't have to. But then I would slip, something would happen and the old mechanisms of coping would take over, and I begin to shred and rip at my vulnerable, already scarred skin. This deeply distressed me. It wasn't for the throbbing of broken skin, but it was for grieving The Holy Spirit. Once again I feel into disobedience.

Then I remembered the Apostle Paul,

"For what I am doing, I do not understand.

For what I will to do, that I do not practice;

but what I hate, that I do.

If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law

that it is good.

But now it is no longer I who do it but sin

that dwells in me.

For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh,

nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how

to perform what is good I do not find.

For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do,

that I practice.

Now, if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it but sin that

dwells in me.

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me

into the to the law of sin

"O' WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM! WHO WILL DELIVER ME FROM THIS BODY OF DEATH?

(Roman 7:15-24)

Who will deliver me from this body of death? The Lord Jesus has delivered me from this body of death. If I have been crucified with Him, then my sins were crucified too! There was no need to keep cutting a body that was already redeemed by The Precious and Holy Blood of Jesus Christ. We put to death the deeds of the flesh whatever they may be. What The Son of God has done for us, is triumph over sin. Then we make the choice, whether we want the sin or whether we want The Likeness of Christ. Whether we want obedience or disobedience. The Spirit equips us to disrobe sin for what it is. Crucifying the Lord Jesus afresh. Sin is putting our Lord back on the Cross, when He already became sin. It is to grieve The Holy Spirit. It is to hurt our Father in Heaven. Sin is such a heinous and deceitful act that David pleaded for God not to cast him away from His presence in Psalm 51.

"Do not cast me away from thy Presence, And do not take away Thy Holy Spirit from me."

(Psalm 51:11)

The Resurrection brings new life into me. It is a new life in Jesus Christ. I am born again into a life with my God. It is to die to this life, to die to its desires, its culture, and to embrace my life with The Son of God, my Lord Jesus Christ. This is my reality, seeing sin in a different way, loathing the sin that lurks behind every corner, and condemning it. It is to die to the flesh, and its wants and naggings. It is to see The Righteousness of God, and desire with all my heart, Christ's Likeness, His Beauty. It is to love The Lord Jesus Christ, who is my Lord, it is to run after Him, desire Him above money, above reputation, my position in this life, to let my rights be trampled on, to be clothed with Christ's Humility, to see Him in a way I never did before. It it so be blinded with Love for Jesus. to desire His Intimacy, to hunger for His Presence, and to cry out for Him above all others. My desires for cuts, for razor blades, for pain, for throbbing, to quell the internal ragings, is quieted by The Holy Spirit. He has in the past tried to quiet this part of me. He has been patient with me. The devil has tried to condemn me when I had markings on my body, when the scars were scabs. But my Father forgave me. I was forgiven by The Blood of His Son, my beautiful Savior Jesus Christ.

But I was not living in His Resurrection Power. I was still laying my body on the altar as a living sacrifice, but was jumping off the altar, moaning with pain, letting my flesh take out its frustration. To rise from the ashes, to rise from the bruisings and the cuttings that I never had to take in the first place. Christ bore the wounds. He was crushed for my iniquities. I could never punish myself enough. That was never my God's desire for me. He had something better in mind for me, Salvation. His Blood cleansed me from my cutting. I was justified, by Grace. By the faith God gave me in His Son Jesus Christ. But my Father wanted me sanctified. No, my Father in Heaven would not leave me in the pools of blood I had created for myself. He said, "No, you are mine, I love you. I redeemed you, I am jealous for you. I AM your Father, and I will not leave you to wallow in your own vomit."

"I have put Robes on you, have dressed you, will let no one defile you. I created you for worship, my children are washed in The Blood of the Lamb. I have created you for The Throne Room, I have made you a crown of gold for your head, you cannot see right now, I have given you a new name, and it is not despair, loneliness, or scarred. "

"Come up Higher!" To see yourself as you once were. To know True Joy, To know My Peace. To proclaim My praises. No child of mine is left to wallow in their sins. I have sent The Holy Spirit to help you. To be your counselor. To calm you. To soothe you. To seal you. To protect you. To love you. To transform you. To pour My Strength into you. To hear My Voice. To give you Power from on High."

The clearer His Voice become, the weaker my anger is. Believing that God wants to make me Holy. Believing that He wants better for this woman than she ever wanted for herself. In sanctifying me, I see The Lord Jesus in a whole new light. As sanctification become more intense, and deeper. I began to see myself in a whole new light. I become less worthy, as God makes me Holy. He becomes so much more Worthy! I want to shout Glory! Glory! Holy! Holy! A lot! I want to praise Him for every wound that He took, I have this desire to bless Him for every stripe He took. To kiss His Holy Feet. To worship Him, and to lay as a child at His Precious Feet. I am less dignified. I cry out! I shout! I weep! I sigh! As He calls out to me, "Come up Higher!" When He ascended back to The Father. Our Lord was received on High! He was not wounded, nor bloody. Sin was crucified. The sins of mankind, of those who would believe were nailed to The Cross, there they stayed. They did not cling to Him anymore. He was Pristine. He was no longer Sin. God made Him sin, separated Himself from our Lord, until He was Resurrected. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the acceptance of His Sacrifice. It is the removal of the sin that He took upon His Flesh.

The Apostle Paul write,

"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.

(Galatians 2:20)

Our Father wants us to become crucified with our Savior Jesus Christ. To leave sin behind us. To walk in the Holiness He died to give us. It is not just about forgiveness of sins, which is important, it is living a resurrected life from the person who was dead in their trespasses and sins. We are new creations in Christ Jesus. But we must not conform to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Romans 12:20)

It is to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called. (Ephesians 4:1)

It is to be imitators of God as dear children. (Ephesians 5:1)

 It is to believe that we were raised with Christ. It is to seek out those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. It is to set our mind on the things above, and not on the things of this earth. (Colossians 3:1-2)

It is to leave the dead skin behind, with its bruising and shavings. It is to leave the blood we once danced in, and hear the voice of our Savior and run to Him. To leave the slop where we once supped behind. It is to truly follow Jesus Christ. It it to let The Power of The Holy Spirit, The Power of The Resurrection, put to death the deeds of the flesh. It is to believe in The Redemption of Jesus, to know His Blood is cleansing us, it is to know as Truth, that it is The Righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to us. His Righteousness, not our own self-righteousness. It is to celebrate, truly celebrate The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not Easter. But to celebrate The Lamb of God who is our Redemption. It is to be slain from sin and allow the transformative powers of The Holy Spirit to create The Life of Jesus Christ inside each one of us. It is The Risen Christ that destroyed the power of cutting in my life.

I can say,

"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."

(Galatians 2:20)