Hungry Heart Daily Devotional Anthology -mjs

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2-21. ONE STANDARD--CHRIST

"So then let us once for all quit the elementary teaching about Christ and continue progressing; toward maturity"(Hebrews 6:1, Wms.).

When the standard of the Christian life is low, the responsibility for growth is placed upon the believer. But when it is known that God's standard for us is His Son, all expectation of maturity must be placed in Him--"for it is God which worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

"The Lord Jesus Christ is the Christian's very life, and the Holy Spirit dwells within our spirit to manifest Him, to work out all that is in Him and to reproduce Him in us. We must remember that there is something in the sight of God that is higher than work. There is Christ-likeness. That is our Father's purpose, and it is His work." -A.M.

"It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to the Lord Jesus. A holy ministry is an awful weapon in the hands of God." -R.M.Mc.

"In a great many evangelical churches the Gospel of salvation is magnificently presented, seekers are led to Christ; but the totality of the Gospel, the Gospel in its ultimate category, is by no means so clearly presented, nor maybe even understood by teacher as well as pupil. It is evidenced by exhortation to Christian living being mainly challenges to pray more, study more, give more, witness more, surrender more. The emphasis is predominantly on the active dedication of the Christian to his Lord, and to a much less degree on the dynamic remolding of the believer by his Lord."

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:10).

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Until I receive further confirmation from WithChrist.org, I will no longer be posting Hungry Heart material. You can view it from the above site. My apologies and God’s blessings to you.

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I thank the Lord and WithChrist.org for allowing us to continue to share the Hungry Heart material with one another!
I'll be posting two each for four days so all the websites who receive this will catch up to the non-websites I message this material.

2-22. WAITING ON GOD

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him" (Psalm 37:7).

In times of crisis, we are prone to question His care; in times of calm, we tend to forget our need of His care.

"Don't look at earthly difficulties. Saul said, 'Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not. . . therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me' (1 Sam. 13:11,12). It is fatal to look around and at consequences, especially in times of crisis, for it will be impossible to be still, and wait God's time for deliverance. Jesus came to them in the fourth watch of the night (Matthew 14:25). It is always His way. God is never behind time! However dark the path may be, wait; do not go before Him, don't force yourself, like Saul. 'The crisis demands action,' we say! Nay, 'dwell in stillness and wait for clearness'--wait until you are sure of the will of God, and leave the 'Philistines' to Him." -T. A-S.

"Victory comes through the reckoning of faith and not through struggling and striving. 'But,' it may be asked, 'are we not exhorted to 'fight the good fight'? Yes, that is so, but you must please finish the text, 'Fight the good fight of faith,' and faith never struggles for victory. Faith stands in victory."

"The unbelieving heart looks at the circumstances, and leaves God out. Faith, on the contrary, looks only at God, and leaves circumstances out. Faith delights in man's extremity, simply because it is God's opportunity. It delights in being 'shut up' to God--in having the platform thoroughly cleared of the creature, in order that God may display His glory."

'My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him" (Psalm 62:5).

2-23. MOUNT SINAI, MOUNT ZION

"For you have not come to a material object all ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and storm and trumpet-blast and the sound of words" (Hebrews 12:18, Wey.).

Most of us know that we are not under the Law as summarized in the Ten Commandments, yet we continue to labor under the principle of law. We seek to attain, instead of to obtain. Not until we are driven to the end of Romans Seven will we know the freedom of Romans Eight.

"So long as one thinks that his blessing depends in any way, or in any degree, upon himself, he is under the shadow of Sinai, and naturally we all gravitate in that direction. Many truly converted persons are more occupied with themselves, and in trying to improve their own condition, than in seeking to learn the grace of God. The result is that where there is a shallow work in the soul they get lifted up with pride and conceit, and perhaps deceive themselves so far as to think there is no sin in them.

"On the other hand, if souls are upright and sincere they get into terrible distress, and experience what it is to have to do with Sinai-blackness, darkness, and tempest, so that a holy man like Moses could only 'exceedingly fear and quake.' Thank God! we are not come to that mountain, but to another--even to Mount Zion." -C.A.C.

"On the contrary you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the ever-living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless hosts of angels, to the great festal gathering and Church of the first-born, whose names are recorded in Heaven" (Hebrews 12:22,23, Wey.).

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2-24. ABIDING FAITH

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Colossians 2:6).

One day we came to Him in utter need and reliance, and received life. Every day we are to abide in Him in utter need and reliance, that He may live that life in and through us. We are born again by faith, and we are to live anew by faith. "He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5).

"There are earnest Christians who are jealous for a free Gospel, with acceptance of Christ, and justification by faith alone. But after this they think everything depends on their diligence and faithfulness. While they firmly grasp the truth, 'justified by faith,' they have hardly noticed the larger truth, 'the just shall live by faith.' They have not yet understood what a perfect Savior the Lord Jesus is, and how He will each day do for the sinner just as much as He did the first day when they came to Him.

"They know not that the life of grace is always and only a life of faith, and that in the relationship to the Lord Jesus the one daily and unceasing duty of the disciple is to believe, because believing is the one channel through which Divine grace and strength can flow into the heart of man. The old nature of the believer remains evil and sinful to the last; it is only as he daily comes, all empty and helpless, to his Savior to receive of His life and strength, that he can bring forth the fruits of righteousness to the glory of God." -A.M.

"Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving" (Colossians 2:7).

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Fellowship with God is the ultimate obtainment with man and the degree of that fellowship is determined by the nearness of its union. To be in Christ involves more unification than to follow Him. To follow Christ is to attain an exemplary of Christ's life but to be in Christ is to obtain the life of Christ Himself which He lives out in us. “I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20).
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2-25. UNITY OF DESIGN

"So now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death" (Philippians 1:20).

If we look to other Christians as examples to follow, we will soon be discouraged by the prevailing low standard. If we look to Christ as our example, we will be utterly discouraged because of His infinitely high standard. Hence it is essential that we understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is our life; He is not a legal example to emulate, but the source of life from which we grow.

"It is not in any conventional standard of frames and feelings that the disciple is to find the measure of attainment required of him. It is not by any painful reproducing of another's spiritual history that he is to acquire the true comfort of spirit which he longs for.

Outward imitation, though it be of the perfect Example Himself, has little place in the order of spiritual growth--little place because little possibility. 'Without Me (i.e., apart from Me, in separation from Me) ye can do nothing.' To abide in Christ is the only secret of Christlikeness; for only thus is obtained the likeness of unity, which is perfect and enduring, instead of the likeness of conformity, which is only partial and transient." -A.J.G.

"In the pathway of discipline and trial we learn by bitter experience the truth of Paul's confession, 'In me. . . in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.' Coupled with that is the lesson that God waits with infinite patience, like the potter, to work out a design and beauty with such frail material." -M.H.F.

"And He is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:18).

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2-26. ACCEPTABLE CONSECRATION

"The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7).

If a Christian does not realize his identification with Christ in His death, he does not know true consecration. Crucifixion is the path to, and foundation of, consecration. The deeper truths are not entered into through consecration--they are its basis. "The price of consecration is crucifixion."

"'Present yourself unto God as alive from the dead' (Romans 6:13). This is the true ground of consecration. For believers to 'consecrate themselves to God' ere they have learnt their union with Christ in death and resurrection is only to present to God the members of the natural man, which He cannot use. Only those 'alive from the dead'--that is, having appropriated their likeness with Him in death--are bidden to present their members as instruments unto God."

"The modern teaching of consecration, which is tantamount to the consecration of the 'old man,' seeks to bypass the death sentence and therefore only leads to frustration and failure. When, however, you and I are prepared, in simple humility, to make the fact of our death with Christ our daily basis of life and service, there is nothing that can prevent the uprising and outflow of new life, and meet the need of thirsty souls around us." -J.C.M.

"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors bound not to the Flesh, that we should live after the Flesh [but to the Spirit]" (Romans 8:12, Cony.).

2-27. FACTUAL FREEDOM

"You were set free from the tyranny of sin" (Romans 6:18, Wey.).

There are two extremes that keep many of us in bondage. The one is ignorance as to the possibility of freedom; the other, ignorance as to the extent of freedom. Careful attendance to the facts of the Word will solve both these crippling conditions.

"The New Testament teaches that the flesh is representatively dead in virtue of the Cross, but it nowhere says it will become actually dead by standing on that fact. What it does say is that, when reckoning the fact true, self will lose its governing power over me. In Romans Six we find that through the death of Christ, sin shall not have dominion over you--the idea is of bondage, ruling, governing, dominating. There is no such view presented as the annihilation of the thing, the exclusion of its presence, but the loss of its governing power. So you see if we are looking for the actual death of the old nature in us, we are looking for something that will never come to pass in this life." -N.D.

"Our Lord has never promised that we shall be able to look within, and say that self is gone. Whilst we really believe God's Word that we have died with Christ unto sin, and count upon Him as the Living One to manifest His life through us, others will see that self is inoperative, whilst we are occupied with Christ."

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free" (Galatians 5:1).

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2-28. CANAAN CONFLICT

"We will pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, that the possession of our inheritance . . . may be ours" (Numbers 32:32).

If our Lord were to give rest from the processing required for spiritual growth, by what means would He accomplish His work in us? True, the war has been won at Calvary, but there are many "mopping up" battles to be fought. Victory is ours, but we must learn how to wear our armor and handle our weapons. We must also come to know and appreciate our Captain as we enter into what He has accomplished on our behalf.

"The Christian who imagines that life in the Promised Land is one of rest from temptation and conflict, is due for a surprise. There is not less temptation, but more strong and subtle temptation. There is no less conflict, but more constant conflict. The difference lies in the fact that in Canaan the battle is not fought under our own leadership, but under that of the Victorious Man with the drawn sword, who has never suffered defeat. It is not rest from conflict, but rest in conflict. In Canaan, Israel lost only one battle in seven years, and that was because of culpable disobedience and sin." -O.S.

"It has been well said that spiritual believers are honored with warfare in the front line areas. There the fiercest pressure of the enemy is known. But they are also privileged to witness the enemy's crushing defeat, so abundant is the power of God, and thus highly is the spiritual believer honored." -L.S.C.

"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.... This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 54:17).

2-29. LIBERATED From LEGALITY

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

One of the most subtle, tenacious, and all-pervading errors amongst Christians is slavery to the legal principle (the Galatian error). And, as in deliverance from the power of sin, there is no freedom from law apart from the death we shared in Christ on the Cross. "You too in the body of Christ have ended your relation to the law" (Romans 7:4, Wms.).

"It is a harmful perversion of the truth of God to teach (as did the Puritan theologians) that while we are not to keep the law as a means of salvation, we are under it as a 'rule of life.' Let a Christian only confess, 'I am under the law,' and straightway Moses fastens his yoke upon him, despite all his protests that the law has lost its power.

"Men have to be delivered from the whole legal principle, from the entire sphere where law reigns, ere true liberty can be found. This was accomplished on the Cross. There we 'died unto the law' (Galatians 2:19); we were there 'discharged from the law' (Romans 6:14). And those who believe this enter the blessed sphere where grace reigns. The Holy Spirit, indwelling the believer, performs in him the will of God, whose will, at last, is a delight (Romans 8:3,4; 12:2)." -W.R.N.

"Law taught me to love my neighbors as myself--made my love for self the measure of my duty to my neighbor. Christianity looks for having no self at all, but giving up ourselves for our neighbors."

"He Himself, through Jesus Christ, accomplishing through you what is pleasing to Him" (Hebrews 13:21, Wms.).

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Pre-cross, Christ’s disciples would “take up their cross” (Mat 16:24). This involved emulating Christ’s pre-cross life of cheerfully and patiently enduring afflictions and evil, which was just an external work performed by themselves until Christ’s ascension provided the Spirit’s internal work of applying Christ’s cross to our old self (Rom 8:13). Everything pre-cross was externally temporary. Everything post-cross is internally eternal (John 14:16).

The Blood of Christ addresses the symptom—sins, which provides forgiveness from sins (Eph 1:7); the Cross of Christ addresses the cause—sin (old self), which provides immunity to the tyranny of sin (Rom 6:12, 14).

Before the Spirit was given (John 7:39), our sinful nature could only be identified and addressed externally through legal obedience and the old nature still ruled the believer’s thoughts and emotions. Now that the Spirit has been given He, not us, restrains our sinful nature (Gal 5:17), which is still present (Rom 7:14-25), by His application of the Cross. The old nature, which remains post-regeneration, still effects our thoughts and emotions but not as it did pre-regeneration—as a ruler (Rom 6:12, 14). -NC



2-30. ADMINISTRATION OF THE CROSS -MJS

"For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3, ASV).

It is futile for us to attempt to curb our sins while we ignore their source, the indwelling principle of sin. In trimming the branches (sins), we strengthen the root (self). Rather, as we count upon the finished work of Calvary, the Holy Spirit will apply the Cross to the old life. And as that death cuts deeper and deeper into the root, the branches will wither and fall away.

"The Lord Jesus has been waiting for us to come to the end of our own efforts. He sends the call, 'Come back to the Cross.' At last we can see we have been standing and working on the wrong ground, and we hear Him say, 'It is you who are in My way. I can do My work myself. I simply need empty vessels. You parted with your sins, but you kept yourself. Come now, part with yourself, take your place where I put you. When I died you were in Me on that Cross.' 'Now I see! What next, Lord?' 'Now you pass to another sphere where you become aware that you are joined to Me as your life.'"

"Our identification with Christ in His death was a death unto Sin--the principle of Sin as a master and a tyrant--Sin, not sins. The Holy Spirit is ready to apply that finished work of death to the depth of our self-life, until Sin loses its mastery at point after point. It goes deeper than the cutting off of visible and external things. The Cross deals with the cause, not symptoms."

"Christ, who is our life" (Colossians 3:4).

2-31. "KNOW YE NOT?"

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2).

To deal directly with sin brings certain defeat to the Christian. Satan, sin, self, the world, and the law--all have been fully dealt with by the Lord Jesus on the Cross. Our dealings with these enemies are to be through the finished work of Calvary, hence indirect. This can be wonderful news to us when we have had enough of the struggle and failure of Romans Seven.

"The believer who sees that self is incurably evil ('know'), and that it has been taken into death ('reckon'); who gives self utterly to that death as he sinks before God in dependence and surrender to His working ('yield'); who consents to death with Christ on the Cross as his position, and in faith accepts it as his only deliverance; he alone is prepared to be led by the Holy Spirit into the full enjoyment of the Christ-life. He will learn to understand how completely death makes an end of all self-effort, and now, as he lives in Christ to God, everything henceforth is to be the work of God Himself." -A.M.

"It is not by renunciation, or effort, that we are morally apart from sin and self and the world, but by our death on the Cross with the Lord Jesus Christ."

"Believers today seek the blessing and power of Pentecost apart from a personal crucifixion with Christ, and the result is a counterfeit experience. Calvary is always before Pentecost, historically and experientially. The only way into the riches of the fullness of Christ is through our acceptance of our crucifixion with Him." -L.L.L.

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatian 6:14).

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Nothing in the Christian’s life which God causes to occur is ever out of punishment from anger but chastisement for correction. “For they indeed for a few days chastened [us] as seemed [best] to them, but He for [our] profit, that [we] may be partakers of His holiness” (Heb 12:10).

It is an extremely comforting thing to realize God never does anything to His own out of anger, but always out of love. Even when we’ve mistakenly done wrong and think we may have incurred something undesirable, it doesn’t anger Him. Even though it may displease Him, He uses it to teach us. Regardless of what occurs in the believer’s life, God causes it to benefit him. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to [His] purpose” (Rom 8:28). -NC


3-1. SOVEREIGN PROVIDENCE

"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11).

Not only is God our Father not dead, but He is in eternal control of both life and death. He who is our very life is "the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:1). The sovereignty of our God is not only universal, but also personal. What a source of heart rest!

"We find in Romans 8:28 a great marvel: All things work together for good to the believing lovers of God. This involves that billion billion control of God's providence--of the most infinitesimal things--to bring them about for 'good' to God's saints.

"When we reflect on the innumerable 'things' about us--forces seen and unseen of the mineral, vegetable, and animal worlds; on man at enmity with God; on Satan, and his principalities and powers, in deadly array; on the uncertainty and even treachery of those near and dear to us, and even of professing Christians, and of our own selves--which we cannot trust for a moment; upon our unredeemed bodies; upon our general complete helplessness in ourselves--then, to have God say, 'All things are working together for your good,'--reveals to us a Divine providence that is absolutely limitless." -W.R.N.

"THERE IS NO LIMIT TO GOD'S FAVOR TOWARD THOSE IN CHRIST." -W.R.N.

"All things are Thy servants" (Psalm 119:91, ASV). (WithChrist.org/mjs)

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3-2. REST OF FAITH

"In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6, ASV).

Faith does not create or produce, but rests and rejoices in what God has already done. His finished work at Calvary was the basis for our birth, and His completed work in our risen Lord Jesus is the source of our growth. "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more [certain], now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved [daily delivered from sin's dominion] through His [resurrection] life" (Romans 5:10, Amp.).

"A great many people have the faith that seeks, but they have not a faith that rests. The Lord Jesus is here, rest in Him, let the burden go. 'Lord, I trust Thee now; I abide in Thee now. Lord, as I think about my home problems, my business pressures, my personal difficulties in every sphere of life, I bring them all, and give them all to Thee.' And believe that He keeps you. I am sure this rest of faith is the center of all activity.

"You cannot work without friction until you have this rest of faith--complete dependence not only on what the Lord has done, but on what He is to you this very moment. Rest in Him. 'God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always [not sometimes] having all sufficiency in all things, may abound unto every good work' (2 Corinthians 9:8)." -E.H.

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus"(Philippians 4:7, ASV).

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3-3. BORN TO GROW

"Feed the flock of God which is among you" (1 Peter 5:2).

It should grieve us to realize how many abandoned babes in Christ there are--spiritual orphans. In these days of spiritual dearth there is an ever-increasing need for the ministry of nurturing new believers, that they may be "rooted and built up in Him, and established" (Colossians 2:7). "The greatest proof of your love for Christ is that you care for those who belong to Him; 'if you love Me, feed My sheep'." -J.B.S.

"Let us not feel that our task is done with the rebirth of a soul. The great burden of the Christian ministry should be that Christ may be formed in men, and that they, in turn, may be living witnesses to others. Notice Peter's words: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.' But for what purpose has all this been accomplished? He goes on to say, ' . . . that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light' (1 Peter 2:9). 'But ye are...that ye should.' We believe in Christ's power and desire to win others, but for what? The whole purpose of salvation is that men and women may grow in the deeper stable characteristics of the Christian life--that they might be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ." -G.D.

"The Christian life is not merely a converted life nor even a consecrated life, but it is the Christ-life. It is the consuming desire of the Lord Jesus to reincarnate Himself in the believer." -R.P.

"Neither as being Lord over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock" (1 Peter 5:3).

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3-4. DOCTRINAL--EXPERIENTIAL

"Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you" (Romans 6:17).

The only true, consistent, and Christ-honoring experience is that which emerges from clear-cut faith in the explicit facts of the Word. Sound doctrine is the one basis for a mature walk and effective service. "Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus

Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine" (1 Timothy 4:6).

"We must remember that our death to sin was once for all accomplished at the Cross. There the believer shared the death of the Lord Jesus; for when he became a believer, the life he received was life in Christ, that is, life out of death, resurrection life, 'newness of life'; and the relation to sin and the law which Christ had, became those of the believer! Our experience of it all is simply the entering by faith into what has already happened at the Cross.

"God now commands each of us to reckon ourselves as having died with Christ to sin--and therefore as now dead unto sin; and as having risen with Christ, and therefore now alive to God (Romans 6:11). Now it is always on the basis of what God has done that He asks us to reckon, to appropriate. God makes the facts and tells us to take the attitude that befits these facts; and when we obey, He increasingly works our experiential victory in and through us." -W.R.N.

"Give attendance . . . to doctrine" (1 Timothy 4:13).

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3-5. SUBSTITUTE--REPRESENTATIVE

"Crucified with Him" (Romans 6:6).

Often when a believer finally sees his identification with the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection, as set forth in Romans Six, he will then seek to experience it by self-effort. The net result: Romans Seven!

"As our Substitute He went to the Cross alone, without us, to pay the penalty of our sins; as our Representative He took us with Him to the Cross, and there, in the sight of God, we all died together with the Lord Jesus. We may be forgiven because He died in our stead; we may be delivered because we died with Him.

"God's way of deliverance for us, a race of hopeless incurables, is to put us away in the Cross of His Son, and then to make a new beginning by re-creating us in union with Him, the Risen, Living One. It is the Holy Spirit who will make these great facts real and true in our experience as we depend upon Him; and so the plague of our hearts will be stayed, and we shall go on to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ." -J.C.M.

"The Holy Spirit so unites us to Christ that Christian experience becomes a reproduction in us of the essential facts of Christ's fourfold revelation He died unto sin: with Him we died (Colossians 2:20). He arose: with Him we are risen (Colossians 3:1). He is in heaven: our life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). He will appear again: with Him we shall appear in glory (Colossians 3:4)." -N.B.H.

"Risen with Christ" (Colossians 3:1).