Crucified, So Fully Alive
Unplugged from the old, alive in the Light.
Devotional Credit: Abide Above, Miles Stanford, selection inspired by “Life-Giving Crucifixion,” with quotes from C.A.C. and H.F.
Photo Credit: Unsplash
The heart of today’s reading points me to a surprising door into freedom. First, I learn that I am free because of the finished work of the Cross. Then I discover that the same Cross is how that freedom actually operates in daily life. Miles Stanford, with the steady hand of a friend of Jesus, keeps directing my eyes to the Lord’s death as the place where my old life ended and my new life begins.
He reminds me that my old history in Adam was brought to a close in the death of Jesus. I do not need to manage or mop up that old life. It was judged at the Cross. The Father is not asking me to polish the flesh. He is inviting me to rest where He put me, in His Son, where sin’s claim has been answered and silenced.
From there, liberty makes sense. I am not trying to get free by effort. I am standing in the freedom I already possess in the risen Lord. I am not maintaining my own spiritual heartbeat. He holds me, keeps me, and expresses His life through me as I rely on Him instead of clutching my own control.
This is tender news for tired souls. Freedom is not a project. Freedom is a Person, Jesus living in me. The Cross cut the cords to the old source, and the Risen One is now my life. Thank you, Brother Miles, for helping me see that again.
Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I am with you, and I am in you. You were crucified with Jesus, and the person you were in Adam was brought to an end in His death. Your life is now hidden with the Anointed One in God. I invite you to reckon this as true in the moments that feel most ordinary and in the moments that feel like a storm. You do not owe the flesh anything. I have severed that bond in the death of My Son, and I bear witness that you belong to Him.
I am the One who works in you to will and to do what delights the Father. Yield to Me, and I will express the life of Jesus through your words, your tone, your choices. Do not strain to keep yourself alive. Set your mind on the things above where the risen Jesus is. As you count yourself dead to sin and alive to God, I will make that counting bloom into action. This is not self-improvement. This is new creation life.
Abide in the Son. Draw from Him as branch draws sap from vine. I will take what is His and make it real in you. In pressure, I give patience. In misunderstanding, I give gentle truth. In weakness, I supply resurrection power. Your role is not to revive the old. Your role is to present yourself to Me, available, trusting, ready for Me to love through you.
Stand fast in the liberty with which Jesus has made you free. If you stumble, set your heart again where He is, and remember, there is no condemnation for those in Him. I will continue the good work I began. I sanctify you wholly, spirit, soul, and body, and I am faithful to do it.
Real-Life Analogy
Think of a lamp plugged into a dead outlet. You can twist the switch, clean the bulb, and push the cord in tighter, but the socket has no power. Move the plug to a live outlet, and the light turns on without strain. The Cross is the disconnection from the dead outlet of the flesh. The risen Jesus is the live socket. Your part is not to force brightness. It is to stay plugged into Him, trusting His life to shine.
A simple practice today: if a tense conversation meets you at work or at home, resist the urge to power the moment by your own resolve. Quietly yield your interior to the Spirit of Jesus and say, Lord, I trust You to speak truth with patience through me right now, and I will follow Your lead. Then answer slowly, with honesty and kindness, confident that He is expressing His life in that very exchange.
Prayer of Confidence
Father, thank You that in Jesus I died to sin, and that my life is now hidden with Him in You. Thank You that I am free from the old claim of the flesh, and free to live from the life of Your Son. I affirm today that You are at work in me, willing and doing what pleases You. I rest in the liberty You have given, and I present myself to You as one alive from the dead. Lord, I trust You to live Your life in me and through me in the ordinary moments of this day, and I thank You that all I need is already mine in Christ.
Scripture References for the Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture Section
Galatians 5:1, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 5:24, Romans 6:6-11, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 12:1-2, 2 Corinthians 5:14-17, Philippians 2:13, Colossians 2:11-15, Colossians 3:1-4, Ephesians 1:3, John 15:4-5, Luke 9:23, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, Hebrews 4:10-11, 1 Corinthians 1:30