Benefits of your Salvation!

Benefits of Your Salvation
By Abraham Israel

The Greek Word used for saved or salvation in the Bible is ‘Soteria’ which comes from the root word ‘Soter’. The Word of God says, “Nor is there salvation [soteria.gr] in any other, for there is no other name [except Jesus Christ] under heaven given among men by which we must be saved [sozo.gr].” (Acts 4:12).

The Word ‘Soteria’ which is translated as ‘salvation’ in English in the above verse means ‘deliverance, preservation, safety, salvation, deliverance from the molestation of enemies, in an ethical sense, that which concludes to the souls safety or salvation of Messianic salvation, salvation as the present possession of all true Christians, future salvation, the sum of benefits and blessings which the Christians, redeemed from all earthly ills, will enjoy after the visible return of Christ from heaven in the consummated and eternal kingdom of God.’

The Word ‘Sozo’ which is translated ‘saved’ in this preceding verse means ‘ to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, one (from injury or peril), to save a suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health, to preserve one who is in danger of destruction, to save or rescue, to save in the technical biblical sense also negatively means to deliver from the penalties of the Messianic judgment, to save from the evils which obstruct the reception of the Messianic deliverance.’

Both these above words nearly means one and the same. Salvation deals mainly with the deliverance from the molestation of the enemies of humanity, who is Satan and his accomplices. In other words we get delivered by becoming eligible to receive and use the power of God as a kingdom citizen against our enemies [i.e. Demons] which create in us fleshly lusts which war against the soul of ours continuously (1 Peter 2:11). If Satan establishes his evil influence in a person’s soul, he will easily destroy that person’s life because as the Bible says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” (Prov 4:23). In other words what you continually think in your soul will influence you to do and fulfill those things in your life, because of this the Bible warns you to think diligently by rejecting and keeping out evil and destructive thoughts which destroys a man’s soul, spirit and body. Only hearing the voice of Jesus will keep us away from the path of self-destruction in our life because He is the person of Truth who will set us free from evil lying thoughts and will show us the way to God and will help us receive the very life that God lives in heaven when we receive Him in our heart (John 14:6;8:32). As much as we increase in our knowledge of the person of Truth which is Jesus and as much as we grow closer in our relationship to Him that much we will be free from our self-destructive ways (John 8:32;2 Peter 1:2).

We become a believer when we receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord and thus we become born again. To be born again means to be born from above. This is a supernatural act of God, through which a new spirit man is born, which is capable of connecting to God through His Spirit, and as a result God in Christ [the anointed one] comes and resides in us through His Spirit in us (1 John 3:24;4:13). In other words God the Father comes and resides in us based on what Jesus Christ has achieved for us personally on the Cross of Calvary. This act of receiving Jesus Christ in to our heart is described as salvation. This is also the main reason the Bible calls Jesus Christ as ‘Immanuel’ which means ‘God [is] with us [always]’ (Matt 1:23;28:20). Jesus is always with the believer through His Spirit which He has given to those who believe, this is why Jesus confidently promised His Disciples, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you [after I die and am raised up and taken up in to heaven]” (John 14:18).

If we ask the question, How He can be with the believer when He is already in heaven? Jesus Himself gave to us the answer in the preceding verses which says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-17). And Jesus also said that He can be equally near to everyone who believes Him, only if He goes to heaven or else He himself told that He will be limited with His own physical limitation as a man (John 16:7). Jesus promised that He will directly speak from heaven to them [i.e. His disciples] through the Holy Spirit, He also said to them that He liked to speak a lot more to them but that they cannot understand it before His crucifixion and death. Hence he will continue to speak to them after He goes in to heaven and the Holy Spirit who will act as a spokes person of Jesus, will hear in heaven what He [Jesus] has to say and will declare it to them (John 16:12-15;Heb 12:25).

The work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is exactly like the work of a prophet in the Old Testament who heard what God has to say to His people and declared it to them (Ezekiel 3:27;Rev 3:6;Exodus 7:1-2). This is the reason the Bible calls the testimony of Jesus from heaven spoken in to your spirit though the Holy Spirit as the spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10).The very words that you hear or bubbles up in your spirit man is the very words that God is speaking to you directly from heaven in the now realm. This is equivalent to Jesus directly speaking to you. A person who is ruled by his own self-will before he was born again, will have the choice to be influenced by God’s will [to hear the voice of Jesus and live by it daily (John 10:4,14)] after getting born again and he will practice God’s righteousness in his daily life through His own willing choice daily (1 John 3:6-9). The will of God the Father is for everyone to get saved from the evil influence of Satan and live through Jesus Christ forever (Matt 7:21;John 6:39-40). After one is born again, He will come under the rulership of God, and Satan has no right of rulership in his life. When one is born again a Kingdom transfer happens and as a result, a transfer of power that rules us dominantly gets shifted from Satan’s to God’s Power (Acts 26:18). Through this kingdom connection, we can establish our communication with King Jesus through His Spirit. When we hear Him daily and do what He says individually from heaven, kingdom power will be exerted through our very words and life because the Bible says, where there is the word of the king, there is power that accompanies it (Eccl 8:4). This is the greatest benefit of Salvation that can be experienced in our daily lives. Praise the Lord!

The Bible says, “But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.” (Heb 6:9). According to the above verse, the things that accompany salvation will become better and better, and not bitter as some people think. In the same chapter the writer says what are these better things that accompany salvation, “ [the believer will be]…. enlightened, and [will]… taste the heavenly gift [of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38)], and [will]…. become partakers [sharing in, a partner (in a work, office, dignity)] of the Holy Spirit, and [will]…. taste the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.” (Heb 4:4-5). These things are not earthly but absolutely heavenly in origin and materiality. These heavenly things are equated to the place of Canaan where the provision of God’s abundance flowed continually from Him from heaven (Num 14:6-9;Duet 11:10-12;Heb 4:1-11). These are God blessings over our life which will follow us if we keep obeying His voice that speaks from heaven even today for those who are saved. These better things are not one time transaction to be made, but it needs to be worked out by your own choices that we make in our daily lives (Phil 2:12-13). It needs discipline and faith.

Faith should always accompany with patience or else it will lead to disobedience and worry and destruction (Heb 6:12). God has given us a will to decide for ourselves over which He will never supersede because He is a gentle man. Faith is voluntarily seeking the voice of God and making it our will to fulfill it in our lives. In other words the response to the voice of God is ours, whether to obey by faith or disobey by our unbelief. The Bible says, “Since therefore it remains that some [people who obey his voice daily] must enter it [Promised Land, Heavenly abundance, God’s rest and Peace], and those to whom it was first preached [Israelites] did not enter because of disobedience.” (Heb 4:6). If we ask the question, enter in to what? Enter in to the Promised Land [i.e. God’s abundance] of heavenly blessings that God has prepared for us individually to enjoy in this life itself as described above.

The greatest problem in this world today is worry and anxiety. Faith takes us securely in to God’s destiny for our lives. Worry destroys us by taking us away in to doubt, fear and hence destruction by making us disobey the voice of God (Matt 6:25-34;8:26;14:31). You need to set a guard over your mouth and quieten yourself from speaking negative things which will increase the presence of the spirit of fear (Num 13:27-14:4). Fear will make everyone of us rebel against God by making us lose the faith that God has given to us (Num 14:9-10; Ps 141:2-3). The greatest way in which we can respond to these problems is to step in to the measure of faith that God has given to us individually in times of storm by connecting to God and hearing Him speak to us in such situations (Rom 12:3). Only when we step out of faith in to doubt when a storm is still blowing, that’s when we cause the destruction of our own destiny that God has prepared for each one of us. Faith in God is our refuge and fortress in times of storms. When the storm stops, God will be pleased with us to give us more of His abundant blessings each time as each storms in our life passes by in faith (Heb 11:6;Num 14:8;Matt 8:10). You can step in to the measure of faith that God has given you [i.e. if you have received it by seeking God daily, continuously and diligently] so that when the storm’s of life come to you in your life, you can then boldly step in to that faith which God has given you which is based on His promises and you can keep yourself securely in God, it will lead you to obedience and obedience will lead to God’s rest, blessings and the promised land because God will be very pleased with your life and will delight in you as a father over his son. Will you seek the Lord daily for that greater measure of faith? If you do so, you are a blessed [to be envied by others because of God’s favour in your life] person in this planet earth! Praise the Lord!

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