The Lord will not abandon the weak, the smoking flax, the bruised reeds. Those who put their trust in the Lord will be brought to health and strength. The Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in His wings. His people will go forth and frisk about as calves of the stall.

A little one will become a thousand.

Great doings are afoot today as Christ and His Kingdom draw near to the earth. The important thing is that each believer submit himself or herself to the Holy Spirit in order to participate in the work of redemption, of deliverance from all the power of the enemy.

Our Lord was able to keep the sun in the heavens while Joshua pursued the Amorite. This meant the earth stopped rotating, or the sun moved along with the rotation of the earth, thus disrupting the entire solar system. Whatever took place, incomprehensible power was displayed.

This same Power is willing to deliver you from all the works of the enemy. Only one power remains to be dealt with, a critical power. That power is your own unbelief and disobedience.

Do not draw back in unbelief. Do not think about your own body now dead in sin. The Spirit of God will direct you, one city at a time, as you put to death the deeds of your body.

Chances are, if you are reading this the Spirit already has begun to make you, perhaps an experienced Christian, aware of the sin in your life.

Ask God for a report card and see what happens.

Imputation without deliverance fulfills the needs of man without fulfilling the needs of God. If the individual forgiven and righteous through imputed righteousness refuses to take part in the program of deliverance, insisting on maintaining his own sinful personality, then he is living in disobedience to His Father and will not go unpunished.

God will permit no sinners in His new world of righteousness, in His Kingdom, not by grace, mercy, faith, or any other substitute for righteous, holy, obedient behavior.

To misunderstand this is to misunderstand the Divine salvation and the nature of the Kingdom of God.

In numerous passages the New Testament warns the believer of the consequences of continuing in sin.

Growth in the image of Christ and in union with God through Christ. Let us speak first of the image of Christ and then of union with God.

As we have stated, growth in the image of Christ and in union with God through Christ will increase for eternity. Deliverance from sin is a finite work. It has a definite conclusion, an omega, a finish. Our growth in Christ and in the rest of God will continue into the eternity of eternities. What a wonderful prospect!

One day we will be just like our Master, Jesus, although He always will be unique as having come from eternity and being our Savior and Lord.

Yet we are destined to be in His image according to the unchangeable Scripture. We have been predestined to be in His image.

To be continued.