Thursday, August 29th

 

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made

 

unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,

 

and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).

 

One of the things our righteousness in Christ gives us is "right standing." Our opening verse in the Amplified reads, "But it is from Him that you have your life in

 

Christ Jesus, Whom God made our….Righteousness \[thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God\]…." Right standing is the right or ability to stand in the

 

presence of God without guilt, fear, inferiority, or

 

condemnation. You received this ability from God when

 

you were born again.

 

You can now stand in His mighty, awesome presence with

 

boldness. This wasn’t by your own doing; God made it so.

 

You can now fellowship with Him, and relate to Him as

 

your loving, gracious heavenly Father. Sometimes, when

 

we pray and say, "I command such-and-such in the Name

 

of Jesus," there’re those who ask, "how dare you talk

 

like that before God?" It’s because we found out what

 

righteousness is, and what it gives: right standing before

 

God. God imparted it to us in Christ Jesus. Jesus is our

 

ability to appear boldly before the Father without blame

 

but in love.

 

Something else that righteousness gives you is

 

"rightwiseness"; the ability to be right; the ability

 

to know what’s good and right from God’s standpoint.

 

You have the ability to do what is right in the presence

 

of a Holy God. He alone knows what’s right; when He

 

imparts your spirit with righteousness, you’re able to see

 

and know what He sees to be right. This is the reason

 

you can live right and practice righteousness; right living

 

is a result of your righteousness.

 

Maybe there’s a habit you want to stop, don’t say, "I

 

don’t know how to stop it," because His righteousness is

 

your ability to stop anything. All you have to do is say,

 

"In the Name of Jesus Christ, I put a stop to this habit."

 

Don’t say, "O, Jesus, help me stop it." No! He already

 

helped you by giving you His righteousness. Therefore,

 

you now have the inherent ability to do what is right.