Life to your mortal bodies:

Romans 8:9-11
9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

            Are you uncertain whether you are saved are not? Do you have Christ’s Spirit living in you? If you know for certain that you do, then you know that you belong to God. If you’re not certain, then you can ask Him to come in and make His dwelling place in you. He wants you to be sure that you are His. Otherwise, you won’t be as effective as you could be. Then you will know that you are no longer in the flesh.

            Because of sin (notice it did not say sins … those you may commit each day), the body is dead. It cannot relate to God; but our spirits are alive because of the righteousness of Christ living inside us. Because of the Holy Spirit living in us, we know that the same Father who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to our dead bodies on the day He returns. It is that indwelling Spirit that will bring about our resurrected bodies.

            We have Almighty God living inside. If we kept that in mind all day long, how differently we would behave!

If you could hear God speak, I believe this is what He would say:

            "Do not think that I will abandon you. I have chosen you to be like Me in life and in death. When you see Me in the resurrection, you shall be like Me. Your mortal flesh will be done away with and you shall have a new body; one which will never suffer or wear out. When you reign with Me, you shall walk in My glory. The body that you now live in cannot stand in the presence of My glory. But the new body that you will have one day can survive in My presence; for it shall be like Mine. You have My Spirit dwelling in you. He it is who will bring your body into conformity with Mine at the resurrection. It is not that long off. Do not fear and do not give up. Keep trusting in Me and be patient; for I will bring it to pass at the proper time. Now is not the proper time, but it shall soon be here. Do not try to figure out when that will be. It will be at just the right moment when mankind is least expecting it. So don’t you  be like them and give up waiting for Me. Remember the story of those in charge who thought their master would be long in  coming and began to beat those under them. They will suffer the consequences; but you won’t if you have patience and wait expectantly for My return.”

            86. He will give His resurrection life to my mortal body when He returns.

Our Bodies:

            United in the likeness of His resurrection:  

Romans 6:3-8
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

            This is a very powerful passage about the Christian life. Verses 5 and 8 are the ones applicable to our present topic. This is guaranteeing that we’ll be united with Him in the likeness of His resurrection. The same kind of body He has in His resurrection, we will have in ours. It will be a glorious, sin free one. It will never die. It will never get sick or wear out. It will be in His glory. We died with Him, and we shall live with Him.

            The other verses talk about how that being “dead” in Him, we shouldn’t behave like we use to. That old man is dead. We should behave like He did when He was on earth. We should glorify Him with our lives. Sin is no longer our master. He is. Our nature no longer is a sin one. It is a righteous one. We should allow our righteous nature to rule our lives. We can choose to do so. However, we must make that choice every day. We make it one time at the beginning, and then remind ourselves of it every day for the rest of our earthly lives.

If you could hear God speak, I believe this is what He would say:

            "You are My special ones, and as such I have great plans for you. I did not choose you out of the world to let you fail. I did not choose you to continue to walk in the same paths that you did before I saved you. I desired from the beginning that you would walk in the same manner that I walked. I desired that you should be free in Me. This freedom is not a freedom to sin, but rather a freedom to choose to follow after Me. When you were in the world, you were not free to choose to not sin. You had no choice. You were born to sin like your father Adam. But now that you have come to know Me and to walk in My freedom, you have a freedom to choose to walk in My Spirit and to not sin. You may make use of this choice or you may not. That is up to you. However, I know that you will be happiest when you walk in My Spirit and to not sin. Trust in Me to make it happen. I will not let you fail. I greatly desire that you succeed.”

            85. I will be united with Him in the likeness of His resurrection when He returns.