Devotion

Completely Saved
by Angela Moore-Duck  

Night descended on Jerusalem as if God had dropped a black, wool blanket over the earth. It brought with it the very epitome of evil, Satan, the prince of darkness.  Along with him came his armies, to implement what appeared to be an infallible plan.  He would guarantee that Gods kingdom would not be set up on earth.  This was to be his time!

The Son of God knelt in prayer; His humanity was evident as He sweated great drops of blood.  He knew the plan of salvation, the suffering, and humiliation that awaited Him.  He knew the armies of darkness were lining up against him.  Stress filled His body and threatened to consume Him.  He knew!   His only hope was to talk to His Father.

The human Son prayed, Father, if there is any other way for your plan to work out, please, lets go with it.  Now that the time is here, Im not so sure I want to do this.  I will be humiliated and mocked, not to mention that it is going to really hurt.

The divine Son prayed, But whatever You decide I will go along with. The job must be done and I will continue with the original plan if there is no other way to work it out.

 That divine prayer was the natural beginning of our salvation.  With that statement, He chose to do what He knew had to be done.  From the heart of supernatural love, the decision was made to follow Gods plan, whatever it was.

Everyone who comes to salvation through Jesus Christ comes the same way, by making the choice.  The option that Jesus picked in that hour of darkness opened the door to heaven for all who choose to accept it.  When we enter Gods Kingdom through the open door we find the complete work of salvation spread on a table before us.  We can freely take what we need at any time.

The Greek word most often translated as salvation in our Bible is sozo.  A magnificent word, it carries both spiritual and physical implications.  In The Complete Word Study Dictionary, sozo is defined as healing, deliverance, soundness, and preservation.  In addition to eternal life, these words tell us that God wants us to experience life on earth to its fullest as well (John 10:10)

When the Bible refers to life, it is speaking of more than simply our existence here on earth, as living, breathing human beings.  It refers to our relationship with (or separation from) God, the giver of all good things.  We cannot reach our full potential without the sozo plan working in and through us.  Throughout the Gospels, we see evidence that Jesus offered this plan to the people He ministered to directly.

Jesus primary concern is for the spiritual state of a person.  We see evidence of this in Matthew 9:2 when He dealt with the paralyzed man in Capernaum.  Before he was healed physically, Jesus healed him spiritually by forgiving his sins.  Jesus knows that our spirit, given to us by God, is sick because of the sin in our lives.  All acts of healing deal with the spirit first.      

In the world healing is commonly thought of in physical terms.  Jesus physically heals many people.  In Matthew 15:29-31 we see an example of numerous people being healed at one meeting.  The lame walked, the blind saw, and those who could not speak talked!  He needs us to be physically sound to carry out our purpose and Gods will on earth.

Spiritual and physical deliverance normally appear in conjunction with one another, as with the demon-possessed man in Gadara (Mark 5:1-20).  The description of this man suggests that he lived much like a wild animal and was hurting himself physically.  In response to the power and authority of Jesus, the demons came out of him.  Further reading shows that the man was completely changed, spiritually and physically.

By now you can probably see that all these aspects of salvation work together to produce a whole person, one that is sound in spirit, mind, and body.  No one will ever be perfect on this earth, as Jesus was perfect.  However, as we let the Holy Spirit work the sozo power of God in us we will gradually become the rock-solid kind of person that can be used by God.

Through all the steps of our walk with Christ He preserves us spiritually.  In John 10:27-30 we have Jesus own promise to safeguard us through eternity.  Through Him, we have the endowment of eternal life in the presence God.  No one can snatch that away from us.

In Acts 27: 13-44 we see that Gods power is able to preserve us from physical death and injury also.  In this account, not only was Paul preserved from the storm; he was protected from death by the guards who wanted to kill the prisoners.  The sozo power of God is able to protect us daily.  We are not promised a life with no storms, but we are promised that our God can and will preserve us sound, eternally.


Copyright 2006 Angela Moore-Duck