God HAS

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He has made you able to have what he has promised to give all his holy people, who live in the light. God made us free from the power of darkness. And he brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son. The Son paid the price to make us free. In him we have forgiveness of our sins. (Colossians 1:12-14)

Four important lessons for us this morning stem from what God HAS done on our behalf. We must recognize them as finished works. God doesn't do anything half-way. Whatever he begins, he also takes on to full completion.
 
1) God HAS made us able. We are able to live holy lives because he is the one who is doing the enabling. If we think we do this on our own, we are going to be trying for a long, long time to get this right! He enables us to have and enjoy all the promises he has made - nothing promised will ever be outside of our reach because he enables us to grasp all of them.

2) God HAS made us free. We no longer need to walk in the darkness of our sin, nor the corruption of this world's evil power. We have been, continue to be, and will always be free. We might not believe we are free from sin's pull because we still feel it from time to time. We don't have to give into that pull, though, because God has made us free to live above and beyond sin's realm.

3) God HAS brought us in. We are no longer citizens of the realm of sin but are citizens of high places through Christ Jesus. We might still live on this earth, but we don't need to be consumers of this earth's dark offerings. We are part of a divine Kingdom and as such, we live as citizens of that Kingdom. We might not realize that we still 'prefer' the things of this world, but when we are serving Christ, our focus begins to change to embrace the things he 'prefers'. 

4) God HAS forgiven our sins. They are no longer held against us, nor are they able to taunt us with those feelings of shame and guilt any longer. Once the blood of Jesus has been applied to our sinfulness, we are no longer 'bound' to those sins. We are washed clean and those who have been washed clean need not be burdened by the 'feelings' those sins created within our mind and emotions. Sin is done and Christ's Spirit assumes the place where those sinful memories once resided. We need to give him room to deal with those feelings once and for all. 

We are free, forgiven, enabled, and living in a realm we didn't deserve or earn. God HAS, so we can. Just sayin!

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