06.07

The God of Peace Making Obedience Available to Us "Now may the God of peace who brought up
our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the
everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will. (Hebrews
13:20-21)"

These powerful verses continue our inquiry concerning a life of obedience. They conclude
with what results when God is relied upon to do His work in our lives. We become "complete
in every good work to do His will." This hope is made available to us by "the God of
peace."

We all started out in life at war with God. Although we may not have been aware of this
fact, we were enemies of God: "You were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works" (Colossians 1:21). We were disobedient by our very nature: "the sons of
disobedience by nature children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:2-3). Yet, through His Son, God
reached out to offer us peace. "For He Himself is our peace, who abolished in His flesh
the enmity, making peace through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity"
(Ephesians 2:14-16). This sacrifice on the cross was effective, because the Lord Jesus was
raised from the dead with victory over sin and death: "the God of peace who brought up our
Lord Jesus from the dead."

At the cross of Christ, the blood that brings eternal blessings to all who believe in Him
was shed: "through the blood of the everlasting covenant." The Lord promised these eternal
benefits to His people through the prophets of old. "And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear
in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. Moreover I will make a covenant of
peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them" (Jeremiah 32:40 and
Ezekiel 37:26).

The blood of the new covenant of grace secures these benefits: "This cup is the new
covenant in My blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22:20). This shed blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ cleanses and forgives forever all who humbly trust in Him. Also, this shed
blood of the new covenant (God's new arrangement for living) supplies the adequacy we need
from God for the obedient life He has called us to live: "Our sufficiency is from God, who
also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant" (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).

"Dear God of peace, I praise You for the shed blood of Jesus, changing me from Your enemy
to Your friend. I thank You for also making obedience available through this new covenant
of grace. I humbly ask that You teach me to live in dependence upon Your sufficiency,
Amen."