Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.   -- Romans 6:11

You are told to reckon, consider, or believe yourself to be dead to sin.  Notice-–not dying to sin, struggling with sin, fighting against sin–-but dead to sin.  I’m going to reckon myself dead to anger, dead to impatience, dead to worry, dead to all sin!  I am not an angry man trying to overcome anger–-the old angry man is dead and gone, crucified and buried with Christ.  I’m going to reckon myself dead to anger.  How am I going to do this?  I’m going to reckon myself alive to God!  Alive to a righteous man; alive to a holy man; alive to living sin-free!  I am dead to sickness and alive to health.  I am dead to lack and alive to abundance.  I am dead to sin and evil and I am alive to goodness and God.  It is up to you!  You can reckon yourself to be dead to and alive to whatever you choose.  Many consider themselves alive to sin, alive to the old man–-“just a sinner saved by grace.”  If you do, you will live like a sinner.  Sin will stay alive in your life.  Reckon yourself alive to your new nature, alive to new resurrection life, alive to a Christ-kind of life.  What you reckon or think on you will become!  Reckon yourself alive to God through Jesus Christ.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

– Hebrews 4:16

You are invited to come into the Holiest of Holies, to the throne of God, at any time, to obtain what you need in the time of need.  Notice the attitude that God desires for you to have when you come-–come boldly, and expect to obtain.  Boldness will only come from an understanding that you and God are on good terms-–that there is nothing between God and you.  Because of the shed Blood you can come to the Father, not with the thought of sin and guilt, but with a sense of belonging in the presence of God.  He has paid for your ability to once again get up close and personal with God!  So come!  And not only come, but come boldly into His presence to obtain in a time of need for you and others.

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him....much more, being reconciled...  

(Romans 5:8b, 9, 10a)

Our boldness and position with God comes from being made right with Him, or from being justified by the Blood.  The shed Blood reconciled you to God long before you even thought about coming to God.  He had already made provision for your place with Him while you were yet a sinner, an alcoholic, a drug addict, lost!  His love for you made a way back to Him that Adam had lost for all mankind, so you could come before Him justified–or “just as if I’d never sinned”!  You come as a friend, as a son, as a partner with Him to obtain mercy and find grace in times of need.  Nothing now stands between you and answered prayer.  He provided it by grace, and you are coming boldly to obtain what He paid for, for you.  Health is yours, prosperity is your way of life, power and ability belong to you.  When things freely given to you are challenged by the enemy, be bold in what belongs to you!  Resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7b)!  Come!  Not to try to get, but to obtain and hold on to what belongs to you!

Having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself....to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.

– Ephesians 1:20a, 22b

Through the sacrifice of Jesus, Father God once again restored peace between mankind and God by the Blood.  You have been reconciled to Him and you now stand before Him holy and unblameable and unreprovable.  What a basis for a relationship with God!  What a possibility for closeness with Him!  You have been recreated holy, righteous, and justified-–by the Blood, not by your works.  Your efforts and behavior have nothing to do with your present place with God!  He shed the Blood, He reconciled, He now presents you to Himself righteous and holy.  Others may look at your faults, you may constantly look at your failures, but in His sight you are holy, blameless, and unreproveable.  Begin to put some faith in the Blood.  Begin to believe in who He has made you in Christ.  Do not settle for a distant relationship with Him, but come as one who belongs in His presence.  You are reconciled to Him by the Blood!