Today is Mark 2:1-17 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”
I love verse 17, “On hearing this Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus spoke these words in response to criticism He was receiving from the religious leaders of His time. They didn’t like that Jesus was eating with the “tax collectors and sinners.” Jesus came to give new life and new hearts to those who would simply respond to His call and be willing to leave it all behind to follow Him. Jesus is still the same! It does not matter what mess we have chosen to become entangled by… our sins… Jesus came to set us free and give us relationship with Him. He has come to call sinners to come and to sit with Him at His table. He has come to forgive us and give us new life and a new heart so we can obey Him and live close to Him!! I am so thankful Jesus calls out to sinners (i.e. me) with the same call He gave Matthew the tax collector, “Follow Me!”
What did God show you in today’s reading? Post it below 👇 👇👇
“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2 NIV
Sin is an uncomfortable topic in our modern world. Many have come to believe that we are beyond that concept. Our thoughts, feelings, and actions cannot be the problem. The problem is the environment we have lived, the people we have interacted with and the situations that have made us. Victims… we are just victims floating aimlessly in a torrent of occurrences that have shaped who we have become. In order to experience differently we must make ourselves what we want to be, chasing what we want, when and how we want it. However, this way of thinking only digs a deeper and deeper hole for the individual who embraces them. Why? It is a complete denial of the truth written in God’s word. It is pursuit of a way outside of relationship with the only one who holds the cure for the death, darkness, and destruction in our lives…Jesus.
We are not self made, and the solution for all the “negative emotions” we feel within ourselves is not found within ourselves. We have a Creator. This Creator designed us for connection to Him in a deep and intimate relationship. When we live our lives separated from this design, we experience lives far from what He created us for. Our Creator is good, loving, kind, peaceful, true, just, etc. He is the only source of these characteristics. So our disconnection from Him means that we live disconnected from all that He is. Apart from God there is no good thing. (Psalm 16:2)
The question then becomes, if separation from my Creator is what is bringing all the anger, anxiety, hatred, bitterness, fear, control issues, etc., WHY am I separated from Him? Who separated me from the source of life I desperately need? The answer is you and I. Our deliberate choice to sin has separated us. We are sinners.
The good news is as we come to terms with what we are is there is a solution for what separates us from the peace, joy, love, faithfulness, self- control, etc. that we all need. It is a solution that is far more simple than our repeated attempts of “self- help” techniques. Because quite truthfully, we cannot help ourselves. We cannot fix what is wrong inside of us. This is only fixed by the one who created us, God.
God has provided the solution to the sin that destroys us, Jesus. Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection provided the way. As we come to Him in repentance, asking Him to cleanse us from the sin we have in our heart. He begins a good work within us. He gives us a new heart that is inclined to live in a relationship pursing Him. As we see it is our choice to sin and to pursue ourselves over God that is separating us from living a life of abundance, we have come to a place we can accept the Good News!
The problem — our iniquity and sin. The solution — repentance and surrender to Jesus!
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV
My youngest son, Andy, played tackle football when he was in the sixth grade. He played an offensive position of defending the quarterback. At one of his first games, he walked out onto the field and came face to face with what seemed to be a giant-sized sixth grade boy. This player was about a foot taller and a foot wider than Andy. He made my son look small. In fact, after seeing the player from the bleachers, I thought, “That kid is going to squash my baby!” However, when the play began, Andy gave himself fully to playing his position. He braced himself and pushed back against the force of that player. He was unwavering and immovable. He did not allow anyone to touch the quarterback he was guarding. Much to my amazement and relief, Andy stood firm in his purpose of keeping the player from advancing, and his team won!
The focus word of our WOW verses this month is steadfast. The definition of steadfast is to have firmness of mind or purpose, to be constant in pursuing a purpose, unwavering, fixed, and steady. In our verse this week, Paul instructs believers to “stand firm” and “let nothing move you.” Our enemies – the flesh, the world, and the devil – are ruthless giants constantly coming against us to move us away from our relationship of oneness with God. They work relentlessly to get us to waver in our thoughts and purpose, to lose our sure footing in truth and righteousness, and fall into sin. Their aim and goal is to “squash” us with death, darkness, and destruction!
Just like Andy, we need to remain fixed and immovable against what many times appears to be a bigger foe. We must remain steadfast against our spiritual enemies who want to take us down. To remain steadfast, we must know God and maintain the relationship of oneness with Him. We must know the Word of God and allow its truth to penetrate our minds and hearts so that when a lie comes in, we detect it immediately and stand firmly against it. We must be constant in pursuing communication with God. We must pray “at all times and on every occasion” (Ephesians 6:18). And we must suit up! As Andy put on his helmet and pads, we, too, must put on our spiritual armor and take our “stand against the devil’s schemes.” We must not let our enemies move us from trusting in God and giving ourselves “fully to the work of the Lord” being fully assured that our “labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
Do you find yourself standing toe to toe with a giant? Has your enemy come to you using his playbook of schemes and temptations that include unbelief, selfishness, worry, fear, anxiety, and/or anger? The enemy of your soul wants to render you useless in the work of the Lord. If he can accomplish this, he knows that you will never be and do what God created you to be and do – be His image bearer and go forth into the world and make Him known. The Word of God says, “let nothing move you” from the work God created in advance for you to do in Christ Jesus. It requires a steadfast spirit!
This week’s song is “In Christ Alone” by Passion Kristian Stanfill. May the lyrics be a reminder to stand steadfastly with our faith in Jesus and His Word alone! He alone is our victory!
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Ephesians 6:18 NIV
My mother-in-law, Evelyn, was a woman of prayer. Her example has left a huge mark on my life. She would tell me frequently of the hours she had spent talking to God. Her entire day was spent with her being conscience of His presence with her. She would talk to Him while she worked around her house, drove her car, or walked around her yard. She loved to talk to Him about the beautiful flowers she enjoyed. She asked Him to bless her meals as she cooked them, asking Him to help them to turn out good. She told Him about the things that made her happy. She poured out her sorrows to Him. I knew that her life revolved around her time spent with God. Several times during the week she called me. Her bright cheery voice came through my phone, “This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Janet, I’ve been talking to Jesus this morning. I’ve been praying for you…” At the time, I wasn’t as appreciative of her sunshiny optimism. But now I can see how blessed I was. She modeled to me the very thing that I needed the most, an intimate relationship with God that was cultivated in her lifestyle of prayer.
This month our verses at WOW have been about prayer. Prayer is communing with God and communicating with Him. It is our lifeline and connection to Him through faith. It is a conscious awareness of God’s presence at all times. Prayer is knowing that EVERYTHING in our lives is something we communicate with God about. Our verse this week encourages us to pray “on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” God loves to hear us praise Him for who He is. He loves to hear us thank Him for what He has done. He loves to hear us ask Him for guidance along our way. He desires us to tell Him the very things that cause our hearts to ache. He wants us to come to Him with everything!
The beauty of this lifestyle of prayer is that our God not only desires for us to pray, but He also helps us to pray. The Holy Spirit prompts us, enables us, and empowers us in prayer. As we “pray in the Spirit”, our prayers are moved and guided by Him. Evelyn prayed this way. Many times, she would tell me how she felt like the Holy Spirit had prompted her to pray for a loved one. She didn’t know what was going on, but she was sure that He had directed her to pray. Later she would hear testimony of how God stepped into the circumstance that person had experienced. This confirmed to her that the Holy Spirit had led her to pray.
These memories of my praying mother-in-law have stirred in me a desire. It is a desire to live my life experiencing God moment by moment in prayer. Perhaps as you read this, the desire is growing in you? God has given us this desire. He tells us to pray because He knows that a lifestyle of prayer is what is the very best for us. It ensures that our connection with God is close and intimate. This is what we were created for. He wants us to know Him through prayer and to make Him known by displaying our relationship of oneness to God with everyone we encounter.
This week’s song is “Draw Me Nearer” by Meredith Andrews. As we listen to the words, may the Holy Spirit awaken a desire within us to experience a close and intimate relationship with Him through prayer.
“When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” Luke 19:45-46 NIV
Two years ago, the youngest of our four children graduated from High School. This signaled the beginning of my husband and I gradually becoming empty nesters. For 26 years, our lives had revolved around our kids. Many of those years consisted of my husband working long hours and sharing the weekends together with me and the kids. We rarely had time alone together. Suddenly, we found ourselves, alone, sitting side by side in our living room recliners with nothing to do. At times, I resented our new way of life. I liked having my time with our kids. I did things my way, after my own plans that centered around their activities. I was used to my independence and being in control. However, my husband desired for this new season in our lives to be a time that our relationship of oneness would deepen and grow. Every time he had a day off from work, he would wake up and ask me, “what are we going to do today?” I did not understand that this was his invitation to participate in a closer relationship. I didn’t realize I needed to drop my plans and my independent ways. Thankfully, I am changing and once again I am enjoying the gift that God gave to me 32 years ago when he and I were dating, our one-on-one relationship spending time together.
This month our weekly verses at WOW are about prayer. Prayer is our lifeline and connection to God through faith — totally relying on, being fully assured of, and strictly adhering to God and His Word. Faith gives birth to prayer. Prayer is absolutely dependent upon faith. Prayer is our invitation from God into a deep love relationship of oneness closely attached, connected, inseparable, and indivisible with Him. Prayer develops our relationship with God demonstrating our trust and utter dependence upon Him.
God deeply desires that we have a close and intimate relationship of oneness with Him. Jesus came to our world to make this possible. Our verses this week are an account of when Jesus came to the temple, a place of communion with God. When He arrived, He saw that the people had made the temple into a place of business instead. He began to drive out those who had turned His house into something other than its design, “a house of prayer.” Those people were used to doing things their way and after their plans, but Jesus came to introduce a “new and living way” (Hebrews 10:20) of a relationship of oneness. Jesus wanted His temple, His dwelling place, to be “a house of prayer.”
Jesus wants our lives to be one with His as well. He desires us to be “a house of prayer” or communion with Him. However, we have hindrances, sin, that need to be cleaned out in order for us to fully realize the depths of a relationship of oneness He desires. These keep us from being closely connected to God by faith through prayer. This is why we must allow God to cut the sin away through His circumcision of our hearts.
Two years ago, my husband longed for a closer relationship, and I realized I needed to repent of my independent ways. As I have, our time together is becoming beautiful. Jesus comes to us the same way. He is offering to cut away the things that separate us from Him. They leave our lives nothing more than a “den of robbers”, trapped in death, darkness, and destruction. How will we respond? May we respond, “Yes, anything that is not of You, cut away, clean it out. I want a relationship of intimacy communing with You, God, through prayer!”
Click this link to access our song this week: Kim Walker-Smith – Make Room (Lyrics) (youtube.com). May we desire to be free of all the sins that keep us from a close relationship of oneness with our Heavenly Father. Let us make room for Him. So, we may experience Him through a life of prayer.
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith…” 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 NIV
A little over a year ago my husband and I went to Kauai, Hawaii to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary. One of my favorite activities on the island was our sunset stroll along the ocean shore. Our resort had a sidewalk that meandered through the palm trees and flowers. Every so often we had an opportunity to get off the sidewalk. One of the stops was the sandy beach and the other was an area of large lava rocks that extended out into the ocean. When I walked down onto the sandy beach and into the ocean, it didn’t take me long to back away from the water. As the waves came crashing in and then rolled back out, the sand would move and shift and wash out from under my feet. I felt very unstable and uncomfortable because the sand upon which I stood was always changing. However, when I ventured onto the lava rocks, I found the experience very different. As I stood upon those rocks, they did not move, nor did they shift. Even with the waves crashing upon them they remained unmovable. I felt extremely secure as I stood there enjoying the color of the skies change as the sun appeared to sink into the horizon. That memory stands out as one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.
Our verses this month are about faith. Faith is the spiritual gift of God that benefits and prospers every believer. It is required to live a life worthy of the calling we receive from God. Faith attaches us to God so that we can live the all – important relationship of oneness and receive the abundant provision of God into our hearts – His power, His holiness, His love, His mercy and grace, His wisdom, His righteousness, His joy, His peace, and so much more. It is faith that enables you and me to function in the spiritual realm – to hear God when He speaks to us, to listen intelligently and understand what He is saying, and to then act rightly according to what we have heard.
Our verse this week tells us that we must “stand firm in the faith.” To stand firm in the faith is to be fixed, steadfast, and unwavering in our total reliance on, our full assurance in, and our strict adherence to God and His Word. God and His Word is the strong, unchanging, unwavering foundation upon which faith is built and stands. Standing firm in faith is like me standing on the large lava rocks totally relying on them not to move or tilt or shift even when the waves come crashing upon them and me. Faith is in God and His living, written, and spoken Word that is unchanging, immovable, and unshifting. We, as believers, are not to stand firm in our own understanding, our own intellect, our own reasoning, our own wants and wishes. Doing that is like standing on the shifting sands of the oceans floor.
If we do not stand in faith listening to and depending on the spoken and written word of God, we will not stand at all (Isaiah 7:9). We will fall to the ways and the voices of the world — the voices that speak one lie after another lie. When we listen and pay attention to the lies, we will act upon them and find ourselves living a life that is unfaithful, troubled, fearful, anxiety ridden, doubting, stressed out, discontent, and mean. We will be tossed about in a life of sin, never settled and secure.
Faith is required to live the calling we have received from God. Are you standing firm in the faith? Faith comes by hearing the message. What message are you hearing and paying attention to – the Word of God or the lies of the enemy? Is your heart and mind fixed on God and His Word? Or are you standing on the shifting sands of the enemy’s lies? God has given us a choice. As we choose to hold fast to God and His Word, we will live standing “firm in the faith…”
This week’s song is once again, “Take You At Your Word” by Cody Carnes and Benjamin William Hastings. As we listen, may we be reminded to “stand firm in the faith” in God and in HIs Word.
“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9:23-24 NIV
The internal struggle I was having was beyond what I can describe in a few words. Every Wednesday morning during the 2021 spring semester of WOW, I would pull into the parking lot and contemplate walking into the building. Every week as I sat in that parking lot I would hear the voices of the enemy speaking to me. This is what I heard those voices saying, “Don’t go in! They don’t like you. Wait until they hear what you have done.” But deep within my spiritual heart I knew that I needed to hear the Truth that was being spoken.
In God’s strength, I got out of my Jeep and walked through the doors of the church. As I sat in the auditorium and listened to the Word being spoken, I began desiring a deeper relationship with God. I took the WOW bookmark with the weekly verses and did what I was encouraged to do. Every morning I took out my Bible and I read the verse for the week. I read the verses that came before it and the verses that followed. It wasn’t much, but those short portions of Scripture were planted into my heart like a tiny seed.
The Word of God is powerful to do a mighty work of strengthening a man’s faith, no matter how small that faith might be! As I took God’s Word into my heart and believed it, the Holy Spirit began strengthening my faith. As my faith was strengthened, my heart began to change. Three years later, I am not the person I was in 2021 — angry, bitter, fearful, and anxious. I no longer continually live in anger, bitterness, fear, and anxiety. I now live by faith in God and as a result am experiencing abundant life. Just like Jesus said, “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
The verses this week come from a conversation between Jesus and a desperate father who had a son tormented by demons. This man recognized his need and came to Jesus seeking a cure. He had taken a very important step of faith, to come and ask the One who is able to do all things.
Faith is the spiritual gift of God that is required to live a life worthy of the calling a believer receives. Faith attaches us to God. It is the all-important channel through which the abundant provision of God’s heart flows into our hearts – His power, His holiness, His love, His mercy, His grace, His wisdom, His righteousness, His joy, His peace, and so much more. Faith enables man to be one with the invisible God, to hear Him when He speaks, to understand what He is saying, and to obey.
The foundation of faith is God and His Word. Jesus spoke words of truth to the father when he said, “Everything is possible for him who believes” (Mark 9:32). Jesus was saying, believe in me, for I can do all things. The father heard what Jesus said and responded by exclaiming, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” This father heard the spoken Word of Jesus, believed what Jesus said, and deliverance was accomplished for his son.
It is faith that enables you and me to trust and have complete confidence in God and in His Word. Faith enables us to believe that God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. Our role is to receive His Word into our hearts and believe that every Word of God is right and true no matter what we are experiencing. As we believe in God’s character, His promises, and in His commands our faith will be strengthened, and we will live in abundance and power.
God has given us the gift of faith. He desires us to live by faith in Him not in our own understanding, reasoning, self-effort, intellect, sight, or feelings. Faith in Him is required to live a life worthy of the calling we have received from Him. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. May we come to God acknowledging our need and believing that “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
This week’s song is once again, “Take You at Your Word” By Cody Carnes and Benjamin William Hastings. May the lyrics be an encouragement to us to read and listen to the Word of God and to act upon it in faith!
“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Romans 10:17 NIV
Every day I lived for the next dose of my anxiety pills. For six years, I took them faithfully. Every day was the same: wake up, get a glass of water, take the meds. Then at night: get another glass of water, take the next dose, go to bed. One morning in October 2021 everything changed. That morning, I grabbed my pill box and heard these words deep within my spiritual heart, “This is not your inheritance.” At that moment, I believed that God had different plans for my life. I believed He could provide peace where anxiety had reigned. I stopped Buspar that morning and weaned myself off Prozac within five months. Two years later, I am still living in the peace, love, and joy that my Heavenly Father has generously given to me as a part of His inheritance that I received that day.
This month our WOW verses are about faith. Faith is complete confidence in God – in His character, in His Word, and in His promises. It is complete trust in God believing and being fully assured that He is who He says He is and will do all that He says He will do. God’s Word works a mighty faith in us, a faith that is strong, and able for anything because it is the living Word of God. God’s Word is powerful and does the work of strengthening, establishing, and rooting our faith within us. We hear the Word of God, receive it into our hearts, and God uses His Word to do a work of faith in us. That is because His Word is living and active and powerful to accomplish His will.
Lately, I have been contemplating why the words, “This is not your inheritance.” came to me deep within my spiritual heart back in October 2021. It was because I had heard the Word of God spoken to me the weeks prior to that day as I sat in the main sessions at WOW. The teaching was on what we receive as a part of our “inheritance” when we dwell in God’s New Kingdom as His child. I heard how God wanted the eyes of my heart to be enlightened so that I could know the hope for which He had called me, “the riches of his glorious inheritance…” (Ephesians 1:18) I heard “the Word of Christ,” that was being spoken, took it into my heart, and it began to strengthen my faith.
Perhaps as you read these words you are experiencing a longing within you for more? The Word of Christ is speaking to you and inviting you to live a life of faith that responds to the Word of God. You may wonder, how do I respond to the Word? We must receive His Word through reading it and listening to it carefully with our spiritual ears. We must diligently study His Word, hiding it in our hearts, the Word that works within us a mighty faith if we hold firmly to what we have heard. It will trust that God will do what He has promised because He is faithful.
God has given each of us a small deposit of faith and the opportunity to receive His Word so it will grow and mature and become established. I can testify that this is true because of that morning in October of 2021. That little seed of faith deposited within me when I had received Jesus as my personal Savior was growing as I retained it and believed it. As I have acted upon the Word I have heard over and over, that faith has grown more and more. God has been at work in me through His Word and faith. Today I am free. I am dwelling in God and His peace! What He has done for me He will do for you. His Word is speaking. Hear it, receive it, and act upon it in faith!
This week’s song is “Take You at Your Word” by Cody Carnes and Benjamine William Hastings. May it be a reminder that God will do what He says He will do in His Word. As we receive it, we can live a life of faith!
Today is a very special day for me. After many years of being held captive by anxiety and trying many things to get free, God heard my cry for freedom and set me free. After 6 years on anxiety meds, I no longer needed them. Two years ago on this date was my first day of freedom from taking both Prozac and Buspar.
God has worked a change in my life, and for those of you who know me, it may be a bit of a surprise for me to tell you this. Because I have always been active in church and made it no secret that I believed in Jesus. In fact, I have thought throughout my adult years that I was living my life surrendered to God. The truth is In some ways I was, but in many ways I was not. ‘Make no mistake, God wants all of us.
About 5 months prior to taking my last anxiety pill I was at a revival service at my church with Pastor Denbow speaking (October 2021). He was speaking about “syncretism”- trying to mix the gospel with the worlds ways. In that service I realized that I had been trying to mix secular humanist thought and practices, as well as the widely accepted practice of eastern meditation, with the Bible. That does not work! In my love for God, He does not want to compete with me having other “spiritual” lovers — my ways or the worlds. He wants all of me, all of my heart— entirely, totally, and completely given up to Him. This is Teachings that the Bible Study group WOW has helped me to come to understand better and better through the past few years. (God has used WOW tremendously in my life to help me walk in freedom)
At that revival 2 1/2 years ago, I went to the front and repented for the sin I had held in my heart, and told God He could have all of me. On a morning, shortly after that I went to my pill box and heard the Holy Spirit tell me “that is not your inheritance.” I quit one medicine instantly. The other one I weaned off and took my last pill almost 5 months later.
Two years later to this day, I am free! The change in me since that time has been huge. So much so that I have told my friends, “I feel like I have been born again…again.”
Friday night I was talking to my husband, his brother, and my sister in law about this change. I said it almost makes you think about getting baptized again. I didn’t think I needed to since I was baptized as a teenager. Saturday morning I woke up with the desire to be baptized burning within my heart.
So tonight, I am going to be baptized. I want to publicly declare that I have been changed by Jesus and His power alone. I want to do whatever He tells me to do. Because He is life. And I do not want my way of doing things ever again. They have died. I am raised to new life.
“I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” Romans 6:19-22 NIV
For several years, I lived my life subjected to the cruel taskmaster of anxiety. It ruled over my life. Anxiety dictated my daily routine: Get out of bed. Take your first anxiety pill of the day: Do your daily exercise of Eastern Meditation on Headspace. Now start your day. Throughout the day anxiety would exercise its control over my feelings and emotions. Time to do breathing techniques, practice mindfulness, engage in the 5,4,3,2,1 method, then repeat. Often, I could not shake the feelings of a tight throat and a tight chest. Then it was time for my evening anxiety pill. I crawled into bed. I hoped for a night free of an anxious awakening at 2 am, lying awake for hours, and experiencing what I did in the day. This scenario was repeated day after day, night after night. I was a slave to my sin of anxiety. I was subject to its control, and it was producing death, darkness, and destruction inside of me.
Our verses this week are once again about holiness. This holiness is a benefit as we live our lives as “slaves to righteousness.” It is a life of freedom from sin as we live our lives set apart for His sacred use – a life of love, faith, holiness, and prayer. In this life, we are “slaves to God,” under His control and His rule. This submission to Him is always for our benefit, because He is a good Lord and Master. Being His slave results in more than holiness. Through it we experience “eternal life.”
Three years ago, I learned that we were created to serve someone. The words of this verse were proved true in my life. I came to understand that I had a choice. I could continue to “offer the parts of my body in slavery to impurity and ever-increasing wickedness” that the sin of anxiety was producing, or I could become a “slave to God.” I would either serve an evil master of sin or our loving and Holy God. I could not serve them both. I had to choose. This is the truth for each and every one of us. To not choose God is to choose the enemy.
God is holy. He is perfectly and impeccably pure, completely immaculate, and uncompromisingly righteous and just. He desires for us to be in relationship with Him, but in order for us to be close to Him, we must be holy as He is holy. To do so, we must “offer ourselves as slaves to righteousness.” The benefit we receive is a pure heart and freedom from sin and sinful affections, conformed to the image of God. We will be holy and the “result will be eternal life” with Him.
As you have read the words above, have you become aware that you are a “slave to impurity?” Is there an addiction or a sin that keeps you from experiencing a close relationship with God and the freedom from sin that He alone gives? God desires for us to live our lives surrendered to Him as a “slave to righteousness” that will lead to holiness. He desires us to be close to Him in a relationship of intimacy filled with His goodness, joy, peace, and love. We can only experience this when we live our lives fully surrendered to Him!
Our song this week is once again by Charity Gayle, “Because of Jesus.” Because of what Jesus has done, we can know that we are finally free of the sin that destroys! He has redeemed us and made us holy as He is holy. May our hearts desire to serve Him in complete obedience to His Word. May we live as His “slaves to righteousness” which leads to holiness – holiness in heart and in everything we do!
Your Love 