Praise God that the dark one cannot prevail over those who are God’s children.
“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1Jn 5:12 NIV
So again, the bad news is so very bad, which should make receiving the Good News a no brainer, right? Yet how many people still do not accept this free gift? And I am talking about those who come to church every week! They have little to no assurance of their Salvation, which causes them to continue to act like their old person. After all, if nothing has changed within me, why would I act any differently, right? This is the lie the dark one is now trying use to fool us. Can you see why it is vital that we believers know beyond a shadow of a doubt WHO we are in Christ?
If we have sincerely surrendered our life to Jesus, we are no longer the sinners we used to be. We are now saints. God calls us His beloved, holy children. And as His children, we are still growing into WHO we will be in Heaven. In other words, saints still sin, but that is not our identity anymore, and it should not be the desire of our hearts to sin anymore either. Our hearts should desire to glorify God by imitating Him as much as our level of maturity allows. We are now His and can work with the Holy Spirit to do this, more and more. And as we grow to believe this truth, we will sin less and less.
A sinner, on the other hand, can do nothing but sin, because that is who they are. Apart from the saving and transforming power of God’s Love, sinners will continue to do what their nature dictates. They will continue to be self-centered. Even when they do something that seems good, their motives are tinged. There is always a MMI incentive for doing anything that will benefit others. And if you think I am being mean here, it is not just me saying this, check out what the Bible has to say about the fallen nature! (Ps 14:1-3; Ro 3:10-12)
Here’s an example from my own life: before I became born again, I loved my daughter, but I loved her because she was MINE. You see, I did not love her for her sake alone. My love for her was attached to the fact that she belonged to me. That is a self-centered motive, my Friends. It was not until God began to mature me that this changed. More on this transformation tomorrow…
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
July: 26- Jas 2:19; 27- Dt 31:8; 28- Jn 14:15; 29- Jn 8:11
August: 30- Ro 8:1; 31- Pr 4:23; 32- Pr 18:21; 33- Ps 118:24; 34- 1Jn 4:4
September: 35- Mt 16:24; 36- Isa 53:6; 37- Ps 23:1-6
October: 38- Heb 4:12; 39- Jn 15:5
40- Jas 5:16
41- 1Jn 3:1
42- 1Jn 5:12
<>< Peace, Diane
