Seeing everything in life as an opportunity to worship God!
Song of the Day “Rise Up” by Cain Scripture to reflect upon (Please hover, or click onto, the Scriptures to read the specified text!) John 11:38-44, Rom 6:4, Isa 2:5, Phil 3:10, John 10:10, 2 Cor 5:17, Devotional thought Are you living with grave clothes on? That is not the way our Lord wants us … Read more
Song of the Day “We Are Free Forever” by Eagleville Bible Church Scripture to reflect upon (Please hover, or click onto, the Scriptures to read the specified text!) Gal 5:1, John 8:36, 1 John 2:2, Rom 6:17-22, Devotional thought “Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the … Read more
Are you experiencing freedom in your life?
Is there anything that you may need to repent from today in order to embrace the freedom purchased for you on the Cross?
Have you worshiped God today for making you free in Christ?
God has a wonderful track record of stepping in throughout history and delivering those who call upon Him by faith! You can read about it in the Bible, you can look up Godly testimonies and listen to transformation in other people’s lives, or you can keep a journal and describe your own deliverance experience. All of those are ways to “remember” the works of the Lord, and as we do that our joy and confidence will increase! This is so important and I hope that you can remember that work of deliverance/salvation in your own life.
There are so many who just look to use their freedom to serve themselves and their agenda’s, and it is creating a culture of selfishness and sinful indulgences that are leading us away from the blessings of Christ. We need to get back to God! We need to go to Him and repent, seek His forgiveness, turn from our wicked ways, and live our lives in godly and morally upright ways! Freedom is useless if we don’t apply it to our lives, and living under the bondage of sin is not using the freedom that Christ purchased for us to bring us blessing! Please decide today to crucify your fleshly desires and to follow the Spirit of life into a full life of freedom! Remember, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. So, walk in step with God’s Spirit and enjoy the blessings that come along with living holy lives!
Why? you ask, because these people were doing everything they could to manipulate God! Yes they had the appearance of godliness and they were “rewarded” in the culture as important and highly honored, but they were not connected to the heart of God! God hates insincere rituals and empty religious platitudes that are designed to manipulate Him into thinking that we are somehow better people as a result of them (see Isaiah 1:11-15). God desires expressions of devotion from the heart that recognizes Him as the only reason for any sort of goodness within the one offering up such worship (see Ps. 51:16-17). See, Jesus knew their hearts (as He knows our hearts) and knew that they were not interested in worshiping to be near to God but more interested in showing piety in order to impress and overpower the people around them. He even calls them “white-washed tombs” in Matt. 23:27, saying that they make the outside look clean but on the inside they are full of dead bones. Those are some very harsh words from the One receiving our worship!
Our bodies are reflective of our minds and hearts in worship. We offer up our bodies once we learn what is true of God, and so my question to you is: What is our body saying we believe to be true as we conduct ourself in the exercise of worship? When we sing are we engaged? When our Pastor preaches do we take notes or listen and follow along intently? When there are opportunities to serve, do we get involved? Are we praying? Are we tithing when it’s time to give? Do we understand that what we believe about God is what should compel these acts of sacrificial service? These are the things that we should consider when we look at Romans 12:1.
“Live as free people” is what the verse says above, and I believe it is profound! We all have the freedom to say anything that we want – at any time (As Americans anyways). That can be very bad, or that can be very good! In the negative sense, the Bible says that we have the power of death in our tongue (Proverbs 18:21). That is very scary and it should make us think twice before we speak! The very words we speak can and will shape our lives, the tone of the conversations, the disposition of the people around us, and so-on. Using the freedom we have to do evil (e.g. gossip, slander, dishonor, etc.) is never going to bring about anything good and profitable, so let’s not do that. On the contrary, in the verse referenced above it says that the power of life is in the tongue as well (Proverbs 18:21). This is where the “slaves to God” comes into play. Choosing to speak good and noble things instead of letting any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths (Ephesians 4:29), we are speaking life and encouragement into people’s lives as opposed to death and anxiety.