Day: July 4, 2019

July 4, 2019
Romans 7:21-25 New Living Translation (NLT)

Happy 4th of July! Today we celebrate our independence as Americans. It’s amazing that we get to live in a free country with the ability to openly worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So many of our brothers and sisters in Christ across the world must hide their faith and worship for fear of dying. The beauty of our God is He allows each of us an opportunity to choose Him. He doesn’t force His way into our hearts, He gently nudges us, and then we get to decide if we are going to allow Him a permanent home where we can grow in an everlasting relationship with Him. Once that decision is made, we become dependent on Him to guide us to do what is right. We are sinful people living in a sin filled world, so our human instincts are to sin. We need the power of the Holy Spirit, which is Jesus Christ our Lord, living within us to overrule the power that wants to hold us as captive slaves to sin. As we celebrate our independence as Americans today, let’s also celebrate our dependence on God’s law that connects us in eternal life to our loving Lord, Jesus Christ.

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July 3, 2019
Matthew 10:16-20 New Living Translation (NLT)

In our passage today, the Apostle Matthew provides us with direct instructions from Jesus that were given to the twelve disciples. As I was reading over today’s passage, The Whole Armor of God kept coming to my heart. Yesterday, the Apostle Paul reminded us of the grave importance of Living by the Spirit’s Power, and one chapter over from that lesson, He taught that we are to put on The Whole Armor of God so that we can stand firm against all strategies of the devil. The enemy is cleaver and cunning, he doesn’t just test and fight our flesh in the earthly realm, he battles against us in the spiritual realm (much of which we cannot see) and so we need to be equipped to stand firmly against him. Every day we must arm ourselves with God’s: 1. Belt of Truth, 2. Breastplate of Righteousness, 3. Shoes of Peace from the Good News, 4. Shield of Faith, 5. Helmet of Salvation, and 6. Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:10-18). Once armed we can live out Jesus’s instructions in today’s passage. He knows that we are His sheep walking amongst wolves. He wants us to beware, to be on guard against people of this world, to understand that worldly people will try to stop the sharing of the Gospel, He wants to use us to witness to them, and we need to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through us. It’s exciting to know that the same Spirit that Jesus imparted to the disciples lives and moves in us!

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July 2, 2019
Ephesians 5:15-20 New Living Translation (NLT)

Yesterday, the Apostle John reminded us that we are to live in the Light of Christ. Today, the Apostle Paul teaches us that when we chose to live in the Light of Christ, we are “Living by the Spirit’s Power”. These 5 verses from the 5th chapter in Ephesians, are AMAZING! I see verse 15 as an instruction guide to a 4-step daily process found in verses 16 – 20:

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July 1, 2019
1 John 2:7-11 New Living Translation (NLT)

Do you ever find yourself speaking poorly about a brother or sister in Christ? Do you not like a fellow believer?

In our passage today we learn from the “Apostle of Love”, John. He not only writes about love, but he puts the true love of Christ into action within his life. At one time Jesus nicknamed John and his brother, James, the “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17), and in Luke (9:51-56) these two brothers wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy a village. So, John may have not always been known as the “Apostle of Love”, however, he followed Jesus and grew to know that reality is to be lived by God’s way, and no longer the world’s way. In verses 7 – 11 John repeatedly uses the words: love, life (living), and light. These words belong together in our lives as Christians. Our love is affected when we choose to either live in light or darkness. If we are walking in the light of Christ, we will love our fellow Christian brothers and sisters. If we are walking in the darkness of the world, we will spread hatred even amongst our brothers and sisters. John lived his life loving like Jesus, and so should we.

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