Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from the group Hillsong singing Who You Say I Am … poignantly singing of how all Christians have been set free from our sin-ridden lives by Christ’s blood so that we can choose to walk in freedom with Christ.
As Christians we get to choose!!
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Highlight Verse[s]: 2 Corinthians 5:15, 17 [ESV] ... 15 …and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. … 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
… In Christ, God, thru Paul, teaches that every day we can choose to live the new life we now have in Christ by confessing and repenting of our sin and walking with Christ in freedom from self.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… God, thru Paul, shows Christians that we no longer are shackled by our old sin nature; but that we can now choose our new life, walking in freedom with Christ.
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Reference Passage : … John 8:31 [ESV] … 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
… Jesus declares the truth to His disciples about our freedom from the old self when we’re willing to be His disciples and choose to walk in His truth.
Reference Passage : … John 14:21 [ESV] … 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
… Jesus challenges His disciples to show their (our) love for Him by follow His commandments; and in doing so, allowing Him to manifest Himself in them (us).
Reference Passage : … 1 John 3:24 [ESV] … 24 Whoever keeps His commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
… We can see those who are truly children of God by their (our) choices they (we) make, … choosing to abide in Christ and following His commandments.
Reference Passage : … 1 John 1:5-9 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… When we exercise our choice as Christians to confess and repent of our sins, our Lord cleanses us and allows us to walk in freedom from our past.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, James Banks, relates a story about his son’s testimony of the freedom he had found from past addictions in his relationship with Christ. . … The ODB author wrote: “I’m not who I once was. I’m a new person.”
Those simple words from my son, spoken to students at a school assembly, describe the change God made in his life. Once addicted to heroin, Geoffrey previously saw himself through his sins and mistakes. But now he sees himself as a child of God.
Hey, … my friend; … who are you? When you sin against God, are you one who realizes it, through conviction, and confesses the sin and moves on, knowing that you have been cleansed and can walk with Christ in the newness that He has provided by shedding His blood on the cross [see reference passages above]. Or are you one who would rather just keep choosing to wallow in your selfish sin nature?
Because dear one, if you are the latter, and you’ve taken in the truth of the scriptures above, deciding to follow self over the Savior, you are one who is condemned by your own choices, … demonstrating the reality that you are shackled in your own selfish sin nature. HOWEVER, my friend, if your sin leads you, … in conviction, … as it did for me about my selfish choices yesterday, … you join me in experiencing the newness of Spirit which is in us as a born-again Christians. And now, … we get to move on, … in repentance, … knowing that we get to live the new life we have in Christ rather than going back to make choices in our old sin nature.
So, as in the photo, I pray we make the right and empowered choices today!!
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for giving me the choice to choose to walk with You rather than wallow in myself.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me to choose to walk in the freedom You show us when we follow You in the Spirit. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
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