December 27

“It would be of no use to inherit a fortune if you did not know it was yours.  Likewise, it is of no benefit to inherit everything necessary to become like Christ if you do not claim it...The key to all that God has made available to us is our faith.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 12/10

I think a lot of people exercise faith, but because they don’t know about their inheritance their faith is in the wrong thing.  Usually, it’s in themselves.  Sometimes it’s in the “system”.  Fortunately, they will be let down eventually; otherwise, if these other ways succeeded, they’d never search elsewhere to place their faith.  Then there are those who place their faith in God, but aren’t aware of their inheritance.  They never read their Bible and therefore are ignorant of all God wants to give them.  They walk around all the good things God has for them on their way to what they, with their limited imaginations, think is good for them.   But there is a third type of person.  They are the ones who exercise their faith in God and know what He desires to give them but refuse to take it, thinking they are being humble.  These people have been so absorbed into what the world thinks is humility that they can’t see past themselves.  They may say outwardly that they do not deserve all of God’s gifts, but what they are really doing is rejecting God.  Let us not be guilty of this effrontery to God.  We must walk in the way He has prepared for us, believing all His promises so that we won’t grow weary.

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature.”  2 Peter 1:3, 4  

September 27

“The New Testament teaches that our lives are temples because Christ abides in us.  We cannot assume by this that our lives are pleasing to Him.  Like Solomon, we must thoroughly prepare ourselves so that God will choose to reveal His presence in our lives.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 9/17

Solomon prepared the Temple to receive the glory of God by sacrificing animals as payment for his and the people’s sins.  2 Chronicles 7:1 tells us that fire came down from Heaven and consumed the sacrifices on the altar.  For us, Jesus laid Himself on the altar, bearing our sins for us.  In doing so, our sins were “consumed with fire” and we were made fit for God’s Holy Spirit to inhabit us.  This was done once for all time.  Yet we act as though we have to keep going to the altar and perform this act all over again each time we become aware of our sin.  We think it is somehow spiritual.  But all it serves to do is keep us in chains.  Instead God wants us to confess our sins and with thanksgiving acknowledge His Goodness for having freed us from having to pay for them ourselves.  It is this gratefulness that will keep our hearts purified and therefore pleasing to Him.  It’s in exercising the faith that God has given us that we are freed from the guilt of sin.  As children of God we will experience His presence because His glory shall fill us.

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion (KJV: lust), and become partakers of the divine nature.”  2 Peter 1:3, 4