Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Wednesday's Word: Whose Side Are You On?

 

"Thus says the Lord: Heaven is My throne, and the earth
is My footstool.  What kind of house would you build for Me?

And what kind can be My resting place?


Hope On The Horizon
Greg Olsen/Fine Art America


For all these things My hand has made, and so all these things
have come into being by and for Me, says the Lord. But this
is the man to whom I will look and have regard: he who is
humble and of a broken or wounded spirit, and who trembles
at My word and reveres My command."

(Isaiah 66:1-2)

"God is a Spirit, a spiritual Being, and those who worship Him
must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality)."

(John 4:24)

"Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty, emancipation from bondage, freedom. And all 
of us, as with unveiled face, because we continued to behold
in the Word of God as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are
constantly being transfigured into His very own image in
ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory
to another; for this comes from the Lord Who is the Spirit."

(11 Corinthians 3:17-18)


Sin had us in a stranglehold.  We were bound to sin,
slaves to its commands, unable to live a life for God.
We couldn't see that it owned us, yet we obeyed it,
heeded its instruction, and submitted to its authority.


We were helpless-we had no choice but to be
enticed and entangled in sin...

But, "...having been freed from sin, we became
slaves to righteousness."
  (Romans 6:18)

Whether we know it or not, this is our reality in Messiah.

Sin is no longer our owner because our new Master is Righteousness-
we obey Him, heed His instruction, and submit to His authority alone.

Yet, we are kept from seeing or believing this reality because of the
war that continues to wage in our flesh. 
 We doubt our standing
before God because we have watched ourselves dip again
and again into the pool of our past selves. 

We are reminded of the sins in which we used to wallow...
the flesh that once defined us.

As disciples of Messiah, we need to accept-once and for all-
this new reality: no matter how our flesh behaves, we have been
"freed from sin" and become "slaves to righteousness".

You may be in the process of falling away-you may have
already fallen-but if you have truly been made alive to God
in the Messiah Yeshua, you are no longer who you used to be-

you can change.

Though our flesh may remain enslaved to sin, our new nature is free-
a slave only to righteousness!  Now in Messiah, we may choose to
 no longer live in sin because the Righteous One has delivered us.


We have been released from prison...we have been set free.

Demand that your flesh fall in line with who you really are in Messiah,
and partake of the old "leaven" no longer.

Yes, there is a war between the old "you" and the new.

The question you need to ask yourself is,

"Which side are you on?"


Abba, Father, I struggle between my old self
and who I truly am in You-
I even know when I am sinning,
 but I can't seem to stop.
Adonai, I believe You have given me
 the ability to walk in the
newness of life right now-
I know You have set me free from sin
so that I can be a slave to righteousness.
  Teach me to walk in Your ways, O God;
 show me how to yield
completely and only for You.
  I bless Your Name, Adonai,
 for I can now choose
to walk according to who I really am...
and in You, I am brand new..."



"Slaves of Righteousness"
A devotional and prayer from the book,
Messianic Mo'adiym
Messianic Jewish Devotionals
For Israel's Annual Feasts, Fasts,
And Appointed Times
By Kevin Geoffrey
(2007)
Perfect Word Publishing
A Ministry of Perfect Word Ministries



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