Getting 'Real'

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Good morning, Lord

Verse of the Day: Psalm 121:7-8

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Memory verse: John 10:27-28...27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Today's reading: ESTHER 6-8 ACTS 6

Getting 'Real'

In his book, "Mere Christianity", C.S. Lewis calls Jesus Christ the only complete realist. He bases this on the fact that Jesus never fell to sin. He faced temptation with all the power the world could offer and never once sinned.

Lewis says that we never learn of power by surrender-we never know the strength of an army until we enter the war.

I agree with all that. But we have to dig a little further. After the French surrender of World War Two, the French had an extensive underground who fought and many gave their lives for what was right. But make no mistake-they lied, deceived, and murdered to achieve their goals but it was all against a great evil.

We must surrender our lives to God's will-now, some of us have fought and denied God for years before our surrender but some innocently surrender to God's love. So how do we know His power? We know God's power everyday because of the war that goes on in our 'underground'-the underground that fights the enemy.

The enemy fights us everyday with temptation. Lewis says that some people who are bad do not know it because they are accustomed to it. But we have the Holy Spirit and we know right from wrong.

Jesus says that we must take up our Cross everyday and follow Him.

We must face reality and our reality is that we cannot defeat sin in our lives without God's power-period. The more we resist sin the more we learn of God's power and the more 'real' it becomes.

We hear it all the time-"This is getting real" or "This just got real".

How real is God's power and presence in your life? Do you depend on Him for just the big things in your life or do you actually depend on Him to 'deliver you from evil' and 'lead you away from temptation'?

Ask God to make it real in your life right now and all this day and be ready to do it again tomorrow.

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

Help me resist sin and teach me to depend on You. Holy Spirit, remind me of my need all the time. Forgive me for my failures.

Great and empowering God of Grace!

In the name of Jesus,

Amen