Have you taken the opportunity to consider the you HAVE been crucified with Christ, have you meditated upon the fact that you are seated in the heavenly realm, have you considered that the world, the flesh and the devil have no authority over you and that you have complete victory IN Christ?
Gal 5:1 Christ has liberated us into freedom. Therefore stand firm and don't submit again to a yoke of slavery
If not ask yourself why you haven’t done so…are you too busy bound in your prison cell to notice that the door has been ripped off its hinges, the chains tossed aside and that you now have complete freedom, unless you choose to still live in the prison cell. Look at what the Psalmist says…
Psa 31:6 I hate those who are devoted to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.
Psa 119:147 I rise before dawn and cry for help. I put my hope in your words.
Psa 119:148 My eyes stay open through the night watches, that I might meditate on your word.
Therefore meditate on these promises day and night. I like what Thomas Brooks says in his book “Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices” about meditating on the Word...
Remember, it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee’s touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian.
So take the time to “reckon” what you are reading and hearing. I think many of our problems stem from our priorities. How much time, effort and money do we give to the temporal things verses the eternal things from God. No one said it better then Jesus on the sermon on the mount:
Mat 6:19 "Don't collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
Mat 6:20 But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal.
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Mat 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
Now earnestly examine your life. For many these next passages will be light and life as they desire the things from above and God is giving them light but for others they will be condemnation and will not be well received.
Jas 4:3 You ask and don't receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may spend it on your desires for pleasure.
Jas 4:4 Adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world's friend becomes God's enemy.
1Jn 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
So the first step is to reckon or continuously consider that you HAVE been crucified with Christ and that you have been raised with Him. This is an eternal absolute truth whether or not your life reflects it, it is yours to do with as you desire. The next step is to set your heart on things above and not on this passing world. The fact is that you can only have one master and that God is a jealous God and desires all of you.
Gal 5:1 Christ has liberated us into freedom. Therefore stand firm and don't submit again to a yoke of slavery
If not ask yourself why you haven’t done so…are you too busy bound in your prison cell to notice that the door has been ripped off its hinges, the chains tossed aside and that you now have complete freedom, unless you choose to still live in the prison cell. Look at what the Psalmist says…
Psa 31:6 I hate those who are devoted to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.
Psa 119:147 I rise before dawn and cry for help. I put my hope in your words.
Psa 119:148 My eyes stay open through the night watches, that I might meditate on your word.
Therefore meditate on these promises day and night. I like what Thomas Brooks says in his book “Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices” about meditating on the Word...
Remember, it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee’s touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian.
So take the time to “reckon” what you are reading and hearing. I think many of our problems stem from our priorities. How much time, effort and money do we give to the temporal things verses the eternal things from God. No one said it better then Jesus on the sermon on the mount:
Mat 6:19 "Don't collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
Mat 6:20 But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal.
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Mat 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
Now earnestly examine your life. For many these next passages will be light and life as they desire the things from above and God is giving them light but for others they will be condemnation and will not be well received.
Jas 4:3 You ask and don't receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may spend it on your desires for pleasure.
Jas 4:4 Adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world's friend becomes God's enemy.
1Jn 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
So the first step is to reckon or continuously consider that you HAVE been crucified with Christ and that you have been raised with Him. This is an eternal absolute truth whether or not your life reflects it, it is yours to do with as you desire. The next step is to set your heart on things above and not on this passing world. The fact is that you can only have one master and that God is a jealous God and desires all of you.
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