May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless… —1 Thessalonians 5:23
Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest
As I write these devotions, I have begun to see a thread that runs through them .. Coincidentally, it is the same thread that runs through the Bible. God has called us to a life of faith and holiness. We cannot achieve that life on our own. And even when we are born again, even though we are “awakened” to the reality of spiritual Truth, we continue to struggle with living a life of faith and holiness.
We make excuses for our failings, and unfortunately often resolving ourselves to and becoming satisfied with some lower level of faith and holiness that God never intended as a sort of self-defined compromise. When you talk to other Christians, even those that you might consider “more spiritual than most”, you should never think that they are immune to that struggle. None of us are like Jesus, but all of us should want to be and one day will be.
So should we be content with our not being like Him yet? God forbid. We are on a spiritual journey. We must keep our eyes fixed on Him, and press on. And so my friend, let me encourage you to press on in your faith with confidence that
He who began a good work in your will be faithful to complete it. 1 Philippians 1:6
“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am" ― John Newton
Join with the Apostle Paul in this resolve!
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:13-14
Think about it – Believe it - Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.
By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone
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