“Our Daily Bread”
http://odb.org/2012/11/02/wake-up-call-3/
The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie
http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht
Acts 2:44-45… Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. (NKJV)
The opening scripture is speaking of the new believers that had just become Christians after the Apostle Paul’s first sermon; after being energized with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit… Jesus had promised His disciples that His Father would be sending them a Helper, the Holy Spirit, on the Day of Pentecost…John 14:26… And the Apostle Peter had just preached with such power, and such clarity…that scripture reveals that about 3,000 new believers were added to Christ’s church at one time…Acts 2:41…
These new believers, after becoming part of the body of Christ, immediately changed their priorities from centering on themselves…to placing Christ at the forefront of their lives… Not only was Christ first in their lives…how they looked at what they owned, and what was now important to these new believers, had also totally changed… The needs of others became more important than their own needs…
I know in my own life, after God had graced me with salvation just over 10 years ago…my priorities had also totally changed… Before becoming a Christian, my focus was on my job…making money…and all the “stuff” that was most important in my life… A new car every few years, to keep up with the proverbial Joneses next door, is a good example… God was in the back of my mind somewhere… I believed I was a Christian in my mind… But my heart was stone cold, and my life was focused on me, myself, and I…
Being filled with the Holy Spirit when one becomes a Christian, should be a life changing experience… A life that has never changed its priorities from being self-centered, to being totally centered on Christ…is a life that truly hasn’t become a Christian in God’s eyes… The Christian who is Spirit filled and a child of God should be absolutely sure that God has graced them with salvation…because the Holy Spirit will tell them so…Romans 8:16… The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (NKJV)
If you consider yourself to be a Christian, have you heard, understood, and obeyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ?? I spent a day (10/20/12) explaining what God reveals to us through His errant Word, the Bible, about this need to obey the gospel of Christ in order to be come a Christian in God’s eyes… It was titled… “God’s Grace through Obedience to the Gospel of Christ”… Here is the link for anyone who is urged to open and read it… If you are urged to do so, it just might be God trying to get your attention to this act of obedience… https://godsmanforever.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/gods-group-thoughts-for-10202012-gods-grace-through-obedience-to-the-gospel-of-christ/
But once a person becomes a Christian in God’s eyes…their focus should not shift off of Christ as most important in their lives, if they want to remain righteous in God’s sight… It is only by remaining Spirit filled (totally controlled by the Holy Spirit), that the Christian will be blessed with the supernatural peace and the joy that God will fill the obedient believer’s heart with; right along with the urge to not only love all of those around them…but to always put the needs of others ahead of their own…
Heavenly Father, I pray that Your Word by Your urging, will wake up those who have their priorities all wrong… I pray Father, that everyone who is a Christian, sees that You must be first in their lives; or they will not be worthy of the calling You have graced them with… And Father, I pray that those You don’t know as Your children, would be drawn in by You (John 6:44) to seek Your Son Jesus Christ to be their personal Lord, their Master, and their Savior by obeying the gospel of Your Son Jesus Christ… I pray that You change the hearts of those in need, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…
written by bruce r mills
P.S. The gospel of Christ is presented in the link below, to plant the seed toward salvation for those who want to become part of God’s family; to be sure they are righteous in God’s eyes, and filled with the awesome power of the Holy Spirit…
God's group 