“Our Daily Bread”     http://odb.org/ 

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht   

“Homily Grits Devotional”   http://www.homilygrits.com/ 

Colossians 3:2…  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  (NKJV)

Any Christian who believes that they have arrived, when they become a child of God…will soon find that they will still be attacked by their own carnal flesh, and the temptations from Satan to sin, until the day they pass on into glory, to be with the Lord…  Their lifelong journey to live for the Lord, as they are being conformed over a lifetime into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29), is known as sanctification… 

I just wrote about the sacred act of baptism, yesterday…  Baptism is the Christian’s public acknowledgment to those around them, showing that they are serious about the new life they have received in Christ…  They are being obedient to Jesus’ command to be baptized…spoken in His final words, just before Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father…Matthew 28:19-20…  Baptism signifies that the Christian had died to their old way of life…and just like Christ who rose from the grave…they rise from the water to walk as a new creation in Christ…2 Corinthians 5:17-18…

The Apostle Paul explains the significance of baptism, in…Romans 6:3-4… Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus werebaptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  (NKJV)

The Apostle Paul wrote the Book of Colossians, for the believers in the church at Colosse; to warn them about not succumbing to the heretical teaching that threatened their church…  The Apostle Paul’s advice in the opening scripture to…“Set your mind on things above”…is still excellent advice for believers today…

The Apostle Paul goes on to pen this, in the next verse…Colossians 3:3…  For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  (NKJV)   But notice what the Apostle Paul then writes, in…Colossians 3:5… Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  (NKJV)

These are all sins that the Christian was to have already put to death, when they became alive in Christ…  The Apostle Paul then goes on to add some additional sins to this list the Christian is to do their best to avoid, in…Colossians 3:8-10… But now you yourselves are to putoff all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthylanguage out of your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you have putoff the oldman with his deeds, ¹⁰ and have puton the newman who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, (NKJV)

When the new Christian is graced with salvation by God, they start with a clean slate…  Not only are their sins committed previous to their becoming a Christian, forgiven and covered by the shed blood of Jesus Christ at the cross…their sins are remembered no more by God…Hebrews 8:12…  “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawlessdeeds I will remember no more.” (NKJV)

So what is the key that the new Christian must understand and use…to be capable of fending off Satan’s temptations, and their own carnal flesh ??   We as Christians must first understand that we in our own strength are absolutely helpless against the forces of evil, and our own carnal desires to fulfill the lusts of the flesh…  Our supernatural strength comes from the power of the Holy Spirit, that God has given all Christians to combat evil…

The Christian must not take their eyes off of the Lord, as they daily submit their lives to Him, by following the leading of the Holy Spirit…  The Apostle James pens this, in…James 4:7-8a… Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  (NKJV)

But the Christian should also be “renewed in knowledge”, as their spiritual growth is fed by the Word of God, day by day…  Jesus teaches us about this necessity, when He spoke these words, in…Matthew 4:4… But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by everyword that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

Spending time feeding daily on God’s Word, is God’s plan for the Christian to grow in their spiritual knowledge and wisdom…so that they can go from being new born babes in Christ (1 Peter 2:2), to more mature believers, that are able to “discern both good and evil”…Hebrews 5:14…

I would be remiss…if I didn’t mention that God’s Word is known as the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17b); and is the only offensive piece of the 6 piece set of spiritual armor that the Apostle Paul writes about, in the of “The Whole Armor of God”…that God has given to Christians to put on piece by piece…  Here is the link to this very important scripture, in…Ephesians 6:10-20…    http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph6:10-20&version=NKJV

The other 5 pieces of spiritual armor, that are to be worn as a complete set to fend off Satan’s attacks (Ephesians 6:11), are all acquired by feeding on God’s Word…

I honestly believe, that if all  Christians worldwide, would open and digest the Word of God on a daily basis…along with doing their best to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), by confessing and turning from any and all sins (1 John 1:9)…that they would light up the world with a renewed love of Christ, that hasn’t been seen since Christ’s disciples walked the earth…

God’s Word is living and powerful…Hebrews 4:12-13…  It will teach those who believe how to become more dedicated Christians…  It will convict those in need of God’s grace, that they are indeed unredeemed sinners, in need of salvation…  And as the Apostle Paul writes, in…2 Timothy 3:16-17…God’s Word will help the man of God to “be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Heavenly Father, I pray that Your Word would become an important part of all of Your children’s daily lives…  I pray Lord, that those in need of Your grace, would be drawn to Yourself…John 6:44…  And that Your Word would feed the heart, mind, and soul of all those in need of the rest for their soul that You promise for those that put their faith and trust in You…Matthew 11:29…  I pray for this fullness of Christ, which will change hearts and lives for an eternity…in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

written by bruce r mills