Devotion to God Comes First
DEVOTIONS OF FREEDOM©
by Pastor Marla Atkinson
Introduction
Devotion to God comes first with the acknowledgment of His son’s death and resurrection. That brings salvation. You understand that “…while we were still sinners
Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8) You understand that “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 6:23) This is a free gift, one that is hard to imagine. As a part of that special gift comes the words of Paul in 2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore (Paul was saying to the Corinthians listen to me) if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Paul knew what it was to be made new; to change the direction he had been headed. In the process he became free in Christ Jesus. Paul fully understood what it was to be reconciled to God to be a joint heir with his Lord Jesus. Rom. 8:17 says “…heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…” With that heir ship come a confidence and a realization that you are entitled to freedom. It has been bought and paid for by Christ Jesus, but do you appropriate this gift of freedom? Many Christians do not. I did not for many years, but the Lord took me on a journey of discovering who I am in Jesus and what that entails. I believe our journey continues throughout our life. I hope you will read along each day as we explore the Word and what God has to say about who you are and who He wants you to be. Remember Jeremiah 29:11-14, “For I know the thoughts (or plans) that I think toward you, says the Lord, Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all you Heart. I will be found by you says Lord…” As you seek God with me over these next days and weeks open your heart and mind to hear the Voice of the Holy Spirit as He reveals God’s Word to you about Jesus Christ and who you are in Him.
I believe our journey continues throughout our life. I hope you will read along each day as we explore the Word and what God has to say about who you are and who He wants you to be. Remember Jerm 29:11-14, “For I know the thoughts (or plans) that I think toward you, says the Lord, Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all you Heart. I will be found by you says Lord…” As you seek God with me over these next days and weeks open your heart and mind to hear the Voice of the Holy Spirit as He reveals God’s Word to you about Jesus Christ and who you are in Him.
Week 1
As each of us tries to understand what the gift of salvation is and you hear or read John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” questions can form in your thoughts. What does John mean by freedom? I don’t get it. We are so confined to living our busy lives on schedules and obligations that freedom of any kind is hard to grasp.
Do any of us feel worthy of any kind of freedom much less freedom in our salvation? However, God’s Word says in 2 Cor 5:21 “For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in Him.” So our first concept in learning who we are in Jesus is understanding and accepting the righteousness that is ours in Christ.
If you have accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior you belong to the family of God. You have exchanged your old being for a new one. You have the DNA of God now and are no longer are the same person. You have biological characteristics of your parents but you will now begin to show characteristics of your new Heavenly Father; in the way you feel, act, even look sometimes because peace comes over your countenance and changes the way you look.
There is a song out by JJ Weeks that is titled “Let Them See You”. What he is singing about is letting people see Jesus in you. That is something that can and will happen as you become free in Jesus. The biggest decision you will ever make is the decision to accept Christ and THEN to move on in the freedom that He bought and paid for with his very blood.
Tuesday
I had always heard about them. Never really read any. Never knew people who blogged. But low and behold in my spirit I heard God tell me to start blogging a few years ago. I had no clue what to do and my life got sooo busy I just put the idea aside. Evidently God had other ideas, so here I am blogging due to my good friend Nan and my association with her organization. Listen I even looked up blogs and probably the number one thing you need to do is be passionate about what you blog about. I am passionate about Jesus. I am passionate for people to be healed of their emotional hurts and baggage that keep them from walking out their destinies. I want them to learn about their motivational or “grace” gift from the Father. He has a job and a destiny for each of us, but it is up to us to figure it out. In fact, the name of my Ministry I started in 2006 is Destiny in Christ. I was ordained in 2005, but I have been praying and teaching since about 1987.
How about any of you? Are you passionate about our Savior? Are you struggling with baggage? Are you questioning your salvation? Do you wonder where in the world do you fit in the Body of Christ? May I assure you, that you MOST CERTAINLY DO! Do not let the enemy tell you any differently and yes there most definitely the enemy, Satan. He does not want you to know who you are in Christ because then he is defeated because you now have the weapons to fight with. Let me encourage you to go back and reread yesterday’s devotional. Ponder on it. Read the scriptures and look them up in your Bible. If you have a question, ask. I will sure do my best to answer. Ok will send out another Blog on Thursday. Let’s see how good I can get at blogging. Blessings everyone!
If you have accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior you belong to the family of God. You have exchanged your old being for a new one. You have the DNA of God now and are no longer are the same person. You have biological characteristics of your parents but you will now begin to show characteristics of your new Heavenly Father; in the way you feel, act, even look sometimes because peace comes over your countenance and changes the way you look.
There is a song out by JJ Weeks that is titled “Let Them See You”. What he is singing about is letting people see Jesus in you. That is something that can and will happen as you become free in Jesus. The biggest decision you will ever make is the decision to accept Christ and THEN to move on in the freedom that He bought and paid for with his very blood.
Prayer
God I accept your son as my Savior, Redeemer and Lord. I believe He lived, died and rose again for me. I want to understand who You have made me to be. As I read and ponder on these thoughts in this book open Your Book, The Bible to me so I can grasp the truth of Your Word and put it to use in my life. That people around me could see You in me. Amen