awesome

Once again, isn’t it awesome when your devotionals perfectly match up with what God has been laying in your heart already?


Behaviour To Match Your Identity

Scripture Reading: 2nd Corinthians 6:14-7:1

Do not be unequally yoked up with unbelievers – do not make mis-mated alliances with them, or come under a different yoke with them (inconsistent with your faith). For what partnership have right living and right standing with God (righteousness) with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light fellowship with darkness?

What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial (the devil)? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?

What agreement can there be between a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

So, come out from among (unbelievers), and separate (sever) yourselves from them, says the Lord, and touch not any unclean thing; then I will receive you kindly and treat you with favour,

And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

Therefore, since these great promises are ours, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates and defiles body and spirit, and bring our consecration to completeness in the reverential fear of God.


An American on business in the Far East is not very likely to assimilate Asian culture. Quite the contrary. The food is different; there is a language barrier; the wardrobes are distinct. He is constantly reminded of the dissimilarities. His identity as an American is well established. He acts and thinks like an American precisely because he is one. Understanding your identity in Christ is a pivotal principle for success in combating the world’s influence.

A dramatic transformation occurred when you were saved. You became a “new creature” in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17 NASB). You became a citizen of God’s kingdom. You still live in your indigenous culture, with all of its allures, trials, temptations, and charms; but you are no longer the same man or woman.

Living holy or separately (SANCTIFICATION) from the impulses of the world is possible only as you realize the amazing metamorphosis that has transpired within. You are quite obviously still “in the world,” but you are now not “of the world.”

The rationale for rejecting the waywardness of the world is that it doesn’t fit your new identity anymore. You don’t act like an unregenerate person because you are a new person in Christ.

Learning who you are in Christ takes time, complete with failure, for your behaviour to match your identity; but you have a lifelong, resident Teacher, the Holy Spirit, to help you along the way.

Precious heavenly Father, You brought me out of the “Egypt” of sin and set my feet on the road to Your promised land. As I continue on this spiritual journey, help me match my behaviour with my new identity.





I was talking previously about listening last night to a sermon by Pastor Creflo Dollar. He said something very interesting, something I have never heard before, but it made perfect sense and it opened my eyes to a few things.

Pastor Dollar was talking about sexual sins, and how Christians fall into those temptations. He was talking about how God does not want us to have sex outside of marriage, because God does not want us to have to go through the hurts and the pain that those sins cause.

Then he gave a warning to Christians who think it is okay to have sex with another Christian that they are not married to. Pastor Dollar pointed out that we are all members of Christ’s body, belonging to Him. We are, as the Bible implicitly states, “in Him.” And we know that Christ lives in us, and He never leaves us or forsakes us; where we go, He goes too.

So, that being so, if you have sex (outside of a marriage covenant relationship) with a Christian, you are having sex with Jesus. You are having sex with Jesus, and it is against-His-will-sex. That is pretty harsh imagery. If you have non-marital sex with a Christian, you are basically raping Jesus. In the same way, if you as a Christian think it is okay for you to have sex with a non-believer, then you are now putting that person in the position of being a rapist of Jesus – and it is your fault.

Harsh words, harsh imagery, but it is needed in this generation. Too many Christians think they can ignore what God’s Word says, and that things will turn out alright in their lives. We delude ourselves if we think that way. God is angry at the sexual sins of His people, and this sin separates us from God, causes us to lose our way, and makes us completely ineffective in our walks.

Lord, forgive us, show us the way, help us to be willing to do things Your way, the right way, the only way.