Daily Devotional Day & Night

HAPPY MONDAY!

Today's scriptures are about being perfect in the Lord. Okay, so I know you’re already asking yourself, “How could God ask us to be perfect, when we were taught that nobody’s perfect, but Jesus Christ?”, and that is a fair question to ask. Sin will always be around, and each man, in the flesh, is subjected to it. Hence the sacrifice of a blemish free, spotless Lamb, to atone for the sins of all. When Jesus died on the cross, He took on the weight of sin, for all mankind. When He was resurrected, and ascended into Heaven to be with God, He blessed us with the Holy Spirit. Since then, when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, we’re baptized with His Holy Spirit, which in turns gives us the ability to be righteous, perfect, or sin free. How many times have you heard me, or other people, explain this? I’m sure it’s been many, but do you truly understand it? If I say to you today, that you can be perfect, just as Jesus was, would you believe me? God expects us to be perfect, but not on our own strength, because the flesh is weak, and easily swayed to sin. However, we’re made perfect by the blood of Christ, and it’s only by Him that we can live perfected, each day of our life. It’s the Word of God, which was manifested into flesh that gives us the ability to be perfect. It’s written: The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. (Psalm 19:7-9) You notice that everything points to “the LORD”? God never expected us to be anything but human, but when He gets a hold of us, He’s expecting perfection, because that’s who He is, and we’re made in His likeness. All He needs from us is our faith and trust. Paul wrote just that, in his letter to the Philippians; he told them “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6), and that was true then, now, and forever. We know God, and if He’s ever commanded us to do something, He’s always going to give us the resources to get it done. No one will ever give a first grader a calculus exam, and expect them to pass it with an A+. Now there are some exceptionally gifted children, that may be able to pull that off, but they’re few and far between. Abraham, Paul, Peter, David, Solomon, James [and I could go on and on], were all regular human beings like you and me, but God chose to use them in extraordinary ways, because of their Faith. James pointed that out to us in his epistle, and it’s written: Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”And he was called the friend of God. (James 2:21-23) Wow! God is perfect, and He commands us to be perfect, so the only way for us to obey that command is to seek it from Him. We’re never going to be without sin, but perfection comes from our Faith. If He knows we’re doing our best to love Him with all of our heart and soul, that’s perfect enough for Him. There was only one Jesus, or one Abraham, but I was created to be the perfect Saundra, and you to be the perfect you, in Christ. Don’t ever forget that. If you don’t know who Christ is, that’s your first step for perfection. Pray and ask Him to be Lord of your life today. Feel free to take the God quiz, and see where you are in your faith. My favorite verse today is: Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:20)

ENJOY! http://www.bible.com/scripture-detail.php?juli=2455320&dtype=Scripture
http://www.intouch.org/site/pp.aspx?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=4943225
http://www.intouch.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter.asp?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=4943547

I love you!