There is a huge difference between living a pious life and living a
divine life. Let me count the ways! A pious person is one who came under
conviction for their sin, confessed their sin to Christ and prayed to receive
Him into their life. Then they walked away from that time of prayer and
continued in their sinful lifestyle. Although they attend church, they did not
submit to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit of God, nor did they totally
surrender their life to God.
Satanic strongholds in our life keep us struggling in our
walk with the Lord, but we may also be hindered because we do not have a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Conversion starts our conformity into
the image of Christ. His Spirit renews our mind and changes our behavior daily.
If after a few months, you are the same person you were before praying for
Jesus to be your Savior, then you are not converted; you are not born again;
you are not saved.
Believing is not enough (James 2:19).
There are many examples of good people in the Bible who thought they were Born
Again, but they never had a relationship with God (Matthew 7:21, 25:11; Luke 6:46, 13:25). If
we say that we are saved, but our life is not transformed, then we are
religious, but not divine. One way to tell if you are saved is because divine,
Born Again people cannot live in habitual sin (1 John 2:3-6, James 1:12-16, 1 John 3:7-10).
Divine people come under conviction for their sin, confess
their sin to Christ and pray to receive Him into their life. Then they walk
away from their sinful lifestyle to walk in the sanctifying power of the Holy
Spirit of God. They live in total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and
serve God daily, because the power of sin in their life is broken (Romans 8:1-2). As a
new creation in Christ (2
Corinthians 5:17), they are now controlled by the nature of Christ
within them (2 Peter
1:4).
Prayer:
Father God, You will save us, if we completely surrender
control of our life over to you. If there is an unholy soul tie keeping us addicted to sin, we are giving Satan permission to
wreak havoc in our life through our lack of willingness to surrender that area
of our life to You. I do not want to live my life as a slave to myself, sin or
Satan (John 8:34).
I ask You to forgive and save me completely in body, soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
I relinquish my sinful nature to You and dedicate my life to You. I submit my
life to Your Holy Spirit to live within me, to change me from the inside out
and to direct me moment by moment throughout the day. Convict me of anything,
which might take Your place in my heart.
Thought for the Day:
Do not try to retain control of any part of your life;
surrender it all to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
