Daily Devotion
With Pastor Ancel Presnell
“NEEDED CHANGE HAS A PRICE”
Needed spiritual changes for the New Year will not come free! Spiritual disciplines never begin with ease and never do they come without a fight. The fight is with our flesh. Our flesh wants what it wants and most of the time, we feed it what it wants.
If the changes that we attempt come easy, then it’s likely not a spiritual need as much as we wish for it to be. Things that we can simply change, we will brag about our ability to change it. This is not of God.
Paul gives us two examples to help direct us in the right direction! Philippians 3:3—” 3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” As Christians, we are born of the Spirit and have no place for prideful flesh! We didn’t save our self or come across salvation through Christ by some deep Spiritual conquest we were on! We’re not sustaining our salvation by some list of works and merit. We that are born again have been bought and paid for by the precious blood of Christ! I am saved by Christ because He ransomed me with His blood! Paul tells us that we’re to rejoice in Christ and have no confidence in the flesh. If you turn your confidence toward your flesh and your will power in this quest for a closer relationship with Christ, you will fail! We must come to Christ daily and submit our self to Him!
If our work and efforts for God become little religious whatnots on a shelf for you to look at and show off, you are heading in the wrong direction. Paul lists his lengthy religious resume that he had previously put his trust in. He says, “hey guys if you want to play the religious pride card, check mine out:” Philippians 3:5, 6 “5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”
If we have a spiritual trophy case full of pride plaques, we need to destroy the case and the plaques. For all who are born again, before Christ, we all trusted in our self.
For some of us, it was money, intelligence, work ethic, good family, being active in our community, good to people, etc. Some of us use to trust in our social life, friendships, and acquaintances. We all had a self-convoluted form of salvation in our mind! But then one day, we relented to the Holy Ghost knocking at our heart’s door and God saved us!
We must die to ourselves daily and cut our losses that we may know Him more.
Philippians 3:6—8 “7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ”
