turtle30cshell Daily Devotions For September 17, 2019

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One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
9/17/2019

Daily Devotions:
by Christina Farris

Ephesians 4:1-32 KJV
1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27 Neither give place to the devil.
28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

This morning I have to ask, are you living at peace with your brothers and sisters in Christ? We worship one Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, and yet often times the discord in the church and the community of believers is over doctrine, over popularity, jealousy, gossip, and more. What are we doing? Truth is we are seldom as honest with God or with each other about the issues between each other. Instead they fester and come out in the way we behavior toward one another. Sometimes resembling a school yard of kids instead of a school yard of born again believers, that have been saved, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Think for a moment what it must of been like for Christ to die among the heathen and those with faith, with doubts of who he was and is. Then to have to descend down to hell, leading the captive captive right out of their tombs, and onward to heaven. Then leaving behind with the disciples with the gift of the Holy Spirit and they had no clue what it all meant. He then come back and teach for forty days the meaning of these events and what it means to you and me today. It one thing to know the story of the resurrection and another to be as the gentiles with ignorance of such events and faith, because of a long history of denial of God or God being Lord. With that in mind the gentile nation had gone for years and centuries doing exactly as they wanted, and now are turning toward God in faith only to now be given a list of rules by individuals instead of living by the Holy Spirit who is to be their teacher of who He is and what he expects and even writting the laws on their heart. Instead we see people fighting against their own legal code of conduct not fitting for Jews or Christians to act in such behavior.

Yet the truth is something is happening in Paul's instruction on the church, to set example to the believers of how to live by not giving way to the ways of the devil. The gentiles have one law, that the first law to only worship God is only half the truth, for the Holy Spirit writes his laws on their heart and mind. By writing those laws gentiles became teachers, apostles and so forth, teaching the ways of Christ and the Holy Spirit, his laws to help in guiding the believers in truth and living in peace with their brethren To live in peace with our fellow brothers and sisters is important, sometimes holding peace inside or outside the church is more important then allowing discord occur that will ruin the church growth and church within.

We need not to sadden/grieve the Holy Spirit but live up to the seal that has marked you as a child of God, put away bitterness, wrath and anger and not least evil speaking. Instead we should be kind and loving toward each other, Compassionate and tenderhearted towards each other, and not least loving and forgiving one another has Christ forgave us. Our hope is to strive to be more like Christ, to be more compassionate, because God gave us the ability to love by the Holy Spirit. By doing all God desires us to, we live at peace with God and our fellow believers in Christ.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your gift of love and the hope you have given each of us to share with one another with the help of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Continual Scripture Study for Devotion:1 John 4:7-21 KJV
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

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