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Shield Daily Devotional  

Day 129

Yesterday we looked at Acts 20:22: "And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there." We want to be bound like Paul was bound. He was so committed to God that the Holy Spirit actually guided his every move. Think how much your life might change if every decision or move you made was exactly the choice God wanted you to make.

How do we get bound? Romans 12:1-2 tells us to present ourselves: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (sound familiar?) The Brethren NT Commentary says of this verse: “Under the law sacrifices were made by offering the dead bodies of beasts as temporary atonements, until Christ, the Lamb of God, should come and be slain as the Great Sacrifice, to whom all the sacrifices of the law pointed. But now, in contrast with the sacrifices made under the law of Moses, God's people must offer their own bodies instead of the bodies of beasts. Their bodies must be living physically, and alive to God spiritually, and wholly dead to the world and Satan.” What I want you to notice is that there is no separation in Paul’s thought between our inner person and external actions. Too many today blame their moral failures on their flesh as if it was somehow an acceptable excuse. There is an attempt to separate what one is from what one does. This is partly Gnostic thought which is prevalent in the American church today. I remember years ago a television show “The Flip Wilson Show.” He would say, “The devil made me do it.” The truth is that people do what they want to at the time the act is performed. One will follow their strongest motivation at the given moment. I want to lose weight; I want an extra piece of cake. What happens next depends on which motivation rules at the moment. Do I desire to lose weight more than I desire the cake? The point is that we are to seek the restraining power of God in our lives by submitting our minds and bodies to Him to do as He pleases in our lives. When that happens, we may say with Paul, "I go bound in the Spirit."

 
 
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