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Shield Daily Devotional  

Day 132

We are continuing to look at Romans 8:13: "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." We are to be a people who are constantly, that is day by day, putting to death the evil practice of sin. John Owen, the puritan writer, said "always be killing sin or it will be killing you." Meditate on those words for a few moments.

If you knew that someone was lurking on Main Street waiting to hurt you as soon as you presented yourself, it is likely that either you would not appear or you would appear with the police. Why? Because you would not want to be injured and you would not walk into the trap since you knew about it. In the same way, there is an evil presence in our world today. The Scripture tells in in 2 Corinthians 4:4 "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." Satan is the god of this world; his name means adversary. He is your personal enemy who wants to do you harm. You avoid his evil intentions for you by making sure that you avoid sin and sinful places. By putting to death the deeds of the body that do not bring glory to God, you defeat the enemy and avoid his trap for you.

Remember that the forces of sin are all around you and they are active. This may necessitate a change of friends, what you look at on television, what movies you go to, your actions at work or even how you treat your spouse or children. God wants us to stay from sin and live in the Spirit otherwise He would not have given us one of the keys to do so. The key today is "mortify the deeds of the body."
 
 
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