Exod
us 20:3. I am the Lord your God
Following on from the comments of yesterday I want to underscore the importance of knowing that the Lord is your God. Many people simply presume that they truly worship God, or know Him, or at best would not be rejected by Him. But how can we know He is our God, how can we be sure? There are several basic fundamental evidences that we truly belong to God.
First we will find ourselves believing in Him, not in a nominal and unthinking way, but in an intentional and purposive manner. In other words we find ourselves believing in Jesus Christ and all that entails. There is grace in our souls and that grace draws out our faith and helps us to see Jesus in a new light and enables us to embrace Him. Faith in Christ is an indispensable evidence that the Lord is our God.
Secondly we discover a new sense of belonging deep in our hearts and souls. We have an assurance which is not easily put into words. The apostle Paul puts it like this:
“He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit.” (2 Corinthians 1:22)
This means that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence within us and has brought within, a newness, a seal of ownership stamped on our souls that says in effect: “This person belongs to God”. It is part of Christian experience. We may be confused about a lot of things but we find we can no longer run away from God, nor do we want to. We are changed and that new sense of God’s ownership of us is described as a “deposit”, i.e. a kind of down payment that assures us that all the rest of future glory will follow. We are part of God’s new and worldwide family.
Next, we find that we now possess the hearts of children. By this I don’t mean we are childish, but rather that we are conscious that a relational change has taken place between God and us. He is now our Father, we are His children. We find a new desire to please Him and obey Him. We stand up for Him and His Gospel, no matter what the price is, because we have this new dynamic within. Is this true of you.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, what joy, what a privilege is mine. You have adopted me into your family. Give me Grace, dear Lord, to live as if I belong to you and always to stand up for you. Amen