Who I Am In Christ Devotionals

 The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink?” So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable. The Lord made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there. He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” Exodus 15:24-26 I love the Lord. He has called me out of darkness into His glorious light.  And I confess, I grumble.  But the Lord is renewing my mind.  My habit of mind was to grumble silently, you know, where the Lord wouldn’t hear it, right. I would keep these complaints and throw them in a sack I kept somewhere down deep in my mind. I was going for plausible deniability.  It didn't work; my plan failed.  The Lord kept testing me. He kept refining me. He used the test

  Return, you faithless children. I will heal your unfaithfulness. “Here we are, coming to you, for you are the Lord our God. Jeremiah 3:22 Repair Even believers sometimes act like faithless children. God knows me. He has made a way to repair the relationship between Him and me. It is centered in the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. But it didn't stop there. It's interesting that (at least in this translation) the verb for dealing with faithfulness is healing. Healing. Not punishing. Not breaking. Not Ignoring... Healing. But I must be careful. This healing is for me when I return, not before. Return. What a beautiful word. We see this over and over again in the scripture. When His children come to Him wanting clean hearts, he responds with healing. Mustard Seed Steps The tragedy is that so few actually come to Him. The message is this: I must not run from Him. And I don't need to fix everything first (but I need willingness). Sometimes I can be in so deep, all

Confess your faults to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much. James 5:16 The Healing Happens Progressively I am a believer with faults. Hurts and hang-ups too. So, recently I've found other Christian men with whom I can be open, with whom I pray. What a blessing! I'm all healed now, right? Oh wouldn't that be nice! Apparently that's not what's best. The healing happens progressively. I'm not saying the Lord doesn't do it immediately sometimes. But often, He works more slowly, teaching as He heals. What I can say for a fact is this: I am being healed. It is happening. I see it in others too. In a few short months, I have seen God work in my life. Confession. Healing. Joy. These are part of my life. Daily. But, oh, I'm not kidding, it seems so slow! He says prayer works; but there are stipulations. I had no idea, until I started to get serious, how much work needed d