BBD 03.31.15 Mistaken Identity (Classic)
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>
Please
pray for Justin Lewis who is battling cancer. He is a 35-year-old Christian
with a wife and four children. Unless God intervenes there is little hope for
him. He has
recently been at MD Anderson in Houston for about ten days with super chemo and
needs to go back soon for another super chemo treatment. They found new places
of cancer on his last scan. He is very weak and needs to gain some weight and
strength prior to the next treatment. Thank you for all of your prayers for
Justin and his wife and four children!!
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check the Burning Bush website at http://www.theburningbush.net for the “Devotional of the Day” and read the devotional
there.
The Burning
Bush Devotional
Classic
from 2007
03.31.15
Mistaken
Identity
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have
passed away; behold, all things have become new. - 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children
of God, to those who believe in His name. - John 1:12 NKJV.
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance…. - Ephesians 1:11a NKJV.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. - Ephesians 1:3
NKJV.
Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will. - Ephesians 1:5 NKJV.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of His grace. - Ephesians 1:7 NKJV.
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow
citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. - Ephesians 2:19
NKJV.
In Elk City, Oklahoma, a 21-year-old man had been
drinking, and was walking back to his hotel when he stumbled into the path of a
car. The man was knocked unconscious and sustained other injuries. He was
mediflighted to Oklahoma City about 110 miles away. He did not have any
identification other than his shirt, which on the back in large letters said “INMATE.”
Thinking the man was on the loose from the Department of Corrections of some
state, the effort was begun to contact Corrections’ officials. However, no one
had any information related to this individual, and when he finally woke up he
told them he had bought the shirt at a convenience store.
This 21-year-old man can be thankful that he survived his
injuries and that when he woke up he didn’t wake up in a prison medical
facility. Lessons learned: Drinking can be harmful to your health, and wearing
a shirt with “INMATE” on the back might not be in your best interest.
Oh, and you might want to carry some identification with you.
Some of us who are Christians have a mistaken idea about
our own identity. Some of us prayed to receive Christ as our Savior and then
went back to living just as we had before. When you receive Jesus as your
Savior, your identity is changed, transformed and you are no longer a stranger
and foreigner to God; you are no longer an enemy of God. No, things have
changed and they will never be what they were before. Why? Because you are a “new creation” and “old things have passed away” with
“all things become new.” Why? Because you
have become a child of God. You have been adopted into the family of God
through Jesus Christ. You have “obtained an
inheritance” and been blessed with “every spiritual blessing.” No,
you are no longer, what you were; instead, you are “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”
Maybe you have been confused about your true identity. If
you know Christ Jesus as your Savior, you may have been involved in all kinds
of evil, sinful things in the past. But those things have passed away, and it
is now time to begin to live your new, true identity. You are you see, a child
of God. You are part of the royal family of the King of kings. Let us live
like it!
Copyright © 2007-2015. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
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Prayer Requests: Please pray for
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and love. Please also pray for Shane Hall who is a young pastor who has cancer
and for all those afflicted with this terrible disease. My sister, Reta’s
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She will now have targeted chemo by pill or injection for nodules in her lungs.
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