BBD 04.06.05 Begin the Upward Spiral
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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The Burning Bush Devotional
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04.06.05
Begin the Upward Spiral
But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become
children of God, to those who believe in His name. - John 1:12.
We hear of person after person who begins to use illegal substances or who
becomes involved in sinful activities and their lives begin to disintegrate.
It is the downward spiral, which continues until they are hurt, arrested, or
kill someone. Sometimes the disintegration is very vivid, as in obvious.
There is a posting on the Internet showing through mug shots (photographs
taking when being booked into jail) the very obvious downward spiral. It is
sickening how much deterioration that can happen to a person in a very brief
period of time.
Once in the downward spiral of things going from bad to worse there is a
sense of hopelessness that sets in. Because of that sense of hopelessness,
the self-destructive behavior continues and often even accelerates. But it
does not have to be that way! Because there is hope! Instead of a downward
spiral of destruction, there can be an upward spiral into blessing.
If you are in a downward spiral, how do you stop the freefall? How do you
begin going the other way? Step one is to receive Jesus as your Savior. When
you receive Jesus as your Savior you become a child of God (John 1:12). When
Jesus is your Savior it means that you have become a part of the royal
family and not just any royal family but the royal family of the King of
kings and Lord of lords. No one can take that away from you. As the apostle
Paul puts it, "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels
nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor
height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).
Step two out of the downward spiral and into the upward spiral of blessing
is to start living like a child of the King of kings and the Lord of lords
ought to live. I know you have all of these excuses and you've failed every
time you've tried to do better and on and on. It does not have to be that
way. Why? Because you are no longer alone. One plus one no longer equals
two. Things have changed and God Himself is on your side. "What then shall
we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did
not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not
with Him also freely give us all things (Romans 8:31-32)?" ".in all these
things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37)."
Believe now in His Name, live in His power and begin the upward spiral of
blessing.
Copyright © 2005. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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