November 12, 2023

Passage Read: Revelation 11-12
Meditation Verse: 12:11

Thought

The only way to overcome the devil and his hatred of believers is by the blood of Christ, by our testimony and by not loving our life so much as to shrink from death for Christ's sake. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin, our testimony is both our speaking the gospel and our lives of obedience, which is truly dependent on not loving this life so much, but actually loving our next life so much. When our hope is placed firmly and actively in the eternal life yet to be revealed, then we are diligent to live in obedience to God and have no fear of losing this life. We live in conformity to what we claim to believe. Nothing can keep us from faithfully trusting in and following Christ.

Application

The blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed me from sin and opened the way for His Spirit to dwell in me. I have God's Word to instruct me, the Spirit to remind me and enable me to walk in His ways. I need to combine all that with faith and submit myself to the written and living Word of God. And I need to shift all my hope to the eternal life promised me in the Gospel. When all I hope for is beyond death, death no longer scares me, but is welcome. Even suffering for Christ loses power over me, becomes even attractive to me. I've got a ways to go yet.