Friday, October 23, 2009

...for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me (John 14:30)

This morning I pulled out a little book of daily devotionals. I'm not even sure how I was lead to do that but I am so grateful that I did. I opened to the entry for October 23 and found the Scripture mentioned above. When I first read it, I was disappointed. I thought I had been lead to this book for a purpose and those words did not inspire me. In fact, I was not sure what they meant. So I read further.

The writer explained it like this. Imagine you owned 10,000 acres of land. You buy 9,999 of those acres but I keep one acre for myself in the very center of that property. And I reserve the right to cross through your property to get to mine whenever I want to and you can't stop me. It would be like choosing to live your life to your highest sense of right but keeping one little place open for wrong thoughts or motives. You are allowing error to creep in, or boldly march in, whenever it wants to and make its presence known and felt.

But Jesus says: the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. He has no property, no place in me. Every child of God, every child of Good, can look error or temptation or illness or lack in the face and say: you have nothing in me - no territory that you occupy, no domain, no dominion. Not over what I say or think or do. You cannot influence me in any way. You cannot make yourself felt or obeyed. You do not control me. I am the Lord's property. I am my Father's child.

That is a very powerful message and I am so looking forward to using this idea today. I hope you will too.

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