Today’s Reading:
2 Corinthians 6
1 Peter 1
Ephesians 5
Psalm 24
“Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively! * * * Don’t become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That’s not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark? Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God’s holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way: “I’ll live in them, move into them; I’ll be their God and they’ll be my people. So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good,” says God. “Don’t link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself. I’ll be a Father to you; you’ll be sons and daughters to me.” The Word of the Master, God.”
2 Corinthians 6:11-18 MSG
The Spirit of the Living God says,
It’s time to snuff out the candle for every idol you exalt, hold near or permit. It’s time to destroy everything whose basis and foundation is not in Me. Those are the foxes in our vineyard. Those are the termites destroying our house. Don’t look the other way. I will not look the other way. It’s time to rid yourself of everything, anything, every single thing that does not have its foundation and being in Me. It’s time to return to your first love. It’s time to return to the place, the day, the moment of your salvation and have that level of passion, that level of zeal, that level of abandon for Me again.
“So roll up your sleeves, get your head in the game, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.””
1 Peter 1:13-16 MSG
Shed off these old idols you have picked up. Destroy everything that does not reflect Me. Be ruthless in rooting it out. This is how evil has crept into your home, into the camp. Idols are not cute to Me. Eastern practices and commingling Eastern religions or any other gods with Me is intolerable. Rid yourself. Shed those false gods. Destroy everything that does not reflect Me. I Am holy, therefore be holy as I Am holy. Live in purity. Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. I’m looking for a holy people, pure and set apart in service to Me, in partnership with Me — who have the clarity of vision and discipline of mind, who have the faith to please Me and walk alongside me in confidence, in boldness ready to overthrow darkness.
“You can be sure that using people or religion or things just for what you can get out of them—the usual variations on idolatry—will get you nowhere, and certainly nowhere near the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God. Don’t let yourselves get taken in by religious smooth talk. God gets furious with people who are full of religious sales talk but want nothing to do with him. Don’t even hang around people like that. You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it. Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ. Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light! So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!”
Ephesians 5:5-16 MSG
How can you participate in overthrowing darkness if you permit it in your own heart, permit it in your own home, permit it in your ears? A house divided will not stand. Purify yourself. Purify your home. Clear out and destroy everything that does not reflect Me, so you can be part of the great overthrowing of darkness, so you can take your place in the epic usurpation of evil. Time is short and the days are evil. Do not participate in or entertain any of the darkness. Do not let a pet habit or a pet compassion or a taste for something that is not of Me destroy the very foundations of your home. Be ruthless in pursuit of purity. Be ruthless in destroying any and every single thing that does not reflect Me. This is a holy war. You must have holy hands to fight and to win. Exalt Me alone. I Am your God, the Lord of your right hand.
How to Respond
- Examine yourself with the Lord. Get rid of any objects, practices, thought patterns and habits that do not reflect or honor Him. Hold nothing back.
- Pray, Lord, help me to see the places, practices, beliefs, habits and even objects in my life and household that do not reflect You. Restore the joy and the zeal of my salvation Lord. Help me to be ruthless and relentless in ridding myself and my home of every single thing that does not reflect You, come from You or please You. I want to take part in the great overthrowing of evil. Help me to get my mind and my house in order.
- Declare, the Lord is holy. The Lord God is One. There is none like Him. There is none beside Him. No one and no thing can compare to Him. He is greatly to be honored and revered. He is the God of Angel Armies. He is the only One worthy of all glory, honor and praise. He is the Lord of all.
- Decree, I will live in the reverential fear of the Lord. I will rid myself and my home of every single thing that does not have its foundation in Christ Jesus. I will be holy because my Lord is holy. I will ascend the hill of the Lord, and I will take place in the great overthrowing of evil.
For more encouragement from Glory & the New Wine, check out the post from this day in years past:
2023: Forgiveness Equals Freedom
2022: Days of Explosive Truth Are Upon Us
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