Daily Diary - January 4th, 2016

A Clean Title

(Revelation)

One morning I was thinking about the favor of God and how close my relationship was becoming with Him. It wasn’t because of my ability to be perfect, because I was far from it.

I began to ask questions about my identity and what had changed in my life. I was focused on Jesus and what He had for me each day. That focus started to reveal to me that my identity was not my own, but rather it was in Him. It was beginning to line up with the Word of God. I would still fall short many times, but my desire to do better had become my focus. It is also important for us to remember that our righteousness comes from Jesus!

        This revelation parable came from the following scripture that went with this identity change.

“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28

To “purchase” means to obtain something by paying for it; to acquire or obtain. I realized that I had been purchased. My failure doesn’t separate me from God according to His Word. Righteousness is a free gift. When we believe that God’s Word is the absolute truth, we can operate in its plan. I have been purchased by blood. We have a choice to do the will of the Father based on His Word and the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

A “clean title” was revealed to me in a parable. I had a vision of handing my car title over to another person. That person was now holding the title, so therefore he was the new owner. He had authority over what took place with the vehicle. This is a lot like our lives. When we accept Jesus as our Lord, He holds the title and has the right to operate us the same way a car owner operates the car.

The revelation I gained was about the car. When I gave this man the title, I told him that I would drive the car rather than him. I would leave trash and dirt in it and never clean it up. If I had a flat or if the car broke down, I would call upon him to fix it. I would leave it along the side of the road if it broke down. The only thing I would do is sit there, whine, and throw a fit about why it wasn’t working.

I believe this is how we treat God with our lives that He has purchased. We give Him the title to our lives, yet we still do what we want. We junk our lives up with trash and take all the wrong paths, leaving holes in our tires, causing our lives to break down. We seldom fuel back up on the Word and prayer, and our car is constantly breaking down. Therefore we cry and throw a fit about why God doesn’t come and fix it! He has the title and we keep driving it our way.

God made us, so He knows the way we operate. His Word is our Manual for a successful life. It’s like trying to operate a car with the manual of a blender. We cannot expect our knowledge to work for our life better than God’s plan.

I believe as Christians we often have these thoughts about our walk with God:

1. If I can just stop the struggle or make it go away!

2. They run to God to fix their struggle, and He doesn’t fix it “their” way.

3. They follow John 3:16, accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, and now believe He will fix things “their” way, instead of God’s.

4. They try a few of the things that God says in His Word and their problems get worse in based on “their” plan and they blame God.

Why? I believe this happens because they have built their life on the flesh. God’s plan alters their normal thoughts and emotions, and they realize this change hurts. The problem is, it changes “their” plan that they have built.

They don’t want to change or realize that they like life the way they had it.  Even if that life is broken and confused.  They refuse to trust God, that “His” Word and plans are better, so they fall back to their old ways.

A full title of ownership is often referred to as a “clean” title. This is a title that is completely understood to have one owner. There is no argument as to who that owner is.

We fail by keeping the title to our lives dirty while we give ownership of it to people and things. Most people wouldn’t recognize our owner, because we have so many different gods in our lives.

Too many people are helping destroy our vehicle. The worst part about this dirty identity is that people don’t even know themselves, who they are, or what they want.

Jesus purchased the title to our lives, and now we should no longer be pursuing the will of our flesh. This changeover for most people is a difficult one. It changes the IDENTITY that the world has created for us. We don’t easily accept the changeover because of pride and selfishness.

I believe we have been deceived to think that the selfishness of our flesh is better than the things of God. This is simply not true. Ultimately, our selfishness and pride produce spiritual death. It is gratifying to the flesh for the short term, but its fruit is empty and dead.

I am so thankful that Jesus bought back our choice at the cross.  He is a good God and loves us enough that He purchased us and it was a free gift.  

Romans 10:12-13 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Revelations 1:4-6 To the seven churches in the province of Asia:

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,⁵ and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead,and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves usand has freed us from our sins by his blood,⁶ and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

Our title was made clean at the cross.  It was a free gift of righteousness from God that He purchased with His blood.  Thank you Jesus for our salvation in Jesus name!

The revelation and truth found in the fact that God bought us back and made our title “clean” by the blood of Jesus Christ will change your life forever! Amen!