Image and Spirit (Lent 33, 2023)

When Jesus comes to rapture His Church, we will bear His Image and we will have His Spirit. The two together are the determinant of those heaven-bound. That’s how He recognizes who will be raptured. Image and Spirit. There’s no favoritism here at all because the Holy Spirit will be given to anyone who repents and believes.

Luke 11:9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Focus for Lent: Recognition of being more than Image-bearers as Christians. We are Spirit-bearers.

Questions for further thought:

Have you ever been cut to the heart over what Jesus’ crucifixion means for you? Acts 2:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

To be Image-bearers and Spirit-bearers are both acts of God. There is nothing we can do to give ourselves God’s Image or His Holy Spirit. We simply need a heart to receive. Acts 2:39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off– for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 40 With many other words [Peter] warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

Take a moment to consider modern culture. How do you save yourself from this corrupt generation? Protest? Pile law upon law? Lockdown? Surrender to it? Redefine corrupt as normal?

Jesus’ Return is imminent even though we do not know the day or hour.
There are only three things you can do: Repent, Believe, and Ask to be saved.

Prayer: Father God, we look around this world and are appalled at the corruption, at the violence, at the decadence, deviance, and destruction that we are wreaking upon this world and ourselves. Murder of school children occurs and yet Your people are silent. It is appalling. Give us a sense of shame and righteous anger that we are letting a corrupt system set criminals free to commit new crimes, excuse evil and aberrant behavior to be propagated to another impressionable generation by our silence, and that we do not protect what is godly, righteous, and know to be true. Lord, I implore You to wake up our Christian leaders to vocal leadership or publicly shake them out. If they will not stand for the truth, let them not stand in leadership. Cast them down and let another rise in their place. We know that no one can save us apart from Christ Jesus. We ask, Lord, that You would bring quick, authentic repentance in the hearts of those yet to come into the Kingdom so that You would return soon, Lord. We’re watching and waiting and speaking up where we can. We desire to be found faithful when You return. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2023 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
Last year’s devotionals, Revelation in 40 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.