"Fall In But Not Out"

Ed and I read a devotional every morning, well most mornings, together. We are reading two right now but the one I want to blog about is the devotion we read in "What Every Christian Ought to Know" by Adrian Rogers (who has gone to Heaven but his words live on). On Sunday Ed read "Then the Lord shut him in!" Gen. 7:16 Now I would have never thought about this applying to our salvation but Adrian Rogers did...listen: "Why did God shut the door on Noah and his family in the ark? Two reasons: to shut the water out and to shut Noah in. How safe was Noah? As safe as the ark. How safe are we? As safe as Jesus, who is our ark of safety. Noah may have fallen down INSIDE the ark, but he never fell OUT of the ark, because God shut him in. God sealed him in, just as we are "sealed with the promised Holy Spirit" (Eph. 1:13)

Isn't that an awesome thought, God SEALS us with His Holy Spirit. His Spirit literally lives inside us. I have been reading "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan. It is a really good book, all about the Holy Spirit and His work in our lives. Without Him our lives would just be ordinary but with the help of the Holy Spirit we can live extra-ordinary lives, lives that are lived for Jesus.

I fall so far short of what God wants me to be and I want so much to live for Him...every minute of every day. I want to love as Jesus loves, I want to be His hands, feet, eyes (to see people as Jesus sees them). I want to use a nice tone of voice, say kind things and not get so aggravated at things that really don't matter or say things I really don't mean just because I am feeling down or maybe angry about something, it is NOT about me!! That sinful nature likes to rear its ugly head many times, but praise God for His grace,for when I fail, which is quite often, I cannot fall OUT of the ark, and neither can you if you have given your life to Jesus. He will keep you "in the ark" because He has sealed us with His Holy Spirit. It is not about us but it is all about HIM. "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Eph. 2:8,9,10