Where is your Security?
by Jill Southern
30 July 2014
Next Day »God’s great desire is for us to be adopted as sons and to feel secure and safe in His love and His great power. I wonder how many believers actually feel secure and safe? Everything in life can be very unstable. Things that we would like to stay the same can change very quickly. We can go to the doctors and get a prognosis which can change our future in a heartbeat. What about jobs - how many have gone to work to find out that was their last day at work and that their jobs have been made redundant? There is nothing safe and secure about jobs these days. How about money? I worked in Threadneedle Street in the City of London for many years and we dealt with people who had millions in stocks and shares in their portfolio. On Black Monday, when the stock market crashed, a man came in and said previous to the crash, he was worth 2 million pounds but now after the crash, it was all gone. That night he ended his life. Where was his security? It was totally in what he owned. When his security net had disappeared – he could not carry on.
Our security is in Christ alone. Our hope has got to be in Christ alone. Even when we fall, He promises to catch us and to be there for us. From the outset when you and I made Jesus Lord of every area of our life, we signed up for the most dangerous mission in the world! Apostle Paul describes it as tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril and sword. He says we are to be regarding ourselves as sheep to be slaughtered. In 2 Corinthians 11: 25, he describes the tribulations and terrible dangers he faced daily for the mission of God. How could Paul do this? How did he manage to avoid a nervous breakdown and be so stable and powerful in his soul despite carrying the weight of many mission churches?
The stability and power of Paul came from his security in God`s love and power. Even when everything else gives way on us, God is our eternal and unshakeable foundation. He seals us with the Holy Spirit to make us secure forever.
We know that sin is rebellion against God. But really sin is an effort to feel secure in anything else other than God. It is because God wants us to feel secure in His love and power alone, that Paul writes these letters about the Holy Spirit being our seal and deposit of our inheritance. He seals us as believers with the Holy Spirit which guarantees that we will come into our inheritance, praising his glory. God is so passionately committed to have a people for His own possession to live forever for the praise of His glory that he is not about to let our eternal destiny depend on our soulish powers of willing or doing.
He commissions the Holy Spirit to enter our lives and to make us secure forever. How good is that? If the Holy Spirit seals us, it is a stamp of ownership on us. He seals in faith and seals out unbelief and apostasy. That is the sign of God`s reality in our lives. The Holy Spirit marks us with God`s seal and protects us. The message of our seal in the Holy Spirit is a message of safety and security in God’s love and power.
By sealing us with his Spirit, who is our down payment of our inheritance, God is saying, ‘My greatest desire for those who believe in me is that you feel secure in my love. I have chosen you before the foundation of the world and I have predestined you to be my sons forever. I have redeemed you by the blood of my son and I have put my Spirit in you as a seal and a guarantee. Therefore, you will receive the inheritance and praise the glory of my great grace forever and ever.’
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You that I have been chosen by name and predestined according to Your purpose. I am redeemed by Your blood and sealed by Your Spirit. My inheritance is sure and I commit myself to live for the praise of God`s glory. Please seal this truth into my spirit; that no matter what circumstances I find myself in, I know that underneath me are Your everlasting arms and that I can rely on Your love and Your almighty power to see me through. Amen.
Jill Southern is the founder of Ellel Ministries Pierrepont and directed the work for 21 years. She has recently stood down from that role but still teaches on the NETS programme and has the passion to train and equip God`s people to fully walk in their destiny and calling. She is the Regional Director for Ellel Ministries International in South East Asia and China and is also on the Executive Leadership of the ministry.
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