In Bible study the other night one of the things we discussed is that there are many churches and those who think they are true believers who substitute an emotional experience for the truth of the gospel. Being a Christ follower doesn’t mean we are to seek after emotional highs and call it a “godly experience”. For those who have truly come to faith in Christ as their Savior and Lord, we know it isn’t a high we should be looking for, but a walk with our Lord for His purpose and His glory. It’s not about us! With this in mind, I want to share today’s devotional from Oswald Chambers:

“And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor 2:4). If in preaching the gospel you substitute your knowledge of the way of salvation for confidence in the power of the gospel, you hinder people from getting to reality. Take care to see while you proclaim your knowledge of the way of salvation, that you yourself are rooted and grounded by faith in God. Never rely on the clearness of your presentation, but as you give your explanation make sure that you are relying on the Holy Spirit. Rely on the certainty of God’s redemptive power, and He will create His own life in people.

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” (Col 2:6-7)  Once you are rooted in reality, nothing can shake you. If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith. But nothing can ever change God or the reality of redemption. Base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God Himself. Once you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will never be moved again. That is the meaning of sanctification.

God disapproves of our human efforts to cling to the concept that sanctification is merely an experience, while forgetting that even our sanctification must also be sanctified. Jesus prayed to the Father, “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth” (John 17:19). I must deliberately give my sanctified life to God for His service, so that He can use me as His hands and His feet.