SATURDAY May 8, 2021

Our Sinful Past

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
Ephesians 2:1-3

Paul revealed our past. Before we came to Christ, we were dead in trespasses and sins––spiritually dead! We lived our lives in the lust of the flesh––carnal appetites ruled over our desires. We willfully sinned. We were disobedient children of wrath––without God in our lives.

The prince of this world is Satan. He dominates the lives of non-believers. He is their father. He is also called the father of all lies (John 8:44). Satan lies to so many people today. He tells them, “God is not real; live for today!” Have you embraced this world’s deceptive philosophy? “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die!” People live as if there is no tomorrow––no life after death! Yet Hebrews 9:27 tells us: And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment....

The devil wants people’s souls: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10). Satan hates Christians; he is our adversary (1 Peter 5:8). If you study the fall of Satan, he was once an angel. Thinking he could overthrow the throne of God, he rebelled. What happened to him? War broke out in heaven, and Satan was cast out:

...Michael and his angels fought with the dragon ... but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:7-9).

Imagine, we were once sons of disobedience. We were spiritually blind and dead in sin until the Holy Spirit worked in our lives. God’s Spirit is the only one who can convict and convert a person.

It is the Spirit’s ministry to bring the sinner to the Savior and to make the sinner like the Savior.
~John Blanchard~

For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!