Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Entry of our Lord in the Temple
Luke 2:21-32  
                 

Thomas Philip
Christos MTC, PA
30." for my eyes have seen your salvation,"
Simeon was a righteous and devout man from Jerusalem waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him. Moved by the Holy Spirit he went into the temple to see child Jesus. He took the baby Jesus in his arms and praised God saying, “… my eyes have seen your salvation …” Have you seen the salvation of God?
We all need a Savior. We need to be saved not only from the penalty of our past sins, but also from the power of sins that pulls us down in our spiritual journey. We need to be saved daily from pride, un-forgiveness, jealousy, lust, fear, anxiety, worries etc. Also, we all know that Jesus is our salvation. We have read many passages about salvation in  the scripture. We hear the good news of salvation almost weekly, if not daily. But there is a world of difference between reading and hearing versus seeing (with our spiritual eyes) and experiencing the joy of our own salvation in our lives. We need to trust the Lord with all our hearts and surrender to His Lordship to be saved from this wicked and evil world. Once we grow to the level of seeing and experiencing this salvation daily, we can experience joy and peace from the Lord.
As believers, we too are blessed like Simeon. Luke 17:21 says the Kingdom of God is within us. The same Lord, who was brought into the temple as a baby, years later told His disciples: I will not leave you as orphans. The Holy Spirit is living inside of every believer (John 14:17). The blessedness of a believer is that the third person of the Holy Trinity has come to dwell inside his or her heart. Where there is God, there we can experience a taste of heaven. Therefore, we should be rejoicing in the Lord always (Phil. 4:4) regardless of the situations around us.
1 Cor. 6:19 states that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit makes a believer holy day by day and we become gradually free of the conscious sins of our lives. We begin to conform to His nature. As baby Jesus was brought into the temple to fulfill the Law, we need to accept Jesus into the temple of our hearts to fulfill the promise of salvation. The Spirit of Christ longs to dwell in our hearts. Are we willing to surrender our lives to the Lord to experience the salvation and the kingdom of God in our daily lives?

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, as Simeon was led by the Holy Spirit, help us to open our hearts for Your Spirit to come in and dwell within us. Lord, as we surrender our lives to You, lead us and liberate us from the sinful passions of our lives. Help us to rejoice in You always! In Jesus name, Amen!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
  Will you allow the Spirit of Christ to come into the temple of your heart to experience salvation? 

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