INSPIRE Devotionals
With Emmanuel Afiawari
Saturday, June 21, 2025
Topic: IDENTITY AND BEHAVIOURAL ETIQUETTE (Part 2)!
Memory Verse: "But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" - 1Timothy 3:15 NKJV
Bible Text: Leviticus 18:2-3 NKJV
2. “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God.
3. According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances.
INSPIRATION: Every now and again, God makes us know He's bringing us into a new phase of life with new experiences. He says, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! ..." (Isa. 43:18-19). New products come with new manuals. Oftentimes, when you try to operate your new gadgets using your old knowledge, they either do not work or they malfunction. So it is also with our journey with God.
Paul says, "If I delay in coming, you ought to know how to behave yourself...," meaning there's a new way to behave as you climb up the ladder of life. Paul says further, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me" (1 Cor 13:11). This explains God's instructions through Moses, "You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices" (Levi 18:3 NIV).
There're old behaviours or practices that will not sit well with your new identity! You cannot copy your past into your future, or bring the prevalent conduct of your new environment into your future. You'll have to follow a blueprint unique to your personal relationship with God. Your new status confers on you a new way of thinking and acting so you can maximise the graces of this new level to deliver results. This is not being prideful but being conscious of what behaviour your new status demands of you and carrying yourself with such graces.
TODAY'S TAKE HOME:
Upholding the mindset of your past or the traditions of your future may not align with God's plans for bringing you into the new experiences. Rather than assume, find out His agenda for the new you and follow its prescription to the latter.
PRAYER: O Lord, .please give me clarity of understanding into what is required of me in my new experiences and give me the grace to follow through on them, in Jesus name.
