1 Peter 1:17, “Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.”

Today is our last devotion on the subject of what it means to be an alien in this world. 

13. Aliens boldly confess that they are strangers and pilgrims.

Hebrews 11:13-14, “They…confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.” 

Aliens are not ashamed that they do not belong to this world. They confess it openly. They make it clear. They make sure everyone around them understands. Aliens do not sit on the fence. They know what they believe, where they come from, and where they are going.

David confessed it before God in 1 Chronicles 29:15, “For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding.” He confesses it again in Psalm 39:12. 

14. Aliens do not entertain the thought of going back to the world.

Hebrews 11:15 TLB, “If they had wanted to, they could have gone back to the good things of this world. But they didn’t want to. They were living for heaven.”

Hebrews 11:27, “By faith he forsook Egypt…” 

When God brought the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, He purposed that they would never go back there again! In Deuteronomy 17:16 TLB it says…

“For the Lord has told you, ‘Never return to Egypt again.” 

Read also Isaiah 30:1-2; 31:1; 36:6.

Egypt speaks of the spirit of the world. Jesus died to set us free from our sins and to “deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” (Galatians 1:4) Are you totally free from the spirit of this world? Or do you allow Egypt to come into your heart and into your home? Watch out for signs of Egypt. Stamp on them and oust them from your home. You have been delivered from Egypt, so why go back to bondage?

15. Aliens would rather bear the reproach of Christ than enjoy the short-lived pleasures of this world.

Hebrews 11:24-26, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter: choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season: esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” 

The things of this world do not lure aliens. They would rather do the will of God. They know the truth of 1 John 12:15-17, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world: And the world passeth away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”

James 4:4, “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” 

16. Aliens have grace to endure.

Hebrews 11:27, “He endured, as seeing him who is invisible.”

Hebrews 11:26 MLB, “For he fixed his eye on the final recompense.”

Aliens can endure tribulations because they see beyond the trial. They see what God is doing in them as they bear up under the trial. They know that God is refining them. They know that God is working something beautiful in them that will last for eternity. They are able to endure because their eyes are upon Christ, rather than their circumstances.

Dear one, are you finding it hard to endure your present circumstances? It is too hard to endure when you look at the problem. The only way you can endure is by looking at Him who is invisible, by keeping your eyes on Christ.

Take your eyes off the visible and turn them to the invisible Christ. This is how you will endure.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Lord, please help me to keep my eyes on You. Teach me to take my eyes off the visible and turn them to the invisible. Help me to realize that the eternal realm is far more real and lasting than this world. Amen.”

QUOTE: