TSP DAILY DEVOTIONAL
SNEAK PREVIEW
24th June 2020
Dr. Phil Ransom-Bello
KEY SCRIPTURE/MEMORY VERSE: Ephesians 1:13(NKJV)
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
One way to know that the hope of the gospel has formed a framework for your thoughts is by the fruits that it produces. In Colossians 1:4-5, we see that love for all the saints is a fruit of hope but that’s not all.
An additional fruit of this hope is purity. I John 3:3 says whoever has this hope purifies himself.
In essence, as you reminisce on the hope of what Jesus has preserved for us, you can travel light, unencumbered by anything that distracts your anticipation of the joys of heaven.
Friends, this hope is not abstract. We have actually been given a foretaste, a part payment of what is to come in the person of the Holy Spirit.
Our text today says we’ve been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
It’s like when you go to buy yams in the market, the yams are marked so that when you are done with shopping other items and you return, you are able to identify yours. In the same way, the Holy Spirit can be likened to the mark on the yam, that when the owner of the yam returns, He picks His yam.
Look, when you received Christ, God marked you. That’s why the Holy Spirit is your seal. The question is, how can you be unsealed? This seal is one nobody can take off.
In Revelations 5:11, there was a scroll in heaven with seven seals that no one was worthy to open. That’s the same way nobody can unseal the seal on you.
So the experience that the Holy Spirit gives you right now is the foretaste of the joys of heaven.
Think about it, those moments where you experienced deep fellowship with God’s presence, your emotions came alive, didn’t they? You leapt for joy or surrendered in awe of His glory.
Your emotions got in touch with the Spirit which made you feel those intense feelings.
On the flip side however, there are times when your emotions are not on the same wavelength as the Spirit and drag you way behind the Spirit. This is why the believer cannot afford to be led by emotions but by the Spirit.
So in the face of contrary circumstances, you ought to continue in that fellowship, knowing that you are in the Spirit already, and as you do, your feelings will eventually catch up to the emotions of that experience by the Spirit. This foretaste is a sneak preview of what you’ll really have in heaven where there is no impediment or restriction to what you know.
Oh glory to God!
See, I can look forward to those times when we will spend with Jesus because the Holy Spirit gives us a sneak preview of what’s to come. Hallelujah!
Let this be the framework of your thoughts.
That daily, you reminisce on the joys of heaven, setting your affections on things above because that’s where you are already, seated in Christ. (Colossians 3:1).
REFLECTION
Have I been enjoying the sneak preview by the Holy Spirit?
DECLARATION
-I believe in the gospel, therefore the seed of the gospel produces fruit in my life.
-I don’t just know the gospel, I live the gospel. I am transformed by the gospel. The gospel is working through me.
-This gospel produces the genuine markers of authentic believers; of Faith, Love and Hope in me.
-This hope of the gospel produces in me the fruits of love for all the saints and purity.
-I travel light, unencumbered by anything that distracts my anticipation of the joys of heaven.
-My hope is not abstract. I have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is my sneak preview of what’s to come. I cannot be unsealed.
-The hope of heaven is the framework for my thoughts.
-Daily, I reminisce on the joys of heaven and I set my affections on things above.
Hallelujah!
HEARING BY THE WORD
(Recommended Listening)
Listen to Fruits of the Gospel 3>> Dr. Phil by The StandPoint Church on #SoundCloud
