Stand Apart and Lean On Me

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God is so creative in how He draws us to himself to teach us, encourage us, correct us, and love on us.  The verse above came through on an email months ago and I pasted it to my computer screen.  Meditating on this verse, related to leaning on God, led me to study how we are called to be set apart, which led me into an hour study that culminated with reading 
1 John! More on that tomorrow.

Go with God!  He will take you to some wonderful places.  The more we lean on God and get close to Him through prayer, the more we separate ourselves from the world.  

We were not created to stand alone, although we were created to stand apart.

Listen to the words passed on to us from both Old and New Testament authors.

"Out of all the nations on this earth, the Lord your God chose you to be his own. You belong to the Lord, so don’t behave like those who worship other gods." Deuteronomy 14:2

 "Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him." Romans 12:2

"But you are God’s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done."  1 Peter 2:9
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 1 John 4:4-5 

 Lord, as we lean on You and into Your Word, we learn more and more how fortunate we are to belong to You.  Being a part of Your family requires us to be different, not follow the crowd.  On the days it is humanly difficult to shine like Jesus, may we lean on You more and be reminded that nothing takes You by surprise and through what Jesus has done and what the Holy Spirit does for us moment by moment, You will make a way for us through whatever we face.  In Jesus' name, Amen


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