Affirmation Transition Reposition

Responding in Faith to God’s Invitation of Life and Peace by Relating with Him through the Lord’s Feast of First-Fruits

Summary
Inspecting the first fruits of the harvest provided for affirming that if the first fruits were good so would be the rest. The Feast of First-fruits, therefore, is a shadow pointing forward to the LORD’s resurrection as the first soul arisen in the newness of His eternal life.

20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. 21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.  (1 Corinthians 15:20-22 NLT) 

This new nature is appropriated with a conscious decision to affirm the LORD’s headship, or Lordship and allowing the Holy Spirit to have dominion in your life.  This should produce a change in attitudes and behavior.

Paul, therefore, exhorted believers to:  “strip off your old nature, because your old nature is thoroughly rotted by its deceptive desires; 23 and you must let your spirits and minds keep being renewed, 24 and clothe yourselves with the new nature created to be godly, which expresses itself in the righteousness and holiness that flow from the truth.”  (Ephesians 4:22-24 JNT)

With this fresh focus and openness to new things God may be doing, it becomes easy to receive new truth and revelation by the Holy Spirit. As God reveals truth, the Holy Spirit works change in your heart and renews your mindset. The more the eyes of your heart open, the wider your perspectives become—clearing the way for God to bring you through transition, repositioning and transformation. 

This is how the Holy Spirit leads you through the outworking of God’s creative and redemptive process. As you take time to engage with God these 50 days over the early harvest of new things He is doing—the first fruits—and allow His Word and Spirit to minister to you, He progressively expands revelation and truth to the point of climax at Shavuot—Pentecost!

As you continue to engage with God over time, He will nurture your faith and cultivate His nature in you from faith-to-faith and glory-to-glory!  (Romans 1:17 and 2 Corinthians 3:18)

Life Application Questions

In what ways do you affirm the LORD’s headship and permit His Lordship in your life, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal new truths?

How is your new nature reflected in your life?

Scripture References
Ephesians 4:17-32; Colossians 3:1-17

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Unless otherwise specified, all Scripture references are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scriptures marked JNT taken from the Jewish New Testament. Copyright © 1979 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. Scriptures marked NLT are taken from New Living Translation Holy Bible, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.