REDEEMED CULTURE

“Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 NKJV

God's plan was that the Holy Nation would be rich and colorful, and include all the different cultural expressions. Nevertheless, as we live in a fallen world, Satan often perverts and hijacks what God intended to be beautiful. As we come into our true destiny in the Holy Nation, we can ask God to redeem our cultures and restore to us His original intention to make our cultures a blessing. But we must also be discerning and sift the wheat from the chaff. Not everything in our cultures is in line with the Word of God. Our ethnic identity is often distorted and needs to be redeemed and restored. Anything associated with witchcraft or idolatry, and any cultural and moral values that are contrary to biblical values must be laid down at the cross (Rev.21:24-27). Our citizenship in the Holy Nation and Kingdom culture must take priority. Thousands of Christians have found a new freedom in accepting their citizenship of the Holy Nation. Together they have become strong prophetic voices in their country, demonstrating a higher way to live. Instead of prejudice, suspicion, mistrust, divisions, hatred and unjust inequalities, they live out a new unity where they honor one another and celebrate diversity just as God intended from the beginning. – Healing hearts, transforming nations. Rhiannon Lloyd.

PRAYER POINTS

ME: Prayerfully consider these questions: What aspects of your culture can be redeemed and used to glorify God in the Holy Nation? What are the negative characteristics of your culture? What difference would you see if all believers in your country would live as fellow citizens in the Holy Nation? What could you do to help this become a reality?

US: Pray that the Church will understand what it means to live as a Holy Nation, together in oneness with Jesus Christ. Pray for a new understanding that the Church is not an organization that a Christian belongs to, but a Family that you are born into, a Body with many different members.

THEM: Pray that the Church will be the solution to the divisions, ethnic conflicts and wars, not by mediating peace on humanitarian levels, but by becoming Christ's ambassadors in a fallen, crooked world.

Remember your John 17 memory verse.

"Regardless the culture, the problem is the same: Sin. Regardless the culture, the hope is the same: Jesus." – Dustin Benge.