The sad state of affairs in this world is that most people focus their attention more on their own ability to solve issues and their own talent to obtain riches rather on following God’s Spirit throughout their day (Galatians 5:16, 25). They fill their soul so full of carnality and self-effort that there is no room for Christ. They prefer to find enjoyment in carnal pursuits rather than in Christ. They end up leading discontented lives in the degradation of sin, and they are doomed to reap the curse of their own decisions and actions both now and in eternity.
When we repent of our sins
and are baptized in the name of Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit as a gift
from God (Acts 2:38). We are
sealed with the Spirit as a down payment of our inheritance with Christ (Ephesians
1:13). There are some Believers in
Christ who never pay attention to God’s presence within them. They suppress the
expression of Christ in their life. Possibly, they worship with Believers on
Sunday, and maybe even on Wednesday night, but they ignore Christ the rest of
the week.
Still other people strive to
keep every word of the law in order to gain God’s favor. They forget that God’s
love is a free gift (John 3:16; Romans 6:23). God gives Born Again Believers the ability to walk
in union with Christ as He transforms our life one baby step at a time (John 14: 16,20,23). Since we are rooted deeply and grounded securely in
Him, we personally experience the breadth, length, height and depth of God’s
love for us (John 3:16; Ephesians 3:17-18, Amplified Bible).
Our intimate relationship
with Christ starts when we, by faith, invite Him to make His permanent home in
our spirit. His presence renovates our soul – our mind, will and emotions; the
center of our inner man. Christ gives us fortitude of character. Then He fills
us through our entire being with all of His fullness. We receive the richest
measure of His divine presence within us, until our body, soul and spirit are
entirely filled and flooded with the power of God. We come to know Christ in a
practical way, through our daily experience in prayer, Bible study, service and
devotion (Ephesians 3:16-19, Amplified Bible).
We come to love God, because
He first loved us (1 John 4:19). We
repent of our willful sin and ask the God of the universe to dwell within us.
We find our true self-worth and identity through our relationship with Christ.
We are strengthened and reinforced with His mighty power in our inner man by
the Holy Spirit Himself. He dwells in our spirit, and permeates our body and
soul as well (Ephesians 3:16, Amplified Bible). Aspects of life, which formerly crippled our soul or
tempted us away from the straight and narrow road (Matthew
7:13-14), no longer have any affect on
us, because we maintain our faith in His faithfulness.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, trials and
temptations serve to strengthen our relationship with You. You allow them into
our life in order to reveal to us our true nature and areas in our life, which
displease You. All of our self-will, rebellion, unfaithfulness and
unfruitfulness are slowly pruned away by Your Spirit’s gentle touch. May we fully experience the complete
dimension of Your divine love for us. It is so utterly supernatural that we often fail
to recognize it. We think of Your love in humanistic terms and miss the little
things You do for us each and every day.
Thought for the Day:
In
our weakness, we depend upon God’s strength.