God calls us to go deeper into the river of His
spiritual life. He wants an enhanced, more intimate relationship with us. The
first step is to enter into the shallow water of accepting Jesus Christ as our
Savior. However, we do not stay in the shallow water.
God is calling us to go deeper into His river of
life; yet, we are hesitant to trust God in the unfamiliar aspects of life in
the Spirit. Only a few will move into deeper water.
Some people fear the unknown and decide to live as
shallow Christians rather than to totally surrender to the Will of God. We
think that it is easier to live in shallow carnality where we have more control
over our destiny.
If we are willing to leave behind our sinful
lifestyle and to make Him the Lord of every area of our life, God helps us to desire
to do only His will on a daily basis and on a minute-by-minute basis.
As we continue into ankle deep water and start the
practice of worshiping with fellow Saints each week, getting in the habit of daily
devotional reading and prayer, and spending quiet time to listen to God's words
of encouragement and direction for us, we grow in spiritual maturity.
We start to live as one directed by God's Spirit,
and we experience the joyful success of a life of walking in the Spirit rather
than in the flesh (Galatians 5:15-25).
Prayer:
Father God, Your Spirit continually encourages us
to move into deeper intimacy with Your Trinity. In life we are either in a
trial, coming out of trial, or about to go into another trial. We start to lose
faith and we spin into a deep, dark descending spiral. Our faith wanes and our
trust in You weakens.
In this world, You allow trauma, submerged and
drawn by the current of this sin-filled life, to hit us without warning. Earthly
catastrophes threaten our life in body, soul and spirit. As we begin to drown
in the circumstances of life, remind us to totally give up control over our
life and to completely surrender to Your Spirit's direction as we traverse
through each stage of spiritual growth.
Thought for the Day:
By increasing our intimacy with God, we realize
that the only way to live is to die to our own desires, ambitions and goals,
and to hide our life with Christ in God; it is only then that we enter into the
realm of oneness with Christ on a daily basis and He becomes the focus of our whole
life. - Colossians 3:3-4
