God Speaks to Us

God speaks to us through the Bible, in prayer, by His Holy Spirit to our spirit, through our circumstances, and in His still small voice within our spirit (1 Kings 19: 11-13). His grace is sufficient for all of our needs (2 Corinthians 12:9).

His power is perfected in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). That is why Paul declared that he preferred to boast about his weaknesses, so that the power of Christ could be strong in him (2 Corinthians 12:8-9).

Sometimes, God will test our patience when He does not speak right away. It is important for us to listen too, to wait patiently and not to get so bored that we fill our time with clutter.

He does not even want us to resort to good or religious activities. He wants us to consult with Him before making any plans or commitments. This way we walk in His Spirit and we are fruitful in everything we say and do (Proverbs 3:5-6).

God always send warnings before He sends judgment. He allows us a grace period in order to repent and turn to Him. If we respond, He saves us (Jeremiah 30:11-14), if we continue to reject Him He sends exile and bondage.

Jesus informed us that a time of religious deception, wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes will occur before His second coming. He calls these the "beginning of sorrows" (Mathew 24:4-8).

The purposes of this coming Great Tribulation is to save Israel, to judge the nations, and to put Satan and his demons and their followers in their future home in hell.

The time for conversation with God is coming to a close. In the near future, people will turn to God and cry out to Him, but He will not hear them (Mathew 24:4-21).

Now is time to respond to God's warnings and to surrender control of our life to Him. Jesus encourages us to watch and pray so that we can escape the horrors of the Great Tribulation by abiding in His presence (Matthew 24:36).

Prayer:

As times the darkness in the world threatens to overwhelm us. Yet, You promise to be the light all around us. Even in the record breaking darkness that surrounds our life in this current world, darkness is not dark to You. The night is as bright as the day to You, because darkness and light are alike to You (Psalm 139:11-12). You are not afraid of the darkness and Your Spirit in us will give us confidence to face our dark circumstances with courage and victory.

You have infinite patience with humanity; but there comes a time when Your cup of wrath over the debauchery of humanity will reach a critical point (2 Peter 3:9; Romans 2:4-11).  In the light of what You already did for us, we can readily trust in You. You took on a human form, lived in this sin cursed world just as we do, experienced and suffered everything that we do; yet, without sin. Now Your divinity abides within us, giving us Your power to accomplish in this world everything that You call us to do.

Thought for the Day:

As we walk in all of God's ways, love Him with all of our heart and soul, serve Him with all of our strength, and keep His commandments, which He provides for our own safety and well-being, we will abundantly abide in His blessings and have His presence and Spirit dwelling within us. 

- Deuteronomy 10: 12-13

God Lifts Us Up

God promises to lift up the distressed above those who try to hurt them and to deliver them from violent people (Psalm 18:48). He gathers our tears in His bottle and records them in His journal (Psalm 56:8).

He is wearied by the violence in homes and by those who make excuses for choosing to divorce their mate, whom they should be protecting (Malachi 2:16). He has a plan of deliverance for the oppressed.

Jesus equates anger without a cause to murder, and He also speaks out against verbal abuse (Matthew 5:21-22). There is comfort in belonging to Christ, security in His love, and fellowship with His Spirit.

God's comfort makes us tenderhearted, compassionate, single-minded and in one accord with other Believers (Philippians 2:1-2). Our Father God redeems the soul of the afflicted from deceit and violence.

Our Father gives us hope and a secure future (Jeremiah 29:11). Our blood is precious in His sight (Psalm 72:14). He brings down the haughty, evil person and saves the afflicted from our troubles (2 Samuel 22:28).

As we trust in Him for our salvation, not only from sin, but also from neglect and abuse, He leads us by His Spirit to respond to life with faith in His faithfulness.

We focus our thoughts and attention only on what is accurate, honorable and factual. We think about things that are holy and uplifting, and we dwell only on the fulfilling, virtuous things in others (Philippians 4:8).

Prayer:

Father God, You tell the church to bear one another burdens and to comfort each other (Galatians 6:2). We encourage each other in our times of distress (Hebrews 12:12). You make things right and provide the afflicted with a refuge from oppression and trouble (Psalm 9:9; 103:6). You comfort the downcast in our affliction (2 Corinthians 1:4, 7:6). We praise You for and rejoice about both the good and the bad circumstances in our life (1 Thessalonians 5:16-28).

You call each of us to encourage one another and to bear one another’s burdens (2 Corinthians 7:7). By doing this, we actually fulfill Your law (Galatians 6:2). You call the strong to overlook the failings of the weak, and not to hold it against them (Romans 15:1). We love our neighbor with the same intensity that we love our self, and with the same affection by which You love us (Galatians 5:14).

Thought for the Day:
God cares about the abused and the oppressed and He does not look down upon the mistreated; but He abhors our affliction and promises not to hide His face from us; when we cry out to Him, He champions our cause. - Psalm 22:24, 140:12

A Good Marriage - Date Nights

For our 20th Anniversary, I asked my former husband to get me a boyfriend as my gift. I was attempting to use humor to communicate to him that I felt lonely in our marriage. I actually hoped that he would volunteer to be that boyfriend.

However, we had so many unresolved conflicts in our marriage that he did not see the humor in this request. There were way too many resentments that built up a thick wall between us.

The only topic we had to talk about was our three children. Most of our conversations were flat and filled with disagreements. There were concerns on both our hearts that we were reluctant to share with one another. From our different focal points, we saw the same events in our life from two totally different perspectives.

We attempted to start a restaurant, but over-extended our self financially; and the house of cards we erected in both the restaurant and our marriage eventually fell apart. He saw no option for us but divorce, which left both of us feeling abandoned and abused.

About two years later, God blessed me with a new man in my life. He makes an honest effort to dwell with me with understanding and to shower me with focused attention. I provide him with needed verbal affirmation, admiration and a virtually stress-free home life.

We never let the sun go down on hurt feelings. We keep a couples' journal, and take turns writing out our feelings in non-judgmental and uncondemning words. Then we responded to each other by writing back in the journal. This keeps out negative emotions that could escalate into arguments.

We have always worked well together in the ministry, and we actually enjoy each other's company. We take turns deciding what to do on our "date" nights. We always schedule them into our shared calendar, so that we can look forward to them.

We jealously guard this special time as a couple. We do not have much discretionary income, so we plan simple dates: watching a movie on TV after putting the kids to bed, star gazing on the hill near our home, sharing a milk shake at the local restaurant, sunning on a blanket at the local beach or strolling along the water's edge, sitting in lawn chairs in the backyard and reading the latest book that intrigues us, walking through the mall holding hands and window shopping, perusing an antique store (a free museum), going thrift store shopping to find inexpensive treasures and clothing, exploring small towns around our home, etc.

During our dates, we talk about everything on our heart, laugh, cry, and make plans together. Over the years, this practice allowed us to bond in a love relationship that has stood the test of time and all of the trials of our life.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for keeping me safe during my return to single living and then for providing a man that is willing to meet my needs with selfless humility and understanding. We appreciate You for keeping us together through the storms that Satan devised to tear us apart. We love serving You together with every ounce of our energy and each moment of time in our life.

Thank You for allowing our relationship to be an example for other couples, and for using us to help to prevent others from going through the trauma of divorce. We give You all the praise and glory for our marital success as we move toward twenty-five years of anniversaries; and we rely on You to continue to use us as a couple to further Your Kingdom in the earth.

Thought for the Day:

Together, we learned to guard our date night, to prefer one another in our decisions, and never to make a choice without first checking with how each of us feels about it. This keeps us on the same page throughout our marriage and allows us to walk in the wisdom and counsel of God's Holy Spirit.

Fitly Joined Together

 

The nation of Israel is a perfect example of God’s people who try, in the power of their flesh, to live for God (Hebrews 8:7-9). They occasionally made great strides, but they constantly failed to keep the law.

We have no more success than they did in obeying God’s Word on our own. We fail just as miserably to keep the letter of God's law without the power of His Spirit within us.

However, as we rely on our triune God, He sanctifies us through our union with Christ (1 Corinthians 1:2,30), the washing of the water of His Word (Ephesians 5:26) and our obedience to His precepts (Hebrews 12:14; 2 Timothy 2:21-22).

We are the sons of God (1 John 3:2), members of Christ’s Body who are fitly joined together (Romans 12:5), and filled with the fruit of His Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). We do not work for God, but Christ lives and works in and through us (Colossians 1:27; Ephesians 2:10).

Our justification, sanctification and glorification are not obtained through our human effort, but by the work of our triune God within us (Titus 3:5). The Trinity works in us as individuals and as the united Body of Christ (John 13:35; Ephesians 4:11-12).

Our Father God provides our sanctification (Hebrews 8:10-12; Philippians 2:12-13), Jesus is the hope of our glorification (Ephesians 5:26), and the Spirit does the work of sanctification within us (2 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

As we mature in Christ, we are examples to the world of Agape love, because we abide in Christ and His divinity dwells within us (John 15:4-5). This allows us to make disciples of those in our sphere of influence (Matthew 28:19-20).

Before we were ever born, God planned what gifts and ministries He would give to us to use for His Kingdom (Ephesians 2:20). He joined the Body together so that each joint would supply what is needed for the healthy function of the whole (Ephesians 4:16).

Prayer:

Father God, You shower us with Your blessings so magnificently that we cannot count them all. We so enjoy walking in Your Spirit and living with Your presence within us (Galatians 2:20). You give to us so that we will have the ability to meet the needs of everyone You bring into our life (Matthew 10:8).

You meet all of our needs physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually and allow us to bring this same healing and supply to others. We rejoice that we are members of Your Body and that we can supply our part so that the Body is healthy and whole.

Thought for the Day:

The more we abide in Christ, we deeper we realize the security and blessings of our position and promise in Him.

I Thought That I Did Not Matter

As a trauma victim, I learned fear and insecurity, which controlled my thoughts, emotions, behavior, and my life. I disassociated from the pain of the trauma and buried the memories deep within my subconscious mind.

Although the memories were separated from my conscious mind, the effects of them continued to scream inside my head. They affected my body, soul and spirit throughout much of my lifetime.

I felt powerless to control my life; and therefore, I went along with the flow. Actually believing that I deserved abuse, I abused myself and allowed others to abuse me. I turned into a Class-A codependent, enabling others and depriving myself.

I accepted destructive behavior that affected my life in so many ways, and I taught others to treat me this way by allowing this conduct to perpetuate throughout much of my lifetime.

As a teenager, I noticed that my father effectively used anger to control events in his life; so I emulated his attitude and behavior. I started to take a stand for myself. I blamed my anger on my heritage as an Italian. Of course, this escalated my problems and never reaped positive responses (James 1:20).

When I went to college, I repented of my sins and asked Jesus to save me and to fill me with Himself (John 3:16-17); so I allowed even more abuse into my life. I thought that if I served others, then God would send others to serve me.

This never occurred. I just delved deeper into codependence, caretaking and submission even when someone else's decisions affected me adversely. I actually believed that others mattered, but I did not.

I continued to allow others to treat me in demeaning and uncaring ways. I did not expect to be loved this side of heaven, as I needed love; and I learned to take whatever little scraps of affection or attention others were willing to give me, even if I had to ask for them.

When I exhausted my soul by attempting to be the savior of my world, I reverted back to erupting into an ineffective, angry tirade that drove a wedge between me and those who were supposed to help me to care for my needs.

Thankfully, when I turned 45, God sent me to work for a recovering codependent, who counseled me on mending from the negative traits of this terrible disease. This allowed me to embark on a healing journey of self-discovery and care that transformed my life.

Prayer:

Father God, I grew up as a caretaker for everyone I met; attempting to solve their problems for them, even if it meant that I suffered physically, mentally, emotionally or financially because of it. I took care of everyone, but myself. Thank You that You never gave up on me. You brought the right people into my life at the right time. You taught me to firmly and resolutely put the brakes on those who treated me as an appendage to their life with no rights and privileges of my own.

Unfortunately, my healing attitude and behavior brought insecurity and fear into the lives of some of those around me. They reacted in various ways, but some rejected me because they assumed I was going to reject them. However, You used these events to bring authentic Believers in Christ into my life (Romans 8:28). They actually knew the meaning of unconditional love, and together we learned the benefit of Interdependence. We have flourished in Your love within us ever since.

Thought for the Day:
As a codependent, I had no sense of identity, boundaries or autonomy. I was not able to say, "No"; so I said, "Yes" to every request. I ended up drowning in the enmeshed and destructive relationships I gravitated toward; because I had no internal compass, until the love of Christ brought healing into my life.

Living in the Kingdom of God

I was amazed when I read that God lit the original fire on the brazen altar. That is why the Israelites carried coals with them from that fire in all of their wanderings, and the priests kept the fire lit at all times (Leviticus 9:24).

As we bring an acceptable offering to God, He consumes it with His holy fire, and we too rejoice in His pleasure and we fall on our face with humility and thanksgiving.

The Word of God clearly states that the Kingdom of Heaven is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). His Kingdom is not about the tangible physical aspects of life, but about our spiritual passion resulting from God moving into our spirit.

So often, we lose persistence, hope and confidence in our ministry for the Lord. We allow the passion of our fire for God to go out, and we end up forfeiting the promised rewards that come with serving Him (Galatians 6:9; Hebrews 10:35).

Yet, as we learn to walk in God's Spirit each moment of the day, rather than in our flesh (Galatians 5:15-25), we exhibit God's mercy to those in our home, neighborhood, workplace and church as God gives us an opportunity to do so.

When we seek first God's Kingdom and pleasure rather than our own advancement and desires, we keep His holy fire lit within our heart (1 Peter 2:5-9; Matthew 6:33).

Prayer:

Father God, You gave us a simple job to do: to be light and salt in the earth (Matthew 5:13-16). This is impossible, however, without Your Spirit dwelling within us, perfecting us and enabling us to be ready in season and out of season to do Your will (2 Timothy 4:2), to preserve Your truth in the midst of sinful humanity, and to share Your light in a world of darkness.

Help us to make Your Kingdom our priority in our life, rather than to chase selfish ambitions that serve no heavenly purpose. Remind us that selfish pursuits are wood, hay and stubble and will burn up in the end (1 Corinthians 3:12); but what we do for Your Kingdom is lasting and provides us with rewards that last for eternity.

Thought for the Day:

The most powerful force in the world is a heart on fire for God, seeking only His will for every thought, word and deed; we make eternal pursuits our priority since we are merely sojourners on this earth. 

- 1 Peter 2:11-12; 1 Chronicles 29:14-16 

Conversations with God

God invites us to converse with Him, and our heart thrills that the Creator calls us to come (Psalm 27:8). There are no special words to use, no formulas to follow, and no rote prayer to recite. We simply speak to Him from our heart.

Well-constructed sentences, flowery words or a pious voice inflection are not necessary. God loves us in our authentic state, just the way we are. He cherishes our time alone with Him (Isaiah 49:16; Ephesians 5:28-29).

As we pray without ceasing, we do not always use words (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We quietly listen to His Spirit's directives for each moment of our day and we follow them.

God even loves sharing companionable silences with us. We spend most of our time praising Him for what He already provided, which builds up our faith to trust in His faithfulness for our provision for the future.

The Trinity does not want anyone to reject His call to come (John 3:18; 2 Peter 3:9). He desires that we all forsake our wicked ways and to submit our thoughts to His. He wants everyone to return to Him for His blessings (John 3:16-18).

If we will, He will have compassion on us and abundantly pardon all of our transgressions (Isaiah 55:6-7). As we bring everything to God in prayer, with a thankful heart, we have no need to worry about anything (Philippians 4:6).

He is capable of guarding our hearts and our minds, and of providing all of our necessities (Philippians 4:6-7). As we stay in tune to Him, God will continue to supply all of our needs according to His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19).

Prayer:

Father God, You are just waiting for us to give You the opportunity to have compassion on us. You are the God of justice, and we are blessed when we long for You with our whole heart (Isaiah 30:18). You hear the voice of Your beloved Saints and You honor our requests. You even bend down Your ear to hear us.

We have no excuse not to converse with You all day and every day of our life (Psalm 116:1-2). Thank You for longing to be gracious to us. We desire to walk in all of Your ways, to love You with all of our heart and soul, to serve You with all of our strength, and to keep Your commandments, which You provide for our safety and well-being (Deuteronomy 10: 12-13).

Thought for the Day:

Never start a day without first saturating it in prayer, because this shows God that we reverence Him, trust in His love for us, and have confidence in His ability to provide for us.

God is All I Need

The love of God is enough. Period. We do not need any person, place or thing to complete our life. We are complete in Christ, regardless of who or what we have or do not have in our life (Colossians 2:10).

Not having what we perceive as our perfect life is what causes us to strive to obtain what we think we need. The only striving that God suggests that we participate in as His children, is to strive to enter His rest (Hebrews 4:10).

If we are not Born Again by God’s Spirit, we will always have a God-shaped hole in our life, which is causing an insatiable appetite to want more. Our spirit is dead in sin, and we are not yet complete.

Total surrender to Jesus Christ is the only antidote. However, if we are an authentic, Born Again Believer, and we are striving for more of this world, then we just need an attitude adjustment.

If we do not have what we want, this means that God does not think that we need it at this time. I hate to think of my brothers and sisters in Christ as lonely and suffering. I know how this feels, because I have been there.

God taught me many lessons from my trials. One is that we find fulfillment by focusing on Christ in us, not on His benefits. We love Him, not for what He does for us, but because He loves us (1 John 4:19).

After I leaned on Him through my trials, God wrote a new chapter for my life in His way and in His timing; and He will do the same for you. Until He did, though, I focused on developing a deeper relationship with Christ in me.

When we let go of our desires, and focus instead on Christ in us, our life floods with peace and joy. I realized that when God decided that I needed something, He provided it for me in His timing and way, even if it was at the last minute.

Prayer:

Father God, I am thankful for my trials, because they taught me to go deeper in You to walk through them. You taught me to stop quoting scriptures at You in order to claim Your promises. I mistakenly thought that this would somehow make You feel obligated to give me what I wanted, when I wanted it.

This carnal attempt to twist Your arm to work on my behalf never changed my circumstances. You do not respond to manipulation. In fact, I learned that You are already working on our behalf, we just do not appreciate what You have already done; and what You are doing in us, for us and through us right now. We praise You for who You are and not only for what You do for us. Remind us to take the time to count our blessings, and to enter into Your joy (Matthew 25:23).

Thought for the Day:
When we sit alone, we are never lonely, as long as God's Spirit resides within our spirit (Psalm 46:10). We have fulfilling alone (all-one) times with Christ in us, as He fills us with all of His fullness (Ephesians 3:19).

Avoiding Conflict in Relationships by Managing Emotional Triggers

Self-reflection is a healthy practice. Take an inventory of your body, spirit and soul - your thoughts, choices and emotions. Are you experiencing any negative pain in any of these areas?

These negative issues are red flags trying to alert us that something is wrong. God knows the root cause and will gladly help us to identify and resolve them if we go to Him, ask Him for wisdom and then wait on His answer.

This practice also helps us to identify and manage possible triggers for conflict, which we can now avoid since God gave us understanding. This allows us to function in God's Spirit and to avoid the carnal thoughts, feelings and choices we would otherwise make.

Our soul may be reacting out of memories from our past, rather than current issues, or the events of the moment may remind us of some incident from our past. This causes us to react more intensely due to unresolved conflicts buried in our subconscious mind.

When we identify unresolved conflicts within our soul, it enables us to control our reactions to current struggles. We can even change our focus about a matter in order to reduce our negative feelings.

Overwhelming issues usually cause us to fight, run away or shut down in order to survive the current events. Managing our reactions helps us to cope more successfully with conflict in our relationships.

God willingly enables us to find healing from past issues and to meld with our family and friends in healthy interactions. He desires for us to live in health in body, spirit and soul.

Prayer:

Father God, help us not to cover up our emotions and the thoughts that accompany them, but to face them head on and bring them to You. We need You to help us to find clarity on their cause and ways to heal them prior to them causing any relational discord in the present. Remind us that it is okay to feel vulnerable and to put down our pride and independence in order to kindly express how we are feeling to other people.

Enable us to identify the emotions fueling our anger, irritability, resentment, depression, anxiety, etc. Disappointment, abandonment, deprivation, fear, etc. all drive our intense emotions that cause conflict. Give us the courage to express our feelings and thoughts in a kind and gentle manner in order to gain the help of our family and friends to settle them.

Thought for the Day:

Processing our emotions and thoughts, explaining to loved ones how we feel and enlisting their help in resolving our issues can help to avoid conflict in our relationships.

The Cry of Our Heart

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).

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.

                      

God gives Born Again Believers the ability to walk in union with Christ as He transforms our life (John 14:16-23). Our intimate relationship with Christ starts when we, by faith, invite Him to make His permanent home in our spirit.

Jesus' presence renovates our soul – our mind, will and emotions; the center of our inner man. 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).

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). 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 (Ephesians 3:17-18, Amplified Bible).

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).

Prayer:

Father God, 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 to point out to us 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. The cry of our heart is that we may fully experience the complete dimension of Your love for us.

Your love is so utterly supernatural that we often fail to recognize it. We think of Your love in humanistic terms and miss the little things that You do for us each and every day that prove Your personal love for us. As we grow in Christ, lead us to fall in love with You more each day so that we can abide in the fullness of Your Spirit through Your presence within us.

Thought for the Day:

In our weakness, we depend upon God’s strength; 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 effect on us, because we maintain our faith in His faithfulness.

Driving Our Self Crazy

Satan rose up in rebellion against God and earned a place in hell with all of the angels who rebelled with him. Adam unwittingly gave Satan control of the earth by eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Now the devil roams the earth seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). Satan perfected his art of deception. We are not protected from His lies and we can fall for them just like Adam and Eve did.

Add to this devilish seduction to our own lusts and the powerful temptations from living life in the world, and it is amazing that anyone ever actually chooses to surrender their life completely to God.

Our sin nature doomed us to failure since birth; but Jesus Christ set us free from sin and death by His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension (Romans 8:2).

Our only protection from the devil's lies is to walk in the Spirit of God and to weigh the thoughts that come into our mind with the standards of the Bible and the peace of God that guides our spirit (Galatians 5:15-25).

Once we come to faith in Christ, we still often hesitate to relinquish to Him the power over our existence. We have a lifetime of experience with people letting us down, disappointing us and breaking their promises and commitments to us.

Only the Spirit of God can break down our defensive walls of fear and mistrust and allow us to fully embrace a relationship that starts with our total submission to God through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

As we learn to trust in the Lord with all of our heart, God rewards our faith with health and abundance in every area of our life. Rather than relying on our own strength and understanding, we seek His will for every minute of every day (Proverbs 3:5-8).

Prayer:

Father God, You know that we will drive our self crazy, if we continue to attempt to maintain control over our life. According to Your Word, those who trust in their own efforts are foolish (Galatians 3:1-3). However, those who walk in Your wisdom are kept safe. We eventually learn to give You every fear and insecurity that plagues our life, because we come to understand that You really do care about us (1 Peter 5:7).

You help us to understand Your ways and to know You intimately. You exercise kindness, justice and righteousness on our behalf (Proverbs 28:26; Jeremiah 9:23-24). You delight in us and we are Your people. You are our Good Shepherd and we are the sheep of Your pasture (Psalm 95:7, 100:3). We live for You and follow Your voice all the days of our life.

Thought for the Day:

Eventually, God’s Spirit leads us to the point in our life where we step over the boundary of our fear into the freedom of faith and trust in Him.

For the Glory of the Lord

We can feel pride about all of our accomplishments during our lifetime, until we realize that it is God who always gave us these victories (1 Corinthians 1:31). Even as a non-Believer, our success came from God.

Until the sanctifying process does its perfect work in us, we all slip out of the Spirit and into the flesh from time to time, especially if we try to live the Christian life in our own strength.

The good news is that by His death on the cross Jesus demolished our need to strive to be good. Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and God’s exact image (Hebrews 1:3).

God's Spirit guides us and fills us with His fruit - the character of God. As love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control and faith permeate our personality, the glory of God is manifested through us (Galatians 5:22-23).

When we live in unity with the Trinity, and enter into His rest, His glory is manifested in us and through us (Isaiah 60:1; Luke 10:27; Acts 1:8). We were created for His glory and everything we do, even if it is as simple as what we eat and drink, is all done for the glory of God (Isaiah 43:7; 1 Corinthians 10:31).

Once we surrender our life to God through faith in Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God moves in. Daily, we grow more like Christ by the transforming work of His power within us (Romans 8:30). Therefore, God’s glory grows more radiant in us as well.

Prayer:

Father God, You take our negative thoughts and transform them into the mind of Christ. Our behavior is influenced by our thoughts, so You renew our actions too. We end up with a calm confidence in the power and position we have in You with Christ living within us, which is actually our hope of living in glory for eternity (Colossians 1:27).

When we live to Your praise, everyone recognizes that Your glory is manifested in and through us (Philippians 1:11). All of us, who had that veil of sin removed from our eyes through faith in Christ, can now see and reflect Your glory. Your Spirit makes us more and more like Jesus each day, and we are changed into Your glorious image (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Thought for the Day:
When Christ, who is our life, appears, He will set up His Kingdom on the earth; we also will appear with Him in glory and serve Him for eternity. 

- Colossians 3:3-4

God's Ways are Amazing

We are now the excited owners of a restaurant in our tiny village in Illinois. We originally intended to sell our Florida home and buy the property to use as an outreach restaurant and ministry tool to introduce people to salvation in Jesus Christ.

We realize now that if we had done this, people may have interpreted it as an act of self-sacrifice and given all the glory to us. However, God allowed hurricane Irma to destroy much of our Florida home, and this vision died in the aftermath of this devastating storm.

Hearing what happened from relatives, a visitor to our little church felt called by God to donate the money to purchase the property with the understanding that it would be deeded to the church when we could no longer personally use it for a ministry outreach.

The day that the title company transacted the sale of the land and restaurant, we started the process of assessing our needs, discovering the pitfalls we inherited, and cleaning of the building and its scant contents.

I document this event to let you know the wonderful power of God's will in spite of Satan's attempt to destroy the vision through the whirlwind in Florida. I also want to let you know in advance that due to this extra responsibility, I may not always post on my blog as regularly as I previously did.

My time is now full of cleaning two "homes" and reaching out into our community with my husband to serve up good food, fun, fellowship, laughter and pleasant smiles along with the love and nurture of Christ.

I look forward to practicing "true religion" (James 1:27) in our community and to witnessing God changing lives through His love, peace and joy that are forever ours when we surrender our life to His watch-care.

Prayer:

Father God, I am so glad that Your ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9); and that Christ in us is greater than the devil and his minions who reign in dominion of our earth at this span of time, by Your will, and in Your spiritual economy (1 John 4:4; 2 Corinthians 4:4). We give You all the glory for this event, and we thank You for giving us Your wisdom and guidance and for continuing to provide for all of our needs according to Your glorious riches (Philippians 4:19).

We count it an honor to be part of Your desire to use us to further Your Kingdom in our world, and we trust in You to give us the spiritual fruit of our labors. We desire to impact every life that enters the doors of our little restaurant; and we vow to use every penny of our actual profit to reach out to our community at every age level and in any way that You inspire us to minister.

Thought for the Day:

The devil may attempt to derail the vision and plans that God gives you; but be encouraged by this testimony and realize that God will accomplish His plans in such supernatural ways that He will blow your mind.

Surrendering to God's Holy Spirit

The body of every Born Again Believer is the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 6:19). When the Trinity moves in and dwells within us, we reflect His glory to the world around us (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Our fleshly carnality actually dies with Christ and our life is now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3-4). We place our hope only in the glory of the Lord (Romans 5:2).

Once we surrender our life to God through faith in Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God moves in. Daily, we grow more like Christ by the transforming work of His power within us (Romans 8:30).

Therefore, God’s glory grows more radiant in us as well. We can do nothing to create these conditions in our life. If we try, there is a danger that people will label us as a hypocrite, because our flesh and spirit still war against one another.

As humans, we are drawn toward delusion, and we often seek false gods (Psalm 4:2). This penchant protects us from heeding the convicting work of living by God's Truth. We veer off the straight and narrow road and join the masses on the wide road to destruction, and we do not even realize what we are doing (Matthew 7:13).

The remedy for this is to enter into God’s rest. We enter His rest simply by surrendering to the Holy Spirit within us. In this place of peace, we cease from our striving (Hebrews 4:10-11; Galatians 3:1-3).

We focus instead on ministering from the perspective of our rest in Christ (Hebrews 4:3). Then, as we surrender our will to God’s, and draw near to Him and obey his calling on our life, we abound in and are filled with the fruits of our right standing with God.

Now He can do more through us than we could ever manage on our own. He gives us His wisdom, courage, guidance, peace and grace to accomplish all that He calls us to achieve (Romans 2:8-10).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You are the Word of God, and yet you became a human being and made Your home among us. You are full of unfailing love and faithfulness. We thrill with hope and cry in humility that the Creator of our vast universe is also the lover of our soul.

As Your Spirit does His sanctifying work within us, we see Your glory revealed in our lives. We walk as Jesus walked, speak Your oracles rather than our own words, and we follow the guidance of Your Spirit every moment of our life. May we always reflect Your glory as we fulfill Your purpose for us during our lifetime.

Thought for the Day:

“So if the old way of the law, which has been replaced by the Spirit, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new life through the Holy Spirit, which remains forever!”

– 2 Corinthians 3:8

The Purpose of Negative Emotions

Many people misunderstand the purpose of negative emotions that we experience. They are red flags from our soul to alert us to a situation that needs our attention.

We may have unresolved conflicts from our past that are causing our soul's current unrest, but God gives us wisdom when we take these issues to Him in prayer.

Feelings such as anger, fear, resentment, hopelessness, rejection, confusion, invalidation, bitterness, depression, etc. alert us to issues festering in our soul.

The root of these emotions is hidden in an experience, which muddied the peaceful stream of our soul. Until we find this root of unrest, and bring it to God to heal, it will continually stir up strife in the depths of our soul.

The moment that God speaks His truth to us about this situation, however, the passion within the negative emotion is extinguished and the joy of the Lord returns.

When we rid our soul of the splinter of experience that is still festering deep in our subconscious mind, our current emotions lose much of their power over us, and we react to life less violently.

We are also able to enjoy each moment as God gives it to us, because we are unencumbered by negative emotions. We experience the freedom of soul that God intends for us to enjoy.

Prayer:

Father God, teach us the importance of daily inventories of the symptoms of our body and our soul. Remind us to follow the trail of tears from the negative emotions that are disturbing our peace, back to the experience where Satan planted his lies that are causing them.

Help us to see that they may not be rooted in the current situation we are experiencing, but in some instances they stem from issues, which are far back in our past. Give us courage and wisdom as we seek Your healing for all of the negative emotions that rob us of our joy in the current moments of our day.

Thought for the Day:

We are able to enjoy each moment as God gives it to us, if we are unencumbered by negative emotions that act as chains to bind us to our past.

An Eternal Focus

Christians often think that to enjoy the features of living on this earth is to be earthly minded; and to pray, read the Bible and do Christian work is to live a holy, spiritually-minded life. This is not necessarily true.

God created all good things for us to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17). He put us on this diverse and beautiful planet so that we can enjoy His glory and majesty surrounding us. All creation points us to the reality of His existence (Romans 1:20).

God also gifts us with talents in music, mechanics, giving, art, engineering, caring, teaching, technology, preaching, serving, etc. We actually balance out our earthly pursuits when we do them with a spiritual mind, in response to the leading of God's Spirit and for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Our soul - our thoughts, emotions and choices - requires times of leisure and recreation in order to maximize its effectiveness. If our soul does not prosper, our body and spirit will suffer also (3 John 1:2).

The problem arises when we only focus on this world and our soul. The type of recreation and the amount of time and money we put into earthly pursuits determines whether or not we are catering to the flesh.

We relate to our physical world with our five senses and also involve our desires, instinct and intellect. We interact in the spiritual world through our spirit, which is Born Again at the moment of salvation.

If our focus is consumed with the natural aspects of life, our spirit will suffer, and our body and soul will endure deprivation as well. If we attempt to perfect our self through the flesh, rather than through the Spirit of Christ in us, all that we reap is more flesh.

As we focus on God's will for each moment of our day, He works out His sanctification and perfection in us, and gives us a fulfilled life that blesses everyone that comes in contact with us.

Prayer:

Father God, lead us to live a healthy life in body, soul and spirit. Help us to see that if we primarily focus on fleshly, carnal aspects of life – even positive things such as our job, church, family and hobbies - they become idols. If we focus on religious aspects of life, we grow self-righteous and judgmental. You give us balance if we seek You and Your will for each moment of our day.

You desire that we carry Your spirituality and will into every detail of our daily lives (Colossians 3:17). We do all things through the strength and energy You supply for us. In this way, we cannot take any credit, but we will give you all of the glory and power forever and ever (1 Peter 4:10-11). We thank You for Your comfort, and ask You to comfort others through us (2 Corinthians 1:4).

Though for the Day:
If we trust in our own abilities and wealth, we will fail; but as we step aside and allow God to bless others through us, we will prosper as well. - Proverbs 11:28