The
Holy Spirit of God works in our life in order to present us to Father God as
one who is complete in Christ. He is the author and finisher of our faith, and
He matures us in our spiritual walk. He also perfects us through His ministry
of sanctification (1 Corinthians 14:20; Ephesians 4:13).
God's
Spirit allows us access to the Godhead within us. As authentic Believers, we
can aid one another in entering a deeper walk in Christ. Not everyone is
interested, because their time is filled by pursuing the things of this finite
life; but there are those who hunger and thirst after the fullness of Christ's
presence in us (Matthew 5:6).
Our
spiritual birth initiates this hunger in our spirit, and the longing grows day
by day. This proves that God's Spirit abides in us, and that we are truly His
temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). Christ gradually becomes our whole life
(Colossians 3:3-4). Our love relationship and intimacy with Christ increases
more each day, until we are complete, content, inspired and challenged (Colossians
1:22).
This
challenge encourages us to take the Gospel of Christ to our family, church,
community and the world. We intimately know God. He, not His favors and offerings,
is the desire of our heart. We crave more intimacy with Him though each passing
day, and we want to share this union with anyone who will catch the vision.
We
may have all of this world's goods, and still feel deprived, until we come to
the saving knowledge of our need for Jesus in our life. Until we come to
Christ, we are merely grasping at straws, and never truly fulfilled and
satisfied. When Jesus is our center, we feel complete in Him, because He is our
eternal destiny (Colossians 2:10).
As
our Lord and Savior, Jesus is the only one we can always count on to be both in
us and with us now and for eternity. If we consult the Lord each moment of our
day, He oversees every aspect of our life and arranges and governs all of our
steps. His Word is a light for our path and a lamp for our steps (Psalm 119:105).
Prayer:
Father
God, Jesus is Your power and wisdom in our life (1 Corinthians 1:22-25). We
find great spiritual riches in our relationship with You and Your Word. Christ
is our Emmanuel (Colossians 1:15), and in Him Your fullness dwells (Colossians
1:19, 2:9). As our intimacy with Him increases, we discover more and more of
Your wisdom and knowledge, which improves our life (Colossians 2:3).
As
our invisible, immortal God, You chose that Your nature and divinity was
manifested in Jesus' mortality and human form. Jesus said that when we see Him,
we also see You, our Father (John 14:9). Jesus is the revelation of You to the
world. Help us to worship You as You deserve, to rely on You for all of our
needs, and to trust our very life and death to You. We worship and adore You
with every breath of air that we breathe.
Thought
for the Day:
In
this world, we encourage, instruct, and exhort one another to follow God's
perfect plans for our life, which will lead us all to the fulfillment of our
goal: to mature in our faith and in our obedience to Him and His Word.
-
1 John 3:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:25-35
