Resting in the Lord

 

 

When I mention entering God’s rest, many people envision sitting on the porch swing with a glass of refreshing filtered water, or relaxing in the recliner with the footrest and chair back extended, or taking a lazy nap in the middle of the afternoon. These are all healthy practices, but they will only allow our body to rest. 

 

We can still worry, stress and entertain negative emotions while doing these activities; therefore, we are not at rest in the Lord (Psalm 37:7). A spiritual rest is more than repose for the body. Rest is also for the spirit and soul – our mind, emotions and choices. 

 

We can only fully enter God’s rest by deliberately detoxing our life. We start by totally submitting to God’s will. His presence in us goes with us everywhere we go, and He gives us His rest regardless of our circumstances (Exodus 33:14). 

 

All we do to access His rest is to be still and to recognize that He is God (Psalm 46:10). The Trinity of God within us is our Creator, Savior, Comforter, the Author and Completer of our sanctification, etc. He already knows what will occur in our life from the end of time all the way back to the beginning (Hebrews 12:4).

 

As we trust God with one area of our life, we quickly learn to trust Him with everything. He provides us with safe dwelling places, and we get peaceful sleep every night, regardless of our circumstances or anxieties, which our overactive imagination may worry might happen (Psalm 4:8). 

 

When we cease from our plans, goals, labors and desires (Hebrews 4:9-11; Psalm 127:2), we patiently wait for the Lord’s peace and direction for each moment of our day (Psalm 37:7). We resist the devil’s doubts and trust God with our whole heart (Proverbs 3:5-6; James 4:7).

 

Prayer:

Father God, teach us to let go of our addictions, worry and self-centeredness, and to turn to You each moment of our day (Acts 15:13, 19-20). When we obey You in every area of our life and walk in Your perfect plans for us, we will find rest for our spirit and soul, and healing for our body (Hebrews 4:11; Jeremiah 6:16; Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). Help us to stand firm in the liberty provided for us by Jesus, and not to get ensnared again by the burdens of life (Galatians 5:1).

 

We do not want to allow anyone to seduce us into believing that we can produce any holiness in our self (Galatians 3:1-4). When we trust in You, nothing said or done or suggested to us will trouble our soul (Acts 15:23-24). Remind us that Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary’s cross provides us with liberty that sets us free from the bondage to sin and satanic lies (Galatians 2:4; 4:9, 21-26). 

 

Thought for the Day:

When we yoke up with the Lord, rather than pulling our load by ourself, we find that His load is easy and light; He humbles our heart and we relinquish our trust in our own abilities and wisdom; when we acknowledge Him as the Lord of our life, He sets us free from worry, stress, and our own labors, and He gives us His sabbath rest. 

- Matthew 11:28-30; Mark 2:28; John 8:31-32, 36

 

 

The Demon of Perfectionism

 

Are you attempting to maintain an equilibrium in your life by doing everything perfectly? I did this for most of my life. I wanted to feel accepted, loved, cherished, appreciated and accomplished. However, we rarely live up to our expectations for our self.

 

Satan makes sure that we feel shame regardless of how well we do. He lies to us, and uses the "voice" in our head to make us insecure about our performance, and about who we are in the very core of our existence.

 

We can only love others as we love our self (Matthew 22:39). If we do not love our self, we use addictive behaviors to anesthetize our pain. Then, we are dwarfed emotionally, and we rarely have enough emotional and physical energy to effectively love others.

 

It is only as we give the devil our permission to torment us, because of our insecurities and fears, that we are tempted to believe his lies. The only way to find freedom from this demonic stronghold over our life is to draw near to God for His healing, to resist the devil’s lies, and then he HAS to flee from us (James 4:7).

 

As we trust in the Lord each moment of our day, we walk in His will, and we know without a doubt that we can accomplish everything that God requires of us, because of Christ in us (Philippians 4:13). Christ in us provides us with the courage to be less than perfect.

 

Christ in us enables us to be our best self, and to trust God to make up for our insufficiencies. We are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). Our true value comes from our relationship to our God and King: a child of God and a co-heir with our King (Romans 8:17). 

 

This fact eliminates our identity crisis. Other people may reject, disparage, criticize, belittle or despise us, but we are accepted in the Beloved Body of Christ (Ephesians 1:6). God uses trials and patience to perfect us (James 1:3-4).

 

Prayer:

Father God, help us to do our best and to trust You for the rest. As we live according to Your plan for us, controlled and guided by Your Spirit, we find both success and fulfillment in this life and in the next. Our value as a human being comes from our relationship with You, not from any intrinsic goodness of our own (Ephesians 2:8-9, 16-19). 

 

Our enemies may attempt to destroy us, devalue us and reject us, but You are our hope of glory, and the lifter of our head in times of discouragement and defeat (Psalm 3:3). Jesus already paid our sin debt, and He made a way for You to adopt us as Your children. We trust in You and rejoice in our relationship with You, which will last throughout eternity.

 

Thought for the Day:

Shame envelops us when we believe what Satan and other people say about us; however, when we consider what Jesus did for us on Calvary's Cross, we realize just how special we truly are, and that we can accomplish everything that God calls us to do through His sufficiency within us.

A Secure Life in Christ

 

 

Christ in us enables us to withstand the temptations of demonic forces that work against us, and to reign as victorious overcomers in every situation that we come up against. We love to worship, love, and serve our Father God with all of our heart.

 

Those who choose not to believe, and to reject the free gift of salvation (Romans 3:23, 6:23), look at God as an allegory, a vague entity, a fabled children’s story, the crutch of the weak-minded, a master-minded illusion, etc. They are sarcastic and even bombastic to Believers.

 

They focus on current issues and spend their life attempting to attain their visualized dreams, improving their current lot in life, and voting for the party that best supports their needs and ideals. Some do reach nirvana, financial success/security, etc. but are not really fulfilled after all.

 

God’s purpose in His Word, in the life of Jesus on the earth, and by His Spirit is not to condemn us to a lowly life of shame and fear, but to bless us with a fulfilling existence of security, peace, joy, and unconditional love (John 3: 16-17). He is not sitting on His throne with a fly swatter just waiting for us to land close enough to His reach to swat us.

 

Once we surrender to His Agape love for us, we see Him as He is. Then, our genuine love, admiration, honor, trust and affection for Him turns into worship all throughout our days. God’s work in our life, both to sanctify and to provide for us, helps us to genuinely pay attention to His complex interaction with every facet of our life.

 

We stop making God too small in our eyes, and we magnify the Lord with fellow Believers as we exalt His name together. We seek the Lord, and He hears us, and delivers us through every fear and struggle that we experience during our existence on this earth (Psalm 34:4).

 

As we meditate on God’s Word, and we enjoy His unquenchable love for each of us individually, we magnify Him with our thoughts, words, emotions and choices. The life of Christ within us quenches the common futility and despair that most people experience on this planet at one time or another.

 

Prayer:

Father God, it is so evident that this earth is on the road to self-destruction through global warming, runaway fires, rising seas levels, weather that is more and more extreme, increased earthquakes and volcanoes, violent lawlessness, global destruction, abuse of the innocent, etc. We ache for those people who forfeit Your presence in their lives, because they pridefully stand on their own two feet in order to save themselves. Please open the eyes of their understanding and strengthen their inner being so that they can see Jesus (Ephesians 3:16).

 

Enable the unbelieving world to realize the reality of Your existence, and the imperative need for them to trust in You for their salvation and for the continuation of their posterity on the earth. Help them to view their life from a spiritual as well as physical and soul existence. Help them to realize the unreliability of their earthly existence without Your presence in it. We worship You as our almighty God, because there is none like You in Your mercy, love and kindness to all of humanity who put their trust in You alone.

 

Thought for the Day:

In our current world-environment more and more people are seeing the possibility of the reality of the spirit world, and they are contemplating their need for a personal Savior; therefore, we pray for our family and friends, co-workers and associates, and neighbors and community to relinquish their life to the only true God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Irritations are Irritating

 

 

Thousands of irritations arise every day that wear us down, aggravate us, make us grouchy, get on our nerves, cause stress and initiate worrisome thoughts. They disturb the peace of God that we are endeavoring to walk in each moment of the day. 

 

Sometimes they come though other people, and at times they initiate through circumstances that pile up on us and threaten to drown and overwhelm us. We may respond inappropriately and hurt people’s feelings. Our response blindsides them, because they have no idea what we are experiencing at that moment.

 

So, how do we deal with these people and issues? We show God’s love to irritating people and allow our patience with them to do her perfecting work in us. We draw from God’s agape love toward us to share with them, and we show them compassion. We listen between their words to see how to pray for them.

 

We remain silent and just pay attention, unless we can use words that are full of God’s mercy and grace. We can also view irritating circumstances through the eyes of faith rather than human sight. Taking our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, we allow Him to reduce our anxiety and irritation (2 Corinthians 10:65). 

 

A general malaise that has no specific source or definition – a vague depression that seeps into our soul, or an estrangement from those whom we are usually connected with – may also creep up on us when we least expect it. 

 

Turning over all of our irritations and negative feelings to God helps them to lose their intensity so that we can better deal with them. Our vital connection to our Father God keeps us from feeling alone regardless of our location or circumstances (Exodus 2:23-24).

 

We connect with our church family, take part in missions and ministries, and reach out to those going through trials in their own life. We are part of a long line of Saints reaching back through the ages and continuing on into the future (Exodus 2:24, 3:6).

 

Prayer:

Father God, You designed for us to be part of Your family which is made up of people from every nation, tongue, tribe and people group that has ever existed on this earth. You call all of us as Your adopted children and we will worship You together around Your throne. You are the God of all of those who are spiritually alive (Mark 12:24-27). Your Saints are part of our spiritual heritage who all enjoy the same eternal covenant with You. 

 

We enjoy a spiritual relationship with You as we serve You with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Remind us to withdraw from our circumstances when we lose Your peace in our heart. Help us not to rely on our human understanding, but to consistently consult You for each moment of our day for attitude adjustments, mental clarity, emotional understanding and spiritual wisdom.

 

Thought for the Day:

God is our refuge, our strength, our constant help in any times of trouble, and we have our true identity in His opinion of us; this allows us to enjoy unbroken fellowship with Him as we walk in His ways, obey His precepts, trust in His wisdom, and seek His will for each moment of our day.

- Psalm 46:1

 

Overcoming Abuse’s Residual Effects

 

Abuse inundates us with the fear of neglect and isolation, a lack of trust, feelings that we have to protect our self because no one else will take care of us, and a whole host of other issues. Neglect and abuse disrupt our brain’s development and function.

 

Mistreatment causes us to experience comprehension and attention deficit difficulties in school, psychological and cognitive issues, controlling behavior, a cheerless opinion of our identity and esteem, phantom anxiety, a lack of flexibility, difficulty in forming deep personal relationships, and a host of other issues.

 

Poor mental and emotional health follow us around for our lifetime, impacting our life and relationships. Negative emotions plague us, even when we are happy with our life, because these residual and unresolved issues are buried in our subconscious mind.

 

Many practitioners are currently equipped to help both children and adults to recover from the effect of abuse. They help us to achieve a positive outlook on life, a sense of purpose, and survival skills such as problem-solving, relationships, competency, productive hobbies and habits, non-dysfunctional parenting, etc. 

 

They can also help us to feel pride in our talents and to take ownership of our beliefs, thoughts, emotions and behavior instead of blaming other people. The first step toward these goals is to take daily inventories of the state of our body, soul and spirit.

 

The greatest recovery tool, however, is to learn real compassion and patience with our self and others, as we develop beliefs based on the reality of God and a trust in His Word. We acquire a personal relationship with this eternal Being; and we are never alone, anxious, afraid, worried or doubtful anymore.

 

When someone as big as the Trinity of God moves into our spirit, a lifetime of changes begin. We learn to have faith in His faithfulness, and to look for the seed for a miracle, which He plants in every trial that comes our way. We trust in Him, because He proves Himself to be totally trustworthy.

 

Prayer:

Father God, help us to learn to totally lean on You for our well-being, to completely surrender to Your will for us individually, to walk in Your Spirit each moment of our day, and to continually obey Your precepts (Proverbs 3:5-6; Psalm 103:17). We praise You for who You are. Thank You for loving the whole world and for setting us free from sin and the effects of degradation in our life  (John 3:16-17; John 8:36).

 

We are so grateful that You provided Jesus’ sacrifice to make a way for us to be grafted into Your family as Your adopted children (Ephesians 1:5). Prior to this we lived on the broad road that led to the destruction of our body, soul and spirit. We worshipped our flesh, the world, and the devil rather than You. By doing this, we condemned our self to eternal damnation (John 3:18). Now, we worship You with our whole heart.

 

Thought for the Day:

People today want to cast off what they consider the restraints, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness of religion; yet, what they do not realize is that within the boundaries of God’s straight and narrow road, we find safety and security, as well as His intimate companionship, continual blessings, eternal rewards and so much more.

 

Foolish Galatians

 

 

We are not like the foolish Galatians, unless we actually believe that we can save our self, or that we can work for God apart from our dependence upon Him alone (Galatians 3:1-3). When we work for God, we are only producing wood, hay and stubble that is merely fit to be burned up (1 Corinthians 3:12-13).

 

It is actually as God informs us of His will for us, and gives us His spiritual wisdom, strength and understanding, that we can walk in such a way as to bear fruit and bring glory to God. As we do this, we will share in the inheritance that Jesus obtained through Calvary’s cross (John 15:2-13; Ephesians 2:10). 

 

God gives us His power, steadfast patience, and glorious might to accomplish His plans for our life, and we erupt into joyous praises to His name throughout the day (Colossians 1:9-12). He enables us to heal from our past trauma and to cling to His truth as He sets us free (Romans 10:10).

 

God sees the motives of our heart and discerns the intents and purposes of our behavior (Proverbs 16:2). His Holy Spirit continually refines our faith like a silversmith, until He makes us into pure vessels for God’s honor and glory (James 1:3; 1 Peter 1:7, 4:12-13).

 

Negative emotions give us a clue about what we believe. If we feel unloved, we believe the lie that significant others in our life do not love us. If we feel that we do not matter, we believe that we are all alone in the world. If we are convinced that we are worthless, we bought into Satan’s attempt to devastate us.

 

The complete truth is that regardless of any person’s attitude toward us, Christ loves us enough to suffer the persecution and tribulation of his cruel world for our salvation (Hebrews 5:8-14). He also endured nine hours of being separated from our Father God. This occurred due to our sins that He took upon Himself in order to pay our sin debt for us (Matthew 27:45-50). 

 

Prayer:

Father God, thank You that You will never fail us, reject us, or let us down. We are so grateful to You for providing all of our needs according to Your glorious heavenly riches (Philippians 4:19). Your love, peace, and joy flood our soul every moment of our life, and the fruit of Your Spirit replaces our negative personality traits until we are perfect, even as Christ in us is perfect (Galatians 5:22-23).

 

Help us to focus on the truth of Your Word and to receive liberty by waiting on Your Spirit to set us free from Satan’s deceptive bondage. Thank You that Jesus is our all in all (Ephesians 1:23), and that He gives us a spiritual perspective to realize that in Him all of our needs are already met through His Spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3).

 

Thought for the Day:

The devil convinces us that sin will anesthetize our pain, anger will keep us safe, and pride will help us to achieve our goals; identifying these false assumptions, rejecting them as lies, and embracing God’s truth will set us free from the tyranny of Satan in our life, whose purpose it is to steal, kill and destroy everything and everyone that he can still influence on this earth.

- John 8:32, 36, 44;

 

A Good Marriage – Stop Nagging

 

Nagging comes from fear and worry about some issue that would cause us or our loved one not to reap good results from some choice. However, as my husband recently revealed to me, nagging or “mothering” is irritating, condescending and insulting.

 

The reason that we nag is because another person ignores our words. It seems that they are purposely disregarding our advice or rebelling against our wisdom on the subject. They would almost rather fail than to take our advice or to follow our set routine for some aspect of their life.

 

They feel that behind our nagging, we are actually belittling their integrity, their ability to know what is best for their own life, and/or that we do not trust them to make wise decisions on their own – even though they are adults. 

 

They prefer that we make suggestions with word such as: “You may want to consider…” or “I find that ­_____ choice is usually more successful than other choices”, or “I would feel less afraid if you ­­­­____, than if you do ____” , etc. This allows them to make their own choices without feeling like they are just “obeying” our directives.

 

This method gives them more confidence in making new decisions. If we stop nagging, and repeating the same remarks over and over, we may be pleasantly surprised at the outcome. We can get the other person’s attention when they are not busy, start with the words, “What I am going to say is very important to me …” and then share our fear or worry.

 

We can also ask if our spouse or child is willing to pray with us about the issue. This way God is able to change our opinion as well as theirs. When their decisions affect us as well as them, it is really hard for us to step back. However, I find that if I let others make their own decisions, then I can make my own decisions – even if they are contrary and lead us in different directions for a time.

 

Prayer:

Father God, help us to watch and listen to those we are talking to, and to know when our words are making them feel uncomfortable. Teach us that if we repeat our words, then we are crossing the line into nagging; therefore, requesting a discussion about the issue(s), and getting each other’s perspective is better than airing our opinion over and over again.

 

Although it is hard for us to separate our self from another person’s choices affecting our safety, show us alternative ways that we can make our own choices to keep their consequences from impacting us in such a major way. Show us a way to see that we do not want to nag or smother those we love, because this is not the way to show how much we love them and that we want what is best for them; but we cannot allow our self to suffer from their choices either.

 

Thought for the Day:

Trying to change someone’s direction or behavior by nagging is actually a self-defeating procedure; if we point out the wise and productive choices that these people make, this will encourage them to put more thought into their subsequent choices too, because this shows that we really appreciate the wisdom in most of their choices.

 

The Steadfast Love of The Lord

 

 

Our Lord God is good and honorable. He teaches us His ways, even when we are sinners, and He shows us His judgments, which impresses on us that He is serious about us walking in holiness. He disciplines His children to keep us on His protective straight and narrow path for us (Hebrews 12:6; Matthew 7:14; Psalm 25:8-9).

 

When we keep His covenant and His declarations, all of His paths for us include His mercy and truth, and He pardons our ill-chosen iniquity.  He has mercy on us when we stumble and fall into satanic traps, as well as when we are desolate and distressed. 

 

Yet, when we spend our day looking to the Lord for His guidance and wisdom in accomplishing His will for each moment of our time, we experience peace and joy that exceed anything that this world has to offer (Psalm 25:10-11). 

 

Our Daddy God teaches and guides the meek in His ways. He protects us from the snares, which the devil plans for us; His love for us is steadfast and full of mercy. He delivers us through these trials without any shame or tarnish on our integrity and righteousness (Psalm 25:15-16).

 

In our lifetime, we encounter many people who dislike us, harbor cruel hatred toward us, stand against us, or who cause untrue gossip to multiply about us; but when we wait on the Lord and put our trust in Him, our Father God protects our soul (Psalm 25:19-21).

 

When we are bombarded with trouble on every side, He strengthens our heart, gives our soul the ability to handle the crisis, and delivers us through the hard times with victory and strength. He has compassion on our affliction and pain, and He forgives our disobedience when we stray from His plans for us (Psalm 25:17-18).

 

God does, however, allow those who misbehave without any cause to be humiliated as we reap what we sow, but He will not allow those that wait on His guidance and forgiveness to be ashamed, nor does He let our enemies triumph over us. In thankfulness, we lift up our soul to our God, and we trust in Him alone (Galatians 6:7-9; Psalm 25:1-3). 

 

Prayer:

Father God, show us Your ways, teach us Your truths, and lead us along Your paths for us, because You are our God of salvation. We want to wait on You all day long, and not to rush ahead or make our own plans. When we transgress from Your will for us, remember Your mercy, grace and steadfast love and kindness toward us throughout our lifetime (Psalm 25:4-6).

 

Thank You for mercifully forgiving our youthful sins as we strayed from Your Word and Your paths. Your goodness knows no bounds. As we respect Your truths and Your ways, You never tire of teaching us the direction that You planned for us to go - even before the beginning of time (Ephesians 2:10). We give You the praise and honor that is always due to Your name (Psalm 25:7-12).

 

Thought for the Day:

Our soul dwells in peace, our children and posterity inherit the goodness of the earth, and our heart has no worries or fears when we covenant with God in salvation, because we consult the Lord all day long and He teaches us His secrets and honors His covenant with us forevermore, as we bask in His steadfast love.

- Psalm 25:13-14

 

Denying Our Humanity

 

 

The Bible is full of examples of people who did not deny their humanity. They embraced their frailties, fully felt their emotions (Jeremiah 9:1-10; John 11:35; Luke 19:41, 21:62), and took responsibility for their actions. We can “own” our humanity as well.

 

They also taught us how to show empathy to our fellow sojourners, and to rejoice or to cry with them (Romans 12:15). In our humanity, God’s peace shrouds us with stability and security, which produces a lack of stress, worry and anxiety (Philippians 4:7). 

 

God ultimately causes us to embrace the spiritual fruit of His Holy Spirit and to live them out in our personality (Philippians 1:8), replacing all of our negative humanistic traits such as: 

·      hatred with love, 

·      depression with true joy, 

·      discontentment with peace,  

·      irritation with patience, 

·      criticism with gentleness, 

·      backbiting with goodness, 

·      pride with meekness, 

·      excess with self-control, 

·      and worry with the faith of God 

·      as we are continually controlled and guided by His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

 

We do not want to be tempted to follow Satan’s plans for our life. He makes his will for us to appear easy and light; however, he is only interested in stealing from us, destroying our life, and killing our opportunity to find true fulfillment in Christ in us.

 

Some of us are strong-willed, others lack definition of character and we have a weak “backbone.” Yet, most of us are in between these two extremes, especially if we are filled with the Spirit of God. We find joy in reaping what God’s Spirit leads us to sow each day.

 

We make better decisions for our life, and we listen to God’s Spirit for each moment of our day, instead of making humanistic choices and asking God to bless them. We find joy and peace when we are dependent, obedient and adherent to God’s individual plan for us.

 

Prayer:

Father God, once we realize that we do not have to single-handedly save the whole world, because Jesus already did that through His life, death, resurrection and ascension back to His throne in Heaven, we enter Your rest and contentedly wait on You before making any decisions. We follow Your peace within at all times.

 

Your Spirit produces Your character in us, sanctifies us with Your righteousness, and leads us throughout the day from one divine appointment to the next. You help us to let go of our own agenda, so that we can watch as patience does her perfecting work in us, while at the same time, we enter Your rest and enjoy the multitude of Your blessings for us.

 

Thought for the Day:

We hang out with God as a branch on the Vine of Christ, because the Vine produces the fruit on each branch as He chooses, and we obediently bear the fruit until it is ripe for the harvest; this behavior reduces the consequences of our own decisions, ensures our success in life, and decreases the negative effects of stress and worry in our life. 

 

Our Purpose in Life

 

We all have a purpose in this life, designed by God to accomplish His will through us (Ephesians 2:10). He calls all of us to love Him unashamedly and uncompromisingly, and then to love our self and others with this same dedication.

 

At birth, God gave each of us a distinct combination of personality types. Some of the qualities of these types are negative aspects and others are positive. God’s Spirit magnifies our gifts, and He exchanges the negative traits with the fruit of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). 

 

Our love for God is not some mystical or superficial concept, but it actually flows out of our innermost being throughout the day, and then it is channeled into our care and nurture for our self and others. We genuinely love our God who resides in our spirit by His Spirit, we obey His precepts, and we walk in His Spirit.

 

It is impossible to love God at the same time that we hate a person in our life. He gives us a prerequisite to receiving His forgiving our sins, and that is that we forgive each other. He gives us the power of His love to forgive a limitless number of times (Matthew 18:21-22). 

 

We can carry the love for our self to extremes, and then we fall into Satan’s traps and lies; but if we neglect our basic needs and fail to appreciate who we are in Christ, we do not have the energy to truly love others. 

 

Every humanistic thought, word, emotion and deed that we allow to dictate our behavior will lead us away from God’s path for us and onto the wide road of destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). We solve these dilemmas and find true peace and joy by living according to God’s ideals in His beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-11; Philippians 2:12-13).

 

When the pain and sorrow in our world threaten to overcome us, God uses trials to reveal to us the carnality still resident in our soul, and then to perfect us into Christ’s nature with His mind in us. He is our everything (Ephesians 1:23). 

 

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for searching our heart and revealing to us any wickedness that still resides within us that will push us toward self-centered, prideful, greedy, and aggressive behavior, and for teaching us Your everlasting way instead (Psalm 139:23-24). We praise You with every breath that we take (Psalm 150:6).

 

Remind us that once we turn our life over to You, we move past basic survival into the realm of victory, peace and joy that transcends anything this world can ever offer to us. We want Christ to be the center of our life now and always (Colossians 3:3-4). Each new day is one that You made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 100).

 

Thought for the Day:

Jesus reminds us that through His presence within us, we can exhibit true love that:

·      acknowledges and accepts our personal limitations as we wait on the Lord, 

·      focuses our love on God’s will first before attempting to relieve the suffering in the world around us, 

·      desires to live in holiness, 

·      bears with one another with understanding, 

·      forgives slights and abuse, 

·      formulates our thoughts and emotions according to God’s Word, 

·      and works together with other Saints to accomplish God’s will on this earth.