The power of the Holy Spirit within us is amazing. He sanctifies our soul, strengthens our spirit, and gives life to our aging body. The Spirit sets our soul’s desires against the flesh (Galatians 5:17), which helps us to walk in the Spirit more often, and to abide in God’s perfect plans for us (Ephesians 2:10).
Jesus loves us and gave Himself to pay for our sin-debt and to make us acceptable as adopted children of God (Ephesians 1:6; 1 Peter 2:5; Romans 8:17, 9:6; Galatians 3:26). We are actually crucified with Jesus; and He now lives in every authentic, Born Again Believer (Galatians 2:20).
He provided a way for us to receive all of our needs through His sacrifice on Calvary’s cross (Romans 5:8). We belong to Christ and are part of His family. We are secure in the promises of His Word, and the presence of God within us. We will never be alone again (Galatians 3:29, 5:24; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9; Hebrews 13:5).
As we rely on Him through each moment of our day and night, God composes our thoughts, supplies our needs, and exchanges our carnal desires for more spiritual ones. This enables us to concentrate more on the spiritual side of life, and to fulfill the willful desires of our flesh less and less often.
Christ alone becomes our center of focus for living (Colossians 3:3-4; Matthew 6:22), and we desire only what He desires for our life. We learn how to view - as reality - all of the events, which we cannot see with our human “eyes.” By faith, we begin to understand reliable factors that our mind does not comprehend, through our spiritual “eyes” and “ears” (Matthew 11:15; Ephesians 1:18).
From God’s Spirit, we learn the elementary, and then the deeper truths of His Word (John 14:26; 1 John 2:27). As we seek God and follow His purposes that He pre-planned for us, we live as conquerors rather than as victims (Romans 8:17; Ephesians 2:10, 4:12; Galatians 5:13).
Prayer:
Father God, thank you that Jesus sets us free from the snares of this world and the bondage to sinful desires and pursuits (Galatians 5:1,13). We become a new creation – entirely different than we were when we chased worldly endeavors (2 Corinthians 5:17). Your Spirit gives us the mind and nature of Christ, and transforms us into holy, blameless and unreproachable Saints (Colossians 1:22; Revelation 14:12-20).
Thank You for teaching me that if I do not have something that I think that I want, it is because You do not want me to have it; therefore, I can change my focus and seek You for what You do want for me instead (Philippians 4:19). We soon learn that we are truly happy only when we are in the center of Your will for us.
Thought for the Day:
God’s hope fills us with all of His joy and peace through every crack in our broken places, which are caused by rejection, discouragement, abandonment, discontentment, addictions, helplessness and hopelessness that we feel in this life; Jesus becomes our complete desire, and we find our total fulfillment and satisfaction in our intimate union with Him.
- 2 Timothy 3:12
