Religious spirituality conforms to man-made principles and is used by satanic forces to keep people from actually professing Christ as our Savior and allowing His Spirit to change us from the inside out (Luke 11:42). We can stop religion in its tracks from distracting us by thinking outside the box, and we can call on the Lord to be saved from eternal condemnation (John 3:18, 3:17).
A simple conviction of sin in our life is not enough, total conversion is necessary for salvation (Matthew 23:1-3, 25; Hebrews 10:10-25; John 3:3). God’s calling on us is to love others by obeying His Spirit each moment of the day as He uses us to further His Kingdom on the earth (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
If we make our own plans and ask Him to bless them, we are rarely successful in achieving our goals. We remove the Spirit from our decisions and use human wisdom and power instead, which are ineffective most of the time. With our constant focus on Christ in us, we remember to follow God’s perfect plans for our life.
Allowing God to walk out His life in and through us is a hard concept to understand, but once we start consulting Him for His plans rather than asking Him to bless our plans, life gets more wondrous than ever before (Proverbs 3:5-6). We consult with God in order for His will for us to be effective all through our day.
Once we surrender our life to God’s divine grace, we learn to walk in His ways and to wait for His timing. This ensures our success in allowing God to work in and through us. We think outside the box erected by religious mankind.
In coming to Christ for salvation, we are conformed by His Spirit to His identity, and we no longer depend on our or another’s opinion of us. The only opinion of us that really matters to us is God’s opinion. He sees us through the righteousness of Christ that we receive when we appropriate to our life Jesus generous gift to pay our sin debt for us.
Prayer:
Father God, we matter to You, and we are enough for You due to Jesus’ saving work for us on Calvary’s cross. You know us by name, You never sleep, and You see us every moment of our life (Psalm 121:2-7). Even while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us, because You love the whole world – past, present, and future (Romans 5:6-11; John 3:16). You know the number of every hair on our head in our youth and in our old age, even when a bunch falls out at one time, or slowly over the years (Luke 12:7).
Remind us that if we love You, we will keep Your commandments and we will love one another as You love us with humility, preference, and sacrifice (John 13:34). Even if we go to prison for our faith in You, You will give us a “prison ministry” in which we can share the Gospel of Christ with everyone in the cell with us, next to us, or in the common areas. What more can they do to us but put us to death? However, to be absent from our body is to go immediately to Your presence with You in Your glorious Sanctuary.
Thoughts for the Day:
No eye has ever seen, and no person has ever imagined the wondrous gifts that God has in store for those who accept His free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. We can never save our self by our works, our sacrifices in this life, or through the things that we suffer. Eternal salvation is through none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our only way, truth, and life.
- Ephesians 2:8-9; John 14:6-11
