Our True Reality is in Christ

There is no need for us to frequent the "self-help" shelf at the library or bookstore, because the Holy Spirit is changing us through His sanctifying process, until we come to the fullness of Christ in us (2 Corinthians 3:18).

When we come to the end of our self, God's Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, becomes our comforter, guide, wisdom, encourager and the voice of Christ, who also dwells in us by His Spirit, as our way, truth and life (Colossians 3:4; John 14:6).

Christ in us is not a separate entity from who we are. He is as much of an integral part of us as He is to our Father God (John 17:21). Living in the center of God's will is the happiest place on earth.

We surrender the control of our life over to God, because to think that we actually have any control over our life is ludicrous! Life happens and is always out of our control.

Just as Jesus did nothing of Himself, we follow His example. We die to our self and trust only in God. We live in union as one person with Christ in us. He is our whole life (Colossians 3:4).

The sooner we come to this place of total surrender to the will of God, content in the circumstance which He provides (Philippians 4:11), the freer and more joyfully we experience each day, captivated by His Spirit and His will.

As we decrease in our desires and control over our life, He will increase His control and put His desires in our heart (John 3:30; Psalm 37:4). Christ in us is our only true reality now and in eternity.

We are dead, and He now lives in and through us (Colossians 4:3-4). There are no formulas to follow, no effort on our part, no striving or quoting Bible verse, which can make this happen.

We simply surrender all to Him by letting go of our anxiety, negative emotions and idols, which imprison us, and letting God have His way in our life.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for revealing to us that this life in not about us; it is totally and abundantly about You in us (Colossians 1:27). You free us from bondage to the devil, the world and the flesh; and You allow us to walk intimately with Your Trinity abiding within us (Galatians 5:15-25).

Surrendering to Your rest is the only step we need to take to enter into this union life with You (Hebrews 4:10-11). We stop our stress, strain and list-making and follow Your Spirit during each moment of our day. When we walk in the center of Your will we find true peace, joy and rest in Your Spirit (Romans 14:17).

Thought for the Day:

It is no longer I, but Christ who lives in me, because we are unified as one being; He is the head and I am the body, which He uses for His glory. - Colossians 3:3-4

A New Life in Christ

In this world, people are very touchy about what we say to them. They think that we are trying to proselytize them, if we even mention anything about God or Christ. We are simply living out who we are, and they accuse us of judging them. Of course, if they would join us, they would understand that Jesus is not our hobby or our crutch. Christ is our very life (Colossians 3:4).

We are not trying to impose our beliefs on anyone. We are just living out the truth of God’s Word. We do not condemn their behavior or their person, but offer them the opportunity to trust Christ and to enjoy the wondrous life He provides for His children (Ephesians 4:13). When we repent and believe in Christ (Mark 1:15), we no longer live as part of this world, even though we still live in it (John 17:16).

We no longer attempt to earn His acceptance by our performance to His standards. We are already accepted in His beloved family, by faith and not by works (Ephesians 1:6, 2:8-10). God placed the weight of the vilest sin upon His own shoulders and He paid our penalty for us. We accept Christ’s atoning work for our salvation, and then choose to live in total surrender to God’s will.

Jesus freed us from deprivation, degradation and devastation in this life. He allows us to walk in a new life in Him (Romans 6:4). His anointing in us and through us breaks the yoke of bondage to sin and deception (Isaiah 10:27). His Spirit enables us to obey God’s will, by living in and through us (Galatians 2:20). Let us seek His direction for our life and not allow earthly concerns to sway us from His ways (Luke 9:57-62, 14:26-33).

Prayer:

Father God, true surrender to You always supercedes our natural devotion to job, family or friends. We forsake all for you (Luke 14:33). We know without a doubt that You will meet the needs of our family and friends as we focus on Your will for our life. Keep us from failing to totally surrender to You, and enable us to experience the fullness of Your love for us.

Thought for the Day:

God listens to and understands our prayers and knows exactly how to answer them.

Christ, Who is Our Life

When Christ, who is our life (Colossians 3:4), comes to dwell within us, He wants to live life for us and through us. It is through our relationship with Christ that He empowers us to live the Christian life, even though we are now strangers and pilgrims on this earth (1 Peter 2:11). Every choice we make comes as the result of prayer and the leading of God’s Holy Spirit (Colossians 3:1; Galatians 5:16,25). We yield to the Spirit’s direction throughout the day as we submit to Him, and He transforms us and renews our mind (Ephesians 4:30; Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

The reality of our union with Christ is that we are already dead to the bondage of worldly influence, to the lure of sinful pleasures and to the lofty ambitions of our old life. In our growth in Christ, we acknowledge that we are indeed crucified with Christ, we are dead and our new resurrection life is hidden with Christ in God. God replaces our old nature with His new life. We are raised with Christ and we set our mind on the eternal aspects of life. We feast on His Word until it dwells in us richly.

Our citizenship is in Heaven (Philippians 3:20). We have no meaningful life apart from Christ. We adopt His purpose to seek and to save the lost; His perspective of doing the Father’s will; and His practice of prayer, humility and obedience (Luke 5:16, 19:10; Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 5:8). We live by the faith of the Son of God through every new adventure He devises for us (Galatians 2:20). Even in secular employment and activities, we do all in the name of Jesus (1 Corinthians 10:31).

As we seek first His Kingdom, He provides us with everything we need to fulfill His purpose with our life (Matthew 6:33). Christ in us is greater than Satan and all of his demons (1 John 4:4). We have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), and we take our carnal thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). We receive the mind of Christ and understand the things of God by His Spirit, having discernment in every area of life (1 Corinthians 2:5-15). We do not have to strive and strain to die daily. We simply fully embrace the truth that Christ lives in us and wants to live through us.

We are raised with Christ in newness of life and we will appear with Christ in glory at the end of this age (Romans 6:4,8, 10). These facts have practical relevance to our walk in Christ each day on this earth. They give us hope, faith and the power to walk in the Spirit. We minister to one anther and to the world around us (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:1-16; Ephesians 2:5-6).  We set our affection on eternal matters and we do not worry about or stress over the issues in this life.

As a fully human person, we often feel like we are fighting life, the world and Satan all alone. But if we remember that we are also fully Divine, because Christ lives in us with all the power of the triune God, then we can step aside and allow Jesus to deal with the situation that is troubling us. He will direct our preparation and then teach the class, preach the sermon, write the article, witness to our lost co-worker, deal with that rude person, supervise in the workplace, take our tests, clean the house, care for the children and overcome any situation in our life (Colossians 3:17).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, seeking You is the passion of our life. We desire above everything else to walk in Your ways and to be an expression of You in the earth (1 John 3:1-3, 9). Our life is hidden in You in the same way that a seed is hidden in the earth. We too will bear much fruit as we live life totally empty of our self and in surrender to Your Lordship within us. We are transformed by renewing our mind, rather than by allowing the world to conform us into its mold. Then, we will be able to test and discern what our Father’s good, pleasing and perfect will is for us each moment of every day (Romans 12:2).

Thought for the Day:

Our life is an extension of and inseparable from the Lord Jesus Christ.
- John 15:5