Guided by God's Spirit

If God is interested in what we eat and drink, (1 Corinthians 10: 31), He is certainly also interested in what we do and when we do it, even it is merely what we eat for dinner.

Following God's will during every decision He calls us to make insures our success in that endeavor. When we finish one task, we pray about what to do next.

Praying without ceasing for God’s direction for each moment of our day allows the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our steps. Then, we can ask His help in whatever He directs us to do.

The Serenity Prayer is very popular among self-help groups, but it is a blue print for walking in the wisdom of Proverbs 3:5-6. It teaches us that we can hear God’s desire for every situation in our life.

It also teaches us that if we cannot deal with our circumstances as they arise, we can put them in God’s capable hands before we go on to the next moment.

This practice keeps us from borrowing trouble from tomorrow ad from worrying about the future. We experience each moment fully and deliberately with thought, prayer and purpose.

If we can do something to change our situation, we do it. If we cannot affect the issues, we turn them completely over to God.

We give everything about the matter over to God, as well as all of the natural consequences of those issues. Then, we go about our day in the peace of God that passes all human understanding.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for giving us the wisdom to know what situations we can change, and which to leave in Your hands. Give us the strength to deal with the issues that You reveal are our responsibility, and help us to turn the rest over to You. We ask You to help us to develop an attitude of acceptance about them.

If we cannot change them, then we will praise You for them, in them, and through them, even for the negative things. By doing this, we will end up walking in complete serenity and in the dynamic power of Your Holy Spirit. We pray that You will fill us through all of our being with all of Your fullness, and that we may have the richest measure of Your presence and become a body, which is completely filled with Your Trinity (Ephesians 3:19, Amplified).

Thought for the Day:

Serenity Prayer: “Father, grant me the patience to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”  

The Purpose of God's Spirit in Us

Jesus died once for anyone who believes in Him. We will eventually be raised with Christ into immortality, because death no longer has any mastery over Christ in us.

We used to be slaves to sin, but now we owe our allegiance to Christ as slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:1-18). Each moment of our life, we submit our plans to God's direction (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Through the sanctification process by His Spirit, the carnality in our body and soul decrease and He increases within us (John 3:30). Even our physical life is His.

Through His life within us, although our body may go to the grave, our spirit and soul live forever with God. We are filled with the Holy Spirit and are part of Christ’s Body (Romans 8:9).

The Spirit transforms our life by giving us His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). We exhibit fewer carnal characteristics in exchange for the nature of God.

We have more love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control and faith. We have less greed, anxiety, deception, evil thoughts and actions, pride, rebellion, impatience and intolerance for others.

God's Spirit calls us to a life of faith and obedience, and we respond by relinquishing the depravity in our life in exchange for the holiness of God (Romans 12:1-2).

Our life is hidden with Christ in God through the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17; 2 Peter 1:4; Hebrews 3:14, 6:4; Romans 6:11). As we realize that we are already dead in Christ (Colossians 3:3), we no longer control our life; He does.

God's Spirit is more and more able to express Himself through our body, spirit and soul – our mind, will and emotions – as we live a surrendered life to Him.

Prayer:

Father God, You are waiting for us in Heaven (Matthew 6:9), but You are always with us through Christ and Your Holy Spirit, even to the end of the age of grace (Matthew 28:20). We give You all of the praise and glory due to Your name. We cry "worthy" to the Lamb who gave Himself to be slain for us before You even created the world (1 Peter 1:20).

Thank You that Jesus sent the Spirit of truth to come and guide us into all truth. The Spirit speaks Your words to us and reveals to us what is yet to come (John 16:13). As our triune God, You come to make Your home in everyone who obeys Your Word and the teachings of Christ (John 14:23).

Thought for the Day:

The purpose of God's Spirit within us is to sanctify our carnality, to transform us into the nature of Christ, to guide us into all truth and to comfort us in every affliction.

Sent Forth by the Spirit

God set the earth in motion and created it for human beings to occupy until He comes (Luke 19:13). He has a plan and purpose for all of this. It is not some random explosion of gas, quirk of fate or a trick by the ethereal cosmos. God is gathering to Himself all those who love Him. When Jesus ascended into Heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us (John 14:26, 16:13). As we await Christ’s return, His Spirit leads us to the areas of life where we are needed most (Acts 13:4).

 

God is the Master Architect and He uses us as living stones to build His earthly Temple (1 Peter 2:4-6). He shows us His will for each moment of our day. He may call you to work in a secular job in order to share the Gospel of Christ with those you come in contact with every day; or He may call you to pastor, evangelize, teach, preach or to start churches (1 Corinthians 12:28). He empowers us all to accomplish His purpose for each of our days (Philippians 2:12-13).

 

Some teach that a parked car cannot be steered; so, we need to be moving for the Spirit to direct us. This is false theology. Christ lives in us by His Spirit (Romans 8:9-11). We wait on God’s direction each morning and walk only by His Spirit throughout the day. We live in the moment without regret over the past or fear of the future. This prevents us from functioning by human effort and producing carnal works for God.

 

It is easy to hear God each moment of the day, if we are in constant communication with Him (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Only the heart that is empty of ambition, pride and rebellion can accomplish the works of God. Large, famous and wealthy are not necessarily signs of God’s blessings (Revelation 3:17). God is love; and those who walk in His love by the direction of His Spirit, live in His will and receive His true and eternal blessings (1 John 4:8).

 

Prayer:

Father God, teach us not to live according to the ways of the world, but by the direction of Your Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:12). You save us by the power of the cross, sanctify us by the power of Christ’s blood, and then conform us to the image of Christ by Your Spirit (Romans 8:29). Create a clean heart in us and help us to abide in Christ and to follow Your Spirit’s guidance every moment of every day in which we live on this earth. We look forward to living with You in glory.

 

Thought for the Day:

If God reveals to you that your self-will, self-centeredness, self-exaltation and self-life are controlling you, do not be afraid to completely surrender to God’s Spirit, because He will conform you to the image of Christ.

 

Living in the Will of God

Read: Proverbs 3:5-6

“In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”

- 1 Thessalonians 5:18

It is important to live our life in the will of God. Jesus said, “Those who do the will of my Father are my brothers, sisters and mother” (Mark 3: 33-35; Matthew 12:50). Therefore, not everyone who claims to be a Christian will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of God (Matthew 7:21). The prerequisite for living in the will of God is to have a personal relationship with Him (John 14:6; 1Timothy 2:4). The initial step of living in the will of God is to look to Jesus and believe that He is God who came in the flesh to give us eternal life (John 6:40). God desires that everyone will come to a saving knowledge of His Truth and to live with Him for eternity (1 Timothy 2:4).

As a Believer, we are gradually conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, in holiness and sanctification. We slowly receive the heart of God, the obedience of Christ and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:29; 1 Thessalonians 4: 2-4). It is exciting to know that the Holy Spirit intercedes for God’s children according to the will of God (Romans 8:27). Paul exhorts us to give ourselves first to the Lord and then to the will of God (2 Corinthians 8:5-6). Through the discipline of attending weekly Bible studies and having daily personal times in Bible reading and meditation, we see how Biblical characters learned to walk in the will of God.

Jesus is our supreme illustration of one who lived totally in the will of God. He also only acted and spoke as the Father directed Him (John 5:19). He walked in obedience all the way to Calvary’s cross (Hebrews 5:8). He gave us examples of times of undistracted and concentrated fervent prayer, which will open our ears to hear God’s direction for our day (Matthew 11:15). God wants us to pray with a grateful heart as we intercede and make requests for all people, especially for those in high governmental positions. This allows us to live peaceful, godly, dignified and quiet lives in every way (1 Timothy 2:1-3).

We can request that other Believers pray with us too for a particular decision or situation (Romans 15:30-33). There were many times when the Apostle Paul desired with all of his heart to go visit his fellow Believers, and he asked them to pray about it with him. God did not always open this door for him, however (Romans 1; 9-11). Paul often suffered for doing good deeds, because he obeyed the will of God (1 Peter 3:17), but this never deterred him from obedience. Paul even tells us to obey our employers and political leaders who have rule over us, because we are bondservants of Christ. Through this, we do the will of God and render service to God, even though we are obeying a person (Ephesians 6:5-7; 1 Peter 2:13-16).

As we live in the will of God we learn to discern whether some teaching we hear or read is Biblically based or derived from false doctrine (John 7:17). We have no desire to conform to the image of the carnal world, but to be transformed by renewing our mind until we live in the good, acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). God’s will for us is to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, to give thanks even in our negative circumstances as well as for us not to quench the movement of the Holy Spirit within us by doing evil deeds (1 Thessalonians 5 16-19).

 

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You only did what You saw our Father do (John 5:19). If You, being God, had to consult our Father in prayer, how can we do any less? You did not make a move outside of the will of God, and neither should we. Instead, we rush around life accomplishing our own will and heaping up for ourselves treasures on earth instead of in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). Teach us to do only Your will moment by moment throughout the day.

Thought for the Day:

If we abide in the will of God, we will live forever with Him in eternity.
- 1 John 2:17