We Will See Jesus - Part 3

 

 

God speaks to us in so many ways: His quiet voice, a thought from a friend, a verse from His Word, a song or a sermon, the numbers on the clock, a particular bird, a butterfly, a blooming flower, etc.

He knows exactly how to show His love to each one of us. Jesus is God and a part of the Trinity (John 8:58). He did not steal equality with God (Philippians 2:6). He is an integral part of the great I AM (John 8:24).

The Godhead is eternally present with us all. As Believers, His presences is within us and is our guarantee of experiencing the glory of our Lord (Colossians 1:27). Our life, past and present and future, belongs to Him.

God pardons our yesterdays and gives us hope for our tomorrows. He encourages us to ask for whatever we need through the authority of His name, and He will provide it for us (Matthew 7:7).

God does this in order to insure our joy now and throughout eternity (John 16:24). He turns our mourning into happiness, our need into abundance, our talents into a ministry and our powerlessness into His anointing (Psalm 30:11-12; 1 Peter 4:10; 1 John 2:27).

Jesus is the Bread of Life, who satisfies our longing and fills our hungry soul (John 6: 35; Psalm 107:9). He is the exact representation of the Godhead, purifies us from our sins, sits at the right hand of God and sustains all things by His powerful word (Hebrews 1:3).

Prayer:

Father God, You are our peace, and You have broken down every wall, which prevents us from seeing Jesus (Judges 6:24; Ephesians 2:14). You are our rock of refuge, fortress of safety, deliverer from sin and shield from fear and our salvation, when we have no other (Psalm 18:2).

Jesus is the brightness of Your coming and the express image of Your person (2 Thessalonians 2:8; Hebrews 1:3). We want nothing more than to see Jesus arise and shine within us as we reflect His glory (Isaiah 60:1-22; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

Thought for the Day:

Once we truly see Jesus, we do not desire anything this world has to offer. He is enough, and He satisfies the longing of our soul (Psalm 107:9). He is our life, and He is all we need (Colossians 3:4; Philippians 4:19).

Struggling with Our Faith - Part 1

When we struggle with our faith in God, it does not happen because Jesus is inadequate evidence for our conviction. Jesus is actually the very foundation of our Christian faith. 

Other religions diminish His importance in human history and call Him a good teacher, but refuse to give Him the elevated status as Emmanuel – God with us in the flesh (1 John 2:23).

The facts surrounding His miracles are proof enough that He is who He claimed to be. However, when we add His resurrection from the dead and His appearing to people for 40 days before His ascension (Acts 1:3; Luke 24:50-53), we have to conclude that He is God.

Christianity recognizes Jesus in His rightful place for all time. Jesus existed before He was born as a baby on the earth (John 8:58). He is the physical manifestation of God in human form (John 14:9).

If we take Jesus’ words for who He was, we have to believe that He is God. He actually told people that He came from above and that He is not from this world (John 8:23, 17:16). He shared in our Father’s glory prior to his short human existence (John 6:62, 17:5).
 

Prayer:

Father God, teach us to discern the voice of Your Spirit within us, so we can avoid living according to the dictates of our flesh or the devil. We revel in both the glory and humility of Christ who abides within us (John 14:6). We want to follow His example and live in the center of Your will, rather than according to our human desires and impulses.

Thought for the Day:

Jesus existed as God prior to His advent on this earth; yet, He humbled Himself as a servant and a sacrifice for our sins. - Philippians 2:6-8

Spiritual Growth

Read: Matthew 20:1-15

“And he personally bore our sins in his own body on the cross, so that we might be dead to sin and be alive to all that is good.” - 1 Peter 2:24

There comes a time in everyone’s life when we come to a crisis point. We are at a crossroads and we have a decision to make. We can either remain with the crowd traversing the wide road, or proceed along the narrow road instead. We have a choice to lay down our life and to take up the life of Christ, or to reject the Son of God and to continue on in our sin and misery. The tragedy is that if we choose to maintain control over our own life rather than surrendering it to Jesus, we will eventually lose our life for eternity.

Salvation includes two steps: 1.) Believing that Jesus is God who came in the flesh. 2.) Repenting of our sins, which means surrendering our life to Christ. Surrender is the part of salvation that most people ignore. You see, at the moment of salvation, your spirit, which was once dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) is now alive in Christ. It is no longer us, but Christ living in us (Galatians 2:20). Our true life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Once we are saved from sin and eternity separated from God, the process of sanctification begins. God’s Spirit rids our soul of carnality and replaces it with holiness. This takes a lifetime, but it is a daily process. We are rewarded in heaven for our holiness here on earth; plus, we are so much healthier and happier in this life, without the consequences of those sins ruining our life.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus die daily to our carnal, fleshly nature with all of its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24)  As far as God is concerned, our old life is already dead. Now, Christ is the center of our new life. We live each day without participating in our former behavior with our old, carnal friends; and we have nothing to do with any moral perversion or sin of any kind. We take off the old nature and put on the new Christ-like nature just like we change our clothes at the start of each new day.

We now consider ourselves dead to sin of any type and alive in God through Christ (Romans 6:11). As we grow in Christ, sinful behavior no longer appeals to us. Sin and its lust have no power to deceive us any longer. We have no desire to allow our body to be used for sinful purposes. Instead, we put our lives in God’s hands for Him to use for His purpose (Romans 6:11-14). We now live productive lives for God. We are not bound to the letter of the traditions of the law, but we are free to serve God in the Spirit of truth and righteousness (Romans 7:4-6). God has no desire for us to be just good enough. If we cooperate with Him, He will make it perfect.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help us to take up our cross daily and to crucify the flesh, even though this is the hardest thing we ever have to do with our life (Matthew 16: 24-26). To die to self, when everything in us is crying out to live life in our own way, is impossible to do in our own strength. We know You do not want to torment us, but to kill us…and our old, sinful nature. You are not happy with half-hearted devotion from us. You want all of us and You give us all of You in its place.

Thought for the Day:

God is not just interested in rewiring us or replacing our plumbing, but in making us into a completely new temple in which He can dwell.