Open Doors

Human beings often fear the unknown, resist change and grieve our losses longer than is healthy for our soul. This causes unnecessary stress to ravage our body and soul.

As authentic Born Again Believers, we can prevent this by trusting completely in God's goodness and grace. When He closes one door in our life, it is to open another door.

He may allow us to lose a job, mate, child, friend, church family, home, part of our body, etc in order to open new doors for us.

God also closes doors to protect us. The timing, people involved, location and details are not conducive to this new venue He planned for us, so God will close those doors.

When we end one chapter of our life, we start a new one, full of possibilities and every bit as fulfilling as the former chapter. If we maintain an open mind, God will continue to bless us.

No matter where we are, who we are with, or what circumstances He brings to us, we can still walk in God's Spirit and allow Christ in us to live through us (Galatians 2:20, 5:15-25; Colossians 3:3-4).

Supernatural direction, peace and joy sustain, strengthen and equip us for the Kingdom work ahead of us. God's Spirit and Son within us are our everlasting companions.

Prayer:

Father God, make us conscious of Your hand in our life. Help us not to mourn the closed doors for very long before we change our focus to the new and living way You have prepared for us.

We trust in You to care for all of our needs and to direct our every step through this new life where You called us to live. Open our eyes and ears to see and hear what Your Spirit is directing us to do, and use us for Your glory.

Thought for the Day:

The new door, which God opens, may be different than we are used to, strange and unfamiliar, but with Christ in us, we will continue to walk in God's perfect peace and joy.

The Divine Nature

God calls each one of us to be holy, because He is holy (1 Peter 1:16). As we face our flesh with each new morning, this appears to be a daunting task. Our temptations and carnal desires sometimes get the best of us.

I hear Christians saying that it is too hard to be holy, and that Jesus had an advantage over us. This is true according to humanistic thinking, but not according to Biblical principles.

Jesus was half God and half man, since God's Spirit conceived Him in Mary's womb (Luke 1:35). He was filled with God's Spirit each moment of the day. When his human flesh was tempted, He had the God half to keep him perfect.

We have the same opportunity to walk in holiness. When we come to Christ, His Spirit moves right in. Our body is His temple and He fills us through all of our being with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16-19).

Satan's temptations cause us to sin and to live apart from God. The price of sin is degradation and loss. Pleasure for a moment reaps for us shame and often deplorable living conditions.

However, God gives us a way to escape every temptation, which we will ever experience (1 Corinthians 10:13). As we submit to Christ in us, and walk by His Spirit's direction, we will not fulfill the lusts of our flesh (Galatians 5:16).

The entire power of the Godhead, the Trinity, dwells within us (Colossians 2:9). We are free from the power of sin, and we are made to walk in new life through Christ in us (Romans 6:6-8).

Christ in us is our eternal hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Although our body is still perishing due to Adam's sin, God's Spirit in us gives us both life and righteousness (Romans 8:10).

God strengthens us with His power through His Spirit in our soul and spirit (Ephesians 3:16). Our hope in Him is the firm and secure anchor of our soul (Hebrews 6:19).

Prayer:

Father God, thank You that Christ exchanges His holiness for our sinfulness (2 Corinthians 5:21). Remind us that our witness for You depends on our righteous walk in this world. Non-Christians watch us, even when we do not realize it. Our attitude each day, and even during trials, will speak more to them than all the words we could ever preach to them.

As Your Body, the people who work in children's ministry will impact the children in their sphere of influence; and then, these children will affect the lives of countless people during their lifetime, because of Christ in us. Even as we minister to adults, we help them to grow in their devotion to and knowledge of You. Helps us to be holy, even as You are Holy.

Thought for the Day:

As our soul yearns for God in the night, our spirit within us diligently seeks Him; and when His judgments come upon the earth, all of the inhabitants of the world learn to walk in righteousness. - Isaiah 26:9

Love In Marriage

Marriage is defined as a union of two individuals. God phrases it as two becoming one. This means that we no longer strive to please our self, but to submit to one another as joint heirs to the Kingdom of God (1 Peter 3:7). We no longer promote our own agenda, but meld our ideas to formulate a new way of life, which meets both of our needs.

When one person in the couple gives more than the other person, there is an inequity in both power and fulfillment. This imbalance will throw off the symmetry of the relationship and fuel negative emotions, which destroy intimacy. If undetected or not dealt with, these feelings will erode even the best of relationships.

In a Godly marriage, both partners build up one another up in love (1 Thessalonians 5:11), bear with one another (Ephesians 4:2), help to carry each other's burdens (Colossians 3:13), edify each other rather than to criticize or tear one another down (Ephesians 4:29) and find God's will for your marriage by praying together and seeking the Holy Spirit's direction (Jude 1:20).

We all need praise, affirmation, love, appreciation and support. No one likes to be taken for granted, discounted or neglected. We often get too focused on work, children, church activities and community involvement and end up disregarding our mate and family. This is as much of a betrayal as infidelity. Make your mate a priority, second only to God. Spend time as a family and bond with love for a lifetime.

Prayer:

Father God, You knew us and had every day of our life planned out before we were ever born (Psalm 139:16). You gave woman to man as a helpmate. Teach us to value each other's opinions, because there are many bad decisions, which could have been avoided if a couple discussed and prayed about it prior to carrying it out. Help us to avoid blaming and criticizing and to accept one another, even with all of our idiosyncrasies.

Thought for the Day:

Financial, mental, emotional, physical and spiritual fidelity is the key to marital success.

Scattered Leaves

Last week, I watched my neighbor rake the scattered leaves into mounds around his yard and then bag them. The next morning a new carpet of leaves coated his grass. Enthusiastically, he cleared the yard again. Yet, the following morning the same sight greeted my eyes with the dawning light!

I do not know how he had the joy and energy to repeat this process for an entire fall. I get tired of dealing with life's little repetitive problems, especially when the same problems persist endlessly. I do not mind the new challenges, which I face with the dawn of each morning; but the petty, mindless issues wear my patience thin!

We often put our self in situations outside of the will of God for our life. We rush headlong into the circumstance without one prayer. At other times, God Himself sends scattered trials, to remind us to depend on Him. Once the situation resolves, we often realize that the trials were seeds for a miracle, which worked out for our good (Romans 8:28).

Hindsight teaches us that many, various experiences are a needful part of God’s plan and purpose for our life. God also teaches us patience, which He uses to perfect us (James 1:4). In the midst of our complaining, the Lord reminds us that we shall reap, if we do not get weary while we do good in His name and by His Spirit's direction.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that if we were to stop “raking” the “yard”, which You give us, the new “green sprouts” beneath the “leaves” would die and fail to germinate in the “spring.” The "leaves" of circumstances would hinder the new growth in our spirit and soul from sprouting and reaching the life-giving Son they need for nourishment.

         Lord, if we continue to trust You through the mundane issues we face each and every day, we will eventually see the fruit of our labors. Then, when we reach eternity we will hear You say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Thought for the Day:

Life flows more smoothly when we give thanks to God in everything, because we serve at our King's pleasure.

Connecting with God

People often wonder why God will not answer their prayers. They accuse Him of not caring about them (1 Peter 5:7). It could be that we do not have a personal relationship with Him and He does not know us (Matthew 7:21-23). Sin may be blocking God from hearing our words or tainting the message of our prayer. Possibly, we do not spend enough time listening in order to hear His voice.

God answers our prayers with a "yes", "no", or "wait". Our Father knows the end from the beginning and knows what is best for us (Isaiah 46:10). He is not spiteful or vindictive. He does not punish us. He will discipline His children; but though He wounds, He always heals (Job 5:18). He will also heal our land, if His Saints will humble themselves and pray (2 Chronicles 7:14; Ezekiel 22:30).

A lack of a personal relationship with God (John 3:18), sinful behavior or a hectic lifestyle with little prayer and devotion hinder our ability to connect with God (Isaiah 59:2). Only repentance cleanses us as we confess our failings (Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:1-2). With intimate times of prayer, we have more power to stand against spiritual warfare, trials and temptations (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

King David realized that God did not want sacrifice from us as much as He wanted obedience and devotion (Hebrews 10:8-9). God would rather have us praying than working for Him without His Spirit's direction. He created works for us to do, but we will only know what they are as we pray (Ephesians 2:10). God's truest desire is that we love Him with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength (Luke 10:27).

Prayer:

Father God, we ask You to fill us with a deep desire and hunger to know You more and to connect with You through our prayer life and Bible study. Our heart thirsts after You, like the deer pants for water (Psalm 42:1). Fill us with Your Holy Spirit every day and cause us to hear Your loving kindness each new morning (Ephesians 5:18-19; Psalm 143:8). Teach us to use Your Word to pray effectual prayers.

Thought for the Day:

If we remain connected to God, we will bear fruit for His Kingdom; but apart from Him, we can do nothing. - John 15:5-8

The Blessing of Difficulties

  

 

 

We often fear that facing our past will cause us more suffering. We imagine that we will experience all that pain all over again. We are already tormented from the damage done to us by other people, even if they did it unknowingly or could not help how they acted because of pain in their life. The truth, however, is that facing the past frees us to face the future. We encounter God in the midst of the memories, and He reveals His truth to us. This always trumps Satan’s lies, which otherwise keep us in bondage to him our whole life.

We also fear facing the current problems in our life. We want to ignore them or pretend that they do not really exist, so we do not have to deal with them. Have we made faulty decisions? Hung around with the wrong crowd? Is someone perpetrating his or her evil on us? Again, God’s faith, resident within us, gives us the power to deal with these issues as they arise. A young, Jewish boy faced the mighty Philistine with these astute words, “The battle is the Lord’s” (1 Samuel 17:47).

It is God’s anointing and power working in and through us that result in our victories in this world. When we see the mighty hand of God evident in our life on our behalf, this gives us glorious joy beyond words (1 Peter 1:8). Even when we are personally violated, God brings glorious freedom to Believers through forgiveness, empathy and second chances. We learn to trust God to turn around even the most negative issue for our good (Romans 8:28).

As we seek God’s deliverance from the issues, we learn that His grace sufficiently empowers us in our weakest moments, even if He chooses not to deliver us from the problem itself (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). We can glory in our imperfections and weakness, because that is when God’s power is manifested in and through us. We find our joy in His love rather than in our circumstances. Human joy depends on life’s situations, but God’s joy is our strength regardless of the circumstances.

We are happy just because of His presence in our life. We choose our emotions and our responses to them because Christ lives in us with all the power of the triune Godhead. We persevere in prayer and accept God’s answer, even if He says, “No” or “Wait.” We can also follow God’s Spirit in responding to the problems in other people’s lives. We do not have to rescue or enable anyone. We can help them, but only when the Holy Spirit tells us to do so.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that Satan uses our thoughts as His battleground against Your Spirit. He attempts to persuade us to curse you and die (Job 2:9). As we surrender every thought to Christ and walk in obedience to Your Spirit’s direction, we live a positive, productive life regardless of our circumstances (2 Corinthians 10:5). We shine with Your love and live as a testimony of Your mercy and grace in our life.

Thought for the Day:

Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
– Galatians 5:16, 25