Emerging from the Chrysalis

 

(Please, read “Flexing our Wings” from my previous post first.)

Union with Christ Series: “We are dead, and our life is hidden with Christ in God.” - Colossians 3:3

The emergence of the caterpillar from the chrysalis as a butterfly holds many correlations to our own emergence from carnality to spirituality. Since we are used to crawling around in the earthly realm of life through our own efforts, we hesitate to trust our self to God’s leading and guidance in this new spiritual kingdom. We are afraid to take flight and to rely on His Spirit. We struggle with the concept of letting go of the control over our life. We falter in our decision to totally trust our life to the mercies of God.

We continue to attempt to maintain control over many areas of our existence, until the circumstances of life come crashing down around us. In utter defeat, we let go and completely surrender our will to the Spirit of God. As we see the light of God’s grace, we feel drawn to respond to His invitation to finally die to our carnal self and to experience a totally new life in Him (1 Peter 2:24; Galatians 5:16). We slowly recognize our self as a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). In our success as surrendered Saints of God, we face the world from a new perspective.

We hear the testimony of other people who took this leap of faith. They were blown by God’s Spirit into the realm of the Heavenlies, which most people only glimpse from the earthly realm. They tell us that the only way to fully live is to completely die to our own desires, ambitions and goals, and to hide our life with Christ in God (Luke 9:23; Colossians 3:3). When we follow their lead, we suddenly feel the urge to spread our wings and to trust our self to the winds of the Spirit. We look forward to total freedom in Christ. Soon we flap our wings and take off into the unknown.

Prior to Salvation, we lived as exemplary children of Satan. He used our body and soul to express his nature and agenda in this world. Our spirit was dead in Adam’s sin (Ephesians 2:1). Now that we came to faith in Christ, Jesus uses our body, soul and Born Again spirit to accomplish God’s work in the earth. We drift on the currents of the Spirit and experience a totally new relationship with our God and the world around us. We look down into the realm of self-centered flesh, where we once squirmed like a worm, and we are amazed at our former foolishness.

We stop resisting the desires that God places in our heart, and we soar into spiritual heights that we never imagined existed. We forsake our carnal striving to keep the Law, which was once such a precious shelter for us. We commit to live a surrendered life to the will of God. We count our self dead to sin, and alive to God in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:11-12). We leave the world of stress and struggle forever, because this world no longer matters to us. We have an eternal perspective now that turns our former worries and stress into petty concerns.

We can hold a funeral for our flesh and celebrate our new life in Christ. Old Testament Joseph is a good example to us. He was his father’s favorite son, only to be sold by his brothers. He was used as a slave and worked his way up to a high position of authority, only to be sent to prison because of a lie. He was given authority in prison and interpreted dreams for his inmates, only to be forgotten when they were released. Joseph had plenty of opportunities to learn contentment, as Paul did, whether he was exalted or struck down (Philippians 4:11-13).

Joseph, Paul and a host of Saints before us give us an example of how to die to the desires of our flesh and to accept with joy the path God chooses for our life. They learned Godly contentment (1 Timothy 6:6-8). God flooded their life with His peace, which surpasses human understanding (Philippians 4:7). He gives us joy in the face of debilitating circumstances. We still have times that overwhelm our soul with mourning, even Jesus felt this way (Mark 14:34). However, we trust in God’s faithfulness, knowing He will work everything out for our good (Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Father God, as we rest in our confidence in Your faithfulness, we enter into Your eternal rest (Hebrews 4:11). We cease from our striving in this life. We rest in the assurance that You are changing us from glory to glory. We trust You to faithfully fulfill the promises of Your Word. We determine to live and move only under the direction of Your Spirit moment by moment throughout the day.

Thought for the Day:

The mystery of the gospel of grace is Christ living in us, reflecting the glory of God in our lives and His joy in our hearts, regardless of our circumstances.
- Colossians 1:27



Thank you, Mike, for the use of your lovely photo.
https://www.facebook.com/MegaPixelMike

What Happened to My Joy?

Read: Philippians 3

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” - John 17:3

The Biblical book of Philippians teaches us so much about joy. Paul even exhorts us to rejoice in our tribulation; however, how can any human be expected to express happiness over negative events in our life? It is contrary to our nature. It is much more natural to complain. Well, I have come to understand one principle about this subject, which I believe Paul learned as well. The circumstances will be there whether we rejoice or not. Therefore, a spoonful of joy makes the medicine go down so much easier!

There are many joy-robbers in our lives. Legalism is one of them. Legalism is the practice of substituting rules and regulations for our relationship to Christ. It switches our focus from God’s work in us to our work for God. In Philippians 3, Paul rebuked the Judaizers. These people practiced legalism and tried to steal the joy from Believers by keeping their focus on external holiness rather than internal holiness. God wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24), not by striving to please him by man-made standards. The Bible is our standard for faith and practice.

We also lose our joy if we do not keep our priorities in perspective. We allow issues that really do not matter to take our focus off the things that mean the most. We let the good things become the enemy of the best things in life. We make mountains out of molehills. The number one reason people lose their joy is that they get too involved in activities that are really not that important. They confuse their priorities. Then the stress in their life robs them of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health.

Shame from Satan over the sin in our life is another feature that derails the train of our life. He gets us bound up in condemnation over our thoughts, words and actions. The cure for this murderer of our joy is to confess our sins to God and to repentant of the behavior that caused them. Repent means to stop sinning by surrendering our will to God’s will. Repentance gives us a clear conscience, which helps to restore our joy. The battle against the flesh is very intense at times, but God is sanctifying our soul and the desires of our flesh daily as we submit to Him.

Worry is another major thief of our joy. If Satan can bind us with worry, he keeps us from trusting in the Lord. The remedy for this sin is to cast all our cares upon God, because He truly cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Once worry is gone, faith restores our joy. The Serenity Prayer is a wonderful guide to get rid of worry. If you can do something about the situation, do it. If you cannot change it, allow God to change your focus and attitude about it to one of acceptance with joy (James 1:12). Acceptance allows us to move forward with our life and to trust God to work everything out for our good (Romans 8:28).

Frustration and discouragement come from a lack of proper focus on life and they quickly quench our joy. We humans take life too seriously. There is only one thing necessary for us each day: to seek God’s will, which will give us an eternal mindset rather than a worldly, temporal outlook. If you keep the Kingdom of God and eternity in Heaven as your focus, then everything else in life takes a back seat and loses its importance. As we follow the leading of God’s Spirit moment by moment throughout the day, we have His peace and joy, which combat the disappointments of life and the distress that accompanies them. When God answers our prayers, our joy is then complete (John 16:24).

Lasting joy comes from increasingly knowing Christ better (Philippians 3:10). All relationships are built on trust. God wants us to learn to trust Him. He will allow many types of problems in our life, in order to teach us that He is reliable all of the time. We lose our joy the moment we stop growing and trusting. Once we start living in continual obedience to His commandments, we have confidence that we truly know God (1 John 2:3).

In the Old Testament, “Yada” is a Hebrew word meaning "to know intimately by experience", as in the relationship between a husband and wife (Genesis 4:1, 17, 25). This concept is equally as true in the New Testament. The Greek word “gnosis” is the linguistic counterpart of the Hebrew word “Yada”. We only feel true and lasting joy as we intimately and experientially know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He sent (John 17:3). When God answers our prayers, our joy is complete (John 16:24). Never stop trusting God, growing spiritually and developing your relationship with Christ, so that your joy will remain full (John 15:11).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, spending time with You in prayer, reading Your Word and worshipping and fellowshipping with other Christians helps us to get to know You better. However, we have to spend time alone with You to attain the intimacy You desire with us. Remind us to take time to not only talk, but also to listen to You as You speak to us. Through our intimate relationship with You, You remove all the negative thoughts and emotions from our lives. As we keep our focus on Your proper perspective, our joy is full of Your glory, and it actually defies description (1 Peter 1:8). 

Thought for the Day:

When we attempt to live life in our own power, rather than by relying on God, we immediately lose our joy.





Thank you, David Bowman, for the use of your picture.