The Greatest Gift of All

 

 

When we judge our self according to the scale, which the world uses to measure popularity and success, we may come up lacking. Life seems unfair, because other people have greater advantages than we do when we consider the temporal blessing they may receive. Yet, no matter how many possession we acquire, they never satisfy us.

Spiritually, the children of God have the richest of all blessings. We have Christ in us, who is both our hope and our greatest gift (Colossians 1:27). God is the hope of all people, from the ends of the earth and to the farthest seas (Psalm 65:6). He gives us more than this world could ever offer us (Psalm77:11-15). He gives us Himself (Psalm 89:1-2, 5-8).

We may fear giving up control of our life to God, because He may require things from us, which would further tarnish our earthly popularity and reputation. However, if we actually gain our personal identity and status for success from Christ in us, rather from our personal talents and achievements, we realize that our real worth is based on the love of Christ (John 3:16-17; Romans 8:35-39).

God’s greatest gift to us is His sacrifice of His own Son (Revelation 13:8). Jesus paid the price of our redemption and freed us from a worthless life of sin, giving us His free gift of salvation (Romans 6:23; Psalm 2:4). Those who dwell in the shelter of the Most High God will rest in Him. He is our refuge and our strength in whom we can always trust (Psalm 91:1-2).

Prayer:

Father God, because we love You, You will deliver us. You protect us as we acknowledge You. You answer us when we call on You. You deliver us from trouble and honor us. You satisfy us with a long life of salvation (Psalm 91:14-16). We give You thanks for Your loving kindness, which endures forever. Your unfailing love produces wonderful blessings for us. You satisfy our thirsty soul and You fill our hungry soul with many good things (Psalm 107:1, 8-9).

Thought for the Day:

God gives us the greatest gifts of all; never forget His benefits and bless His holy name. – Psalm 103:1

Redemption

 

Jesus Christ lived on this earth for 33 years and gave up his life to die on Calvary's tree to redeem us from the penalty of sin, which is eternity in hell (1 Peter 2:24). Now, because of Christ's sacrifice for us, we are redeemed and acceptable to God and have peace with God (Romans 5:1). Jesus also provided us with God's grace, so that we can stand through our trials and rejoice in the hope of living in the glory of the Lord (Romans 5:2).

If we suffer according to God's will, we can follow Jesus' example and entrust our soul to our faithful God (1 Peter 4:19). If we are called according to God's purpose and live a life in love with Him, we are blessed beyond our wildest dreams (Romans 8:28). He gives us His faith to believe for things we cannot even see (Hebrews 11:1).

While we live on this earth, we gain courage as we walk in faith (2 Corinthians 5:6-7). We forget the past and look forward to the future as we walk in holiness and relish, by faith, the fact that we will attain the rewards, which God has in store for us through Jesus (Isaiah 43:18; Philippians 3:13-14). We function in the power of Christ in us to move mountains as we live by His faith (Mark 11:23).

God's love allows us to carry on through everything, which comes our way, to believe in His Word and to hope in His enduring promises (1 Corinthians 13:7). God dwells with us. We are His children and He is our God. He wipes away our tears and gives us joy instead of mourning. He redeems our past and gives us a thriving life on this earth and a future with Him in eternity (Revelation 21:3-4).

Prayer:

Father God, we try to avoid suffering at all costs, even though we live in a broken world full of tattered and trodden people. We fear death and tremble at the thought of our life being reduced to a pile of ashes. Remind us of the privilege You give us to live as Your child. Please call those we love to come to a life of advantage and blessings right along with us. Help us to sacrifice our life for others as Jesus did for us.

Thought for the Day:

Put the past behind you and live in Christ's redemption now and always.

In the Presence of Our Master

God is a kind and gentle Master who loves us enough to take on the form of a human being and pay the penalty of our sins. He blesses our family, our place of employment and our church for our sake. He bestows favor on our soul and gives us peace and joy as He showers us with His love and care. He always returns to us, in abundance, anything we surrender to His safe keeping.

God is willing to bestow all of His blessings on the totally surrendered soul. He even orchestrates the negative aspects in our life to bring us advantages, which we would never have without going through these inconvenient circumstances. With our life in God’s capable hands, we have no need for even an ounce of anxiety about any part of our life. Every trial brings us a blessing.

As we trust God for everything we need, He will give us peaceful rest and multiple advantages. We will live in contentment and fulfillment because we will lack for no good thing; and we will have an abundance of physical, financial, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits (Psalm 103:2). God will even provide more than we need, so that we can bless others.

We start each day in the presence of our Master and we serve Him in the areas, which He provides for us each moment of the day. We give Jesus total possession of our life, including our thoughts, attitudes and emotions. We relinquish every negative aspect to Him and we accept the fruit of His Spirit in their place. God will use us in proportion to what we surrender to Him each day.

Prayer:

Father God, with each new day we put our family, home, job, friends, church, vehicle, possessions and aspirations in Your capable hands. We know that You have our best interest in Your heart and that You will work out everything for our benefit (Romans 8:28). There is a seed for a miracle in the midst of every trial and tribulation. We look forward to seeing You reveal Your handiwork on our behalf.

Thought for the Day:

By walking in His Spirit each moment of the day, we stop attempting to rely on self-effort and self-confidence to meet our needs, and we rely totally on God instead. – Romans 5:15-25

Compromise with the World

 

Secular society has no idea of the advantages God gives us when we live our life dedicated to Him (1 Corinthians 2:14). The only way they have of seeing Christ is when He is consistently manifested through our life (John 14:19). If we claim the name of Christ and live in compromise with the world, we actually cast a shadow over authentic Christianity. It is only when the walking dead see an uncompromising difference in us that they see the reality of a life in Christ. They come to a crossroads where they will either accept Christ, or reject Him yet again as they continue to walk in the darkness of Satan’s defeat.

The spiritual life is far richer than the carnal life (Romans 8:6-11). We maintain our spiritual life in Christ as we fellowship with Him in prayer, in His Word and in His suffering. We walk in His faith through prayer, we learn His character through His Word and we come to know Him intimately through His suffering. He is the biographer and the fulfiller of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Our whole life is based on our trust in Him (Romans 1:17). He is our confidence, our expectancy and our fulfillment (2 Corinthians 3:4).

Through Christ, we are reborn by the Spirit of God and have everlasting life through faith in God’s faithfulness (John 3:8, 17:3). The Spiritual life not only drenches our spirit with the indwelling Spirit of God, it also infiltrates our soul – our mind, will and emotions - through sanctification. Whoever is born of the flesh is flesh, but whomever is born of the Spirit of God is Spirit (John 3:6). Christ is our very life and He works in us through His indwelling Spirit (Colossians 3:4).

The mind controlled by the Spirit of God is full of life and peace (Romans 8:6). The emotions controlled by the Spirit of God mirror His spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). The choices controlled by the Spirit of God come from justice and holiness and reap righteousness (Proverbs 14:27). We shall never thirst, because His river of living water flows through us and out into the world around us (John 7:38). The soul possessed by the Spirit of God blossoms as a rose in the desert (Isaiah 35:1).

We, who are born of God, partake in the divine nature of God through Christ who dwells within us (2 Peter 1:4). We possess the fullest measure of Christ within us (Colossians 2:9; Ephesians 3:19). Since Jesus lives within us, we can face tomorrow with hope in our heart and joy in our soul (Jeremiah 29:11). He helps us never to compromise with the world. We will never experience the second death; because at salvation, we moved instantaneously from the earthly realm into the heavenly one.

Prayer:

Father God, while we live on this earth, You will cover us with Your feathers and under Your wings we trust that nothing will come against us that can ever irreversibly harm us. You are our shield to protect us from Satan’s arrows that fly by day; and his plagues, which come in the night; and his destructiveness, which comes at noon. Even if thousands fall all around us, we shall still stand because Your protection hold us up in Your hand (Psalm 91). Remind us that a spiritual mind is much more precious to You and to us than a fleshly one.

Thought for the Day:

A carnal mind is worse than a body containing a spirit, which dead in sin, because it limits God’s divine power from working in and through us.