Wisdom from Above

We often lack wisdom and understanding in this life. It may come from a lack of training at home, a genetic deficiency, a sheltered life or a poor education.

We are not prepared to face the constant adversity and challenges of daily living. God promises to give us the wisdom we need, if we simply ask (James 1:5).

His wisdom is well beyond our years and also comes from senior Saints who experienced more of God and life's complications than we have. We only need to listen to their advice rather than thinking we know better than they do.

Basically, most humans are self-confident fools and pseudo-intellectuals who lack basic understanding (Isaiah 32:1-6). However, as we rely on God for wisdom, we end up speaking the inspiration provided by His Spirit.

We utter truth and refrain from saying curse words and making foolish remarks from confused thinking. Our thoughts and words are righteous; and there is no guile of lies from the devil mixed up in them.

Those who have a heart after God see the wisdom in our thoughts and words and agree with us. Only those with the eyes of their understanding clouded by sin refuse to see the spiritual insight in what we say and do.

They live in their own world of deception and believe in the lies fed to them by the "guru's" of this world (2 Peter 3:14-18). They judge our wisdom from above as crooked, perverse and contrary to their truth.

Yet, whoever comes to Christ finds true wisdom and priceless treasure beyond their wildest imagination; finds favor with the highly exalted King of all kings; and prospers in all of his/her ways (Psalm 119:1-2, 128:1-2; Luke 11:28).

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for teaching us Your Truth and leading us on the paths of spiritual understanding. They are more costly than silver and more precious than gold. They are more beautiful than rubies and pearls and are more desirable than what the world we live in considers as valuable (Job 28:15; Psalm 19:10, 119:127).

You teach us knowledge, prudence and discretion and give us Your power (James 1:5). We abide in our worship of You and we hate evil; we walk away from pride and arrogance with perverted thoughts, desires, words and actions (Romans 13:1; Daniel 2:21). We remain in You and walk in Your ways all the days of our life.

Thought for the Day:

God loves those who love Him, seek His wisdom and dedicate their every waking moment to His service, regardless of our secular training or vocation. 

- 1 Samuel 2:30; John 14:21; James 1:5

United with Christ - A Healthy Spirit-filled Life

 

As Born Again Believers, we are filled throughout our entire body, soul and spirit with all of God’s fullness. We possess the richest measure of His divine presence within us and we are wholly filled and flooded to overflowing with God Himself (Ephesians 3:16-19, Amplified Bible).

We are united with Christ in the very spiritual fiber of our being (Hebrews 4:12). He provides us with everything we need to live a healthy, Spirit-filled life.

Then, His Spirit infiltrates the joints of our soul – our thoughts, choices and emotions - to operate on our carnality while He plants His fruit within us (Hebrews 4:12).

Paul counted all of his worldly possessions and gain as lost when compared to the joy of his salvation and the riches he received from intimately knowing Christ (Philippians 3:7-11).

God gives this same resurrection life to lost sinners who humble themselves and surrender their life to Him (John 19:10-11). We are liberated from living in this earthly realm, even though we physically continue to dwell here (Galatians 2:20).

In this same way, we detach from our connection to this world, even the good parts of life, which hinder our walk with God, such as extended family, houses and lands – in order to obtain the better blessings provided for us by Christ in us (Luke 14:23-33; Philippians 3:10).

We realize that even the worst of adversity in our life ultimately comes from God to perfect our soul and to provide for us everything that we need to live Godly in Christ Jesus (Hebrews 11:32-34; Job 1:8, 2:3).

Prayer:

Father God, we knock on doors and invite our neighbors to church. We pray for them and for everyone You bring to our mind. We listen to Your Spirit and obey His promptings throughout our day. We shed Your light within us for all the world around us to see, so they may live with us in eternity as the redeemed of the Lord (Psalm 107:2).

You bore our sins in Your body on the cross; so that we too can die to sin and live righteously and victoriously, just as You did (1 Peter 2:24). You take priority in our heart over all other aspects of life (1 Corinthians 9:22). We give You all the praise and glory and honor due Your name (Psalm 96:8).

Thought for the Day:

God elected us as His holy and saintly priests, because we are His special possession created to declare His praises to a lost and dying world around us. - 1 Peter 2:9

God's Kingdom Within Us

God gives us His salvation, so that we might share in His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Before we came to Christ, our spirit was dead in our sins, but Jesus delivered us from eternal damnation in hell (Ephesians 2:5).

He provides pardon for our sins, comfort in our affliction, strength to overcome adversity, the promise of a glorious resurrection, and life everlasting with Christ and all of the Saints.

Jesus spoke the words of God so that we can obey them and believe that God sent Him (John 17:8). When we choose to love Christ and to keep His statutes, He comes to make His home in us (John 14:23).

In our union with Jesus, we live in His divine nature and His divine nature lives in and through us (2 Peter 1:4). Since Christ dwells in our spirit, we become one Spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17).

Through His divine power, God gave us everything we need to live a godly life (2 Peter 1:3). Although we live physically in this earthly realm, the reality of our life is that we live in the Kingdom of God (Luke 17:21).

We no longer view our life from a temporal standpoint, but from an eternal perspective. We live as partakers of Christ’s holiness as He puts His mind within us (Hebrews 12:10; 1 Corinthians 2:16).

The Father is in Jesus, Jesus is in the Father and we are in Jesus; therefore we are also in union with the Father (John 14:20-23, 17:21-23). The best part about life is that God loves us and shows Himself to us (John 14:21).

Prayer:

Father God, our attitudes about life and eternity change once we come to Christ in salvation. You created our new self to exist with the purity and holiness of Christ (Ephesians 4:23-24). Each day we come a little closer to complete unity in the faith and in our knowledge of Jesus, which will also eventually bring us to the full stature of the maturity of Christ in us (Ephesians 4:13).

Because of Your promises, we look forward to Your new heaven and new earth where righteousness dwells forever (2 Peter 3:13). We long for the day when there is no more sighing or suffering, where complete unity occurs between nature and mankind, and where Your Body is ready, willing and able to serve You.

Thought for the Day:

Just as Jesus was fully human with God’s divine nature fully abiding in and through Him, we are fully human with Christ’s divine nature fully abiding in and through us.