The Breaking Point

 

People often think that the life we know is better than the life we do not know. That is why women stay in abusive marriages and continue to suffer the torment. They believe they do not deserve better.

When we come to Christ, He humbles us; yet He gives us His holy boldness. We start to realize that we are not defective; and that in Him, we are "enough".

Christ in us transforms us into all that He intends for us to be. We no longer need to strive for perfection, because God's Spirit within us changes us from one stage of holiness to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18).

We find our true identity and fulfillment in Christ alone (Colossians 3:3-4, 2:9-10; Philippians 1:13-2:16). We are adopted as God's children, conformed to Christ's image and co-heirs with Christ of God's Kingdom.

Most of us need a breaking point in our life in order to step over the line from self-effort to Christ-reliance. The trials, which God allows in our life, are designed to bring us to the end of our self.

My breaking point was when the love of my life decided that there was no option for us, but divorce. I had no job, no alimony and no foreseeable future.

In this bewildering new world, my only option was to rely totally on God for each moment of my day. As I did, I entered a deeper relationship with our Lord; one that I continue to this day.

As I listened to His Spirit within, He led me to get a job at a Montessori school where my training and relationships taught me to nurture my own soul.

He also gave me two other jobs, so I could pay my bills and save for a rainy day. Eventually, in His perfect way and timing, He brought a nurturing, appreciative husband into my life as well, and restored my ministry as a Pastor's wife.

Prayer:

Father God, You brought me to the place in my life where I stopped trying and gave up. I cast all of my cares on You, because I had no doubt that You cared for me. You taught me that Your Spirit will put us in the right place at the right time, if we will listen to that still, small voice within us (1 Kings 19:11-13).

Remind us that the sooner we stop trying, and enter into Your rest, the sooner our life will hold unspeakable joy, even in the midst of sorrows. Your Spirit leads us to be productive for Your Kingdom; and in the process, all of our needs are met.

Thought for the Day:

As we totally surrender our heart to God in prayer, we give Him our weaknesses and failings - even the sins we commit in secret. We no longer live in shame, but in the fearless confidence and identity of Christ in us.

- Job 11:13-15; 1 John 1:9; Colossians 1:27

Many thanks to Matt Milligan for his photo.

The Soul's Rest

In the Old Testament, Believers worshipped in temples of stone and mortar. Their contact with God was from the first five books of our Bible. Today, God dwells in us, not in temples made with human hands (Romans 10:9). In the New Testament, we have 66 books of God’s Word to encourage and instruct us, along with God’s Spirit within us.

Jesus is the chief cornerstone on which all of us, as “living stones” in His Temple, are centered (1 Peter 2:4-6). We have a deepening understanding of the reality of Christ who dwells in us (Colossians 1:27). This reality changes our outlook on life and affects our body, soul and spirit. We enter God’s rest forever (Hebrews 4:9-10).

God rested after He created the universe. Jesus rested after carrying the burden of our sin to the cross. Now, we can rest from serving God through compulsion. Instead, we serve Him from a place of love. The doorway to this rest is through total surrender to God’s will and to Christ in us, which is our hope of living in glory both now and in eternity (Colossians 1:27).

Our humanity is dead and we are a new creation with Christ living in and through us. We decrease so that He can increase (John 3:30). We cease from our human striving and follow God’s Spirit through every moment of every day (Galatians 5:16-25). Our ultimate rest will be when we leave this sin-cursed world behind and live instead in the Kingdom of Heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8).

Until then we dwell in Christ, as Christ abides in us. We die with Christ and He raises us to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). We live by the faith of the Son of God, who loves us and gave Himself for us (Ephesians 5:2). We seek His will and He directs our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). The peace of God rules in our hearts (Colossians 3:15; Philippians 4:7).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us not to strive in our life, but to submit our will to Yours each and every day. Help us to accomplish the works, which You prepared for us to do before we were ever born (Ephesians 2:10). Bring people our way to whom we can share Your love and give us the boldness to proclaim to them Your truth.

Thought for the Day:

Yoke up with Jesus and find rest for your soul. – Matthew 11:29

A Place of Rest for Our Soul

In the Old Testament, Believers worshipped in temples of stone and mortar. Their contact with God was from the first few books of our Bible. It is different today. We have 66 books of God’s Word to encourage and instruct us. God dwells within us in a personal, intimate relationship, not in temples made with human hands (Romans 10:9).

We are God’s “living stones”, and Jesus is the chief cornerstone on which we are centered (1 Peter 2:4-6). As God’s Temple, we have a deepening understanding of the reality of what it means for Christ to abide in us (Colossians 1:27). This truth changes our outlook on life and affects our body, soul and spirit. We enter God’s rest forever (Hebrews 4:9-10).

God rested after He created the universe. Jesus rested after carrying the burden of our sin to the cross. Now, we can rest from serving God from compulsion and serve Him from a place of love instead. The doorway to this rest is through total surrender to God’s will and to Christ in us, which is our hope of living in glory now and in eternity.

Our humanity is dead and we are a new creation with Christ living in and through us (Galatians 2:20). We decrease daily, so that He can increase (John 3:30). We cease from our human striving and follow God’s Spirit through every moment of every day (Galatians 5:16-25). However, our ultimate rest will be when we leave this sin-cursed world behind and live instead in the presence of God in glory (2 Corinthians 5:8).

Until then, we dwell in Christ as Christ abides in us. We die to sin with Christ and He raises us to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). Living by the faith of the Son of God, we enjoy His love and redemption (Ephesians 5:2). He directs our paths, as we seek Him in everything we think, say and do (Proverbs 3:5-6). The peace of God rules in our hearts, dispelling all of our doubt and fears (Colossians 3:15; Philippians 4:7).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us not to strive in life, but to submit our will to Yours each and every day. Help us to accomplish the works, which You prepared for us to do before we were ever born (Ephesians 2:10). Bring people our way to whom we can share Your love and give us the boldness to proclaim Your truth to them.

Thought for the Day:

Yoke up with Jesus and find rest for your soul. – Matthew 11:29

Praying up a Storm

 

If we allow our thoughts to randomly flit through our mind, we run the chance of making decisions that do not honor God and that will tend to bring us hardship and shame. Satan and God both influenced our thoughts (1 Timothy 4:1). Our thoughts, even our subconscious thoughts that we are not aware of at the time, influence our feelings. Our heart is deceitful and wicked, and we should submit both our thoughts and our emotions to God at all times (Jeremiah 17:9). We can control our thoughts by using them to pray each moment of the day. We control our emotions by sharing them honestly and kindly before they build up and explode.

We start in a place of aloneness (all-one-ness) with God. God has the perfect formula for prayer. Vain repetition in prayer does not honor God nor does it help us in any way (Matthew 6:7). Quoting scripture to God in an attempt to force His hand to provide what we want is useless and insulting to Him. We can use Bible verses in our prayers, but not to twist God’s arm to do our will. Sit in a very still and quiet place with your journal. Submit all of your thoughts and emotions to the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:5).

As you do, jot them down in your journal. You can even write out your prayers in your journal. Pray for everyone the Lord brings to your mind, issues in your life about which you need His wisdom, besetting sins that trouble you, negative emotions that crowd out His joy in your life, world news, unreached people groups, the persecuted church, government officials, etc. Whatever the Spirit brings to your mind. Another way to pray is when you see someone who reminds you of someone you know, pray for that person you see, as well as the person you know.

When you hear an emergency vehicle siren, pray for the people impacted by that emergency: for God to meet their needs and to reveal Himself to them. As you travel in the car, pray for the people with Christian symbols or bumper stickers on their car; if they are bold enough to display their faith, they could use your prayers. When someone dials the wrong number and they get you instead, tell them the reason they called is for you to tell them that God loves them and has a perfect plan for their life. Then, pray for that person as the Lord brings them to your mind.

We do not pray in order to force God’s hand to do our will, but we follow Jesus’ example and pray according to His will (Luke 22:42). As we seek God’s will, our thoughts and heart become one with His. We are dead and our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3-4). It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. We do not have to summon our faith, because we are filled with the faith of the Son of God (Galatians 2:20). Obedience to God’s will is the common denominator of all people of faith in the Bible. Their example gives us a peek into the life of people of prayer.

Prayer:

Father God, we all long to hear Your voice. You are our Abba Father and You desire nothing more than to commune with Your Body each moment of our day. Remind us to listen more and to talk less throughout the day; so that we can be led by Your Spirit to accomplish the works, which You prepared for us even before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 2:9-10). Help us to discern Your Spirit from the voice of the flesh, the world and Satan, which all try to negatively influence our thinking and behavior. As we read Your living Word, allow the verses to penetrate our heart and to sanctify our soul (Hebrews 4:12).

Thought for the Day:

We have confidence that God hears us in our prayers when we ask according to His will. - 1 John 5:14-15

Power in His Blood

Our blood carries oxygen and nutrients to every cell in our body. If the body is deprived of blood, it dies physically. Without the shed blood of Jesus, we would never receive forgiveness for our sins (Hebrews 9:22). Anyone who refuses to believe in the sanctifying work of Jesus’ blood dies spiritually. Jesus’ finished work on Calvary provided us with a multitude of blessings that we often overlook or fail to value. It also cleanses us from all unrighteousness and fights the infection of sin that tries to infiltrate our spirit. His life is in the power of His blood (Leviticus 17:11).

We can apply the blood of Christ to our life in the same way that the Israelites applied the blood to their doorposts on the night the death angel passed over Egypt (Exodus 12:22-23). This is where the Feast of the Passover came from. This was a foreshadow of what Christ did for us on the cross. For Salvation, we believe with our heart and we confess with our mouth that Jesus died to pay the penalty of our sins and that He is now our Risen Lord (Romans 10:10). Without Christ shedding His blood, we would have no forgiveness for our sins and no spiritual life in us (Hebrews 9:22; John 6:53).

The blood of Christ allows God to draw close to us and us to Him (Ephesians 2:13). The blood cleanses our evil conscience from sin and gives us access to the Holy of Holies (Hebrews 9:14; 1 John 1:7). Jesus shed His blood for us as part of the New Testament relationship between God and mankind (Luke 22:20; Matthew 26:28). He did for us what the High Priests did for Israel when they sacrificed the blood of animals according to the Old Testament law (Exodus 12:22).

Jesus bore our sins in His body on Calvary. This allows us to die to sin and live in His righteousness. We are made holy by the blood of Christ. His wounds heal us in body, soul and spirit (Hebrews 13:12; 1 Peter 2:24). We now have the power to overcome the devil and his works (Revelation 12:11).

God does not judge us by looking at our human effort, our degree of morality or our religious activity. He forgives us only because we accept the sacrifice Christ made for us on the Cross (Leviticus 17:11; Matthew 26:28). If we say we have no sin, we are lying to our self. However, if we confess our sins, God faithfully and justly forgives us and allows us to walk in His light (1 John 1:7-9).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for dying the grievous death on Calvary’s cross to pay the penalty of our sins. Your blood brings us healing (Isaiah 53:5), protection for our family (Exodus 12:13) and blessings to our children (Job 1:5). Thank You for redeeming us and protecting us from the schemes of the devil. Help us to live our life worthy of your calling upon it (Ephesians 4:1). We praise You now and for eternity for who You are and because of everything You do for us.

Thought for the Day:

By the blood of Jesus, we have boldness to enter the Holy of Holies. - Hebrews 10:19