Abiding in Christ

 

Salvation comes in stages. If we happily camp around the salvation of our spirit, we miss the glory of the sanctification of our soul. One day we will also experience the glorification of our body when Christ appears for His Saints (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

Once we realize that the divinity of Christ and all of the power of the complete triune Godhead live within every Born Again Believer, a new enthusiasm produces constant praise from our lips to God’s ears (2 Peter 1:3).

We no longer view our self as a grubby worm inching around in the world of selfishness and sin. Instead, we see our self as beautiful butterflies soaring in the Heavenly, spiritual realm of life.

God calls His elect and then reveals Himself to and in us. He has a purpose for each of our lives (Ephesians 1:11). He loves us with His abundant, unfading and everlasting love (Psalm 25:6; Jeremiah 31:3).

We are totally dependent upon Jesus for our direction, health and provision moment by moment throughout the day (Ephesians 1:9; Philippians 2:12-13). Through our connection to the Vine, the life of Christ flows through us by His Spirit and we produce much fruit for the Kingdom of God (John 15:8).

Through our union with Christ, we shed the shackles of our sin nature and submit to the dealings and leadings of God's Spirit in our life (1 Corinthians 1:30). As branches in the Vine of Christ, we experience God as our husbandman.

He prunes the flesh from us so more spiritual fruit may grow (John 15:1, 5). We walk out of the bondage to carnality and into the glorious freedom of the sons of God (Romans 8:21).

Jesus is our center and God is the focus of our life. We seek to do His will in our job, community, church, extended family and home. If we walk in the darkness of self and sin, we stumble and fail in all of our attempts (John 11:10).

As we walk in the light of Christ, we find fulfillment in living out His will for our life (1 John 1:7). God’s wisdom, grace, love and supernatural abilities reside within us in Jesus Christ and are always available to meet all of our needs and to walk in God's will for us (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Prayer:

Father God, as we abide in You throughout the day, Your wisdom, grace, love and peace manifest in our life and out into the world around us. As we abide in You, You provide us with a dedicated life full of the wisdom, strength and Godly conviction, which we need to further Your Kingdom in our world.

We look forward to the day when we can also walk in Your power, so You can make a true difference in others through our life. As we make every effort to walk in peace with You, You renew our soul and make us blameless and spotless at Your coming (2 Peter 3:14). Our perseverance in our walk with You, guarantees that we will not stop short of Your glorious riches, which You prepared for us before time began (Romans 9:23).

Thought for the Day:

Undistracted devotion to God allows us to tap into all of His power and majesty in order to live our life as Elijah, Moses and Enoch did; and we will steadily walk into complete maturity in Christ. - James 1:4

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

No Longer a Sinner - Not Limiting God

God provides us with the desire and the will to bring Him pleasure (Philippians 2:13). He also gives us His Spirit to teach us all things that we need to know for a successful life of Godliness (1 Corinthians 2:12; 2 Peter 1:3).

Without the presence of Christ dwelling within us, we cannot walk in victory over sin, sickness and death. We wallow in our humanity, and limit our spiritual maturity by our lack of comprehension of God's ways.

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). This is as true as the fact that airplanes can overcome the law of gravity and fly suspended in the air.

When Christ moves into our life by His Holy Spirit, changes begin. He sweeps our spirit free of sin and starts His sanctifying work in our soul, as well as maturity in our spirit.

He exchanges our sin for His righteousness and He replaces our carnality with the fruit of His Spirit. He gives us His gifts to allow us to function in His Body for the growth of the Kingdom of God.

When the love we feel for our fellow mankind springs from our love for God and His affection for us, it is more committed, merciful, gracious, empathetic and unconditional.

The deepest aspect of our relationship with God is when we come to intimately know Him as the one true Father of compassion, the God of all comfort. We fall on our face and worship Him from the depths of our heart.

God calls for us to realize that, moment by moment throughout the day, He wants to live His life through Christ in us and to accomplish greater works on this earth for His glory (2 Corinthians 1:3; John 17:3).

Prayer:

Father God, we want to daily contemplate Your goodness, majesty, power, mercy, love, wisdom, justice and sovereignty. You call us to walk in a different dimension than unsaved humanity. Remind us to keep our values and purpose centered on Your Kingdom.

You supply us with the spiritual resources to perform supernatural feats as we interact in our daily activities with family, church, work and community. You made Jesus the first fruit of Your Sons, and all of creation is eagerly waiting for our final manifestation (Romans 8:19).

Thought for the Day:

When we surrender our life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ we enter the realm of abundant life, which He promises.

- John 10:10