Our Patched​ Humanity

Through a lifetime of fighting the circumstances, which life deals out to us, we are so encumbered by bandages that it is hard to function. Our body and soul often end up bruised, broken, patched up and in the hospital - on crutches, just to traverse our day. Our spirit is already dead in sin, and no help to us at all (Ephesians 2:1).

Once we come to Christ through salvation, He heals us from the inside out. Our works of righteousness have no influence over God's love for us or our eternal standing; but they are very necessary for our wedding garment as the Bride to our Savior, King Jesus (Revelation 19:8).

We start to focus more on the spiritual, eternal aspects of life rather than the humanistic, temporal issues. Life is no longer about us; but Christ is now our whole life (Colossians 3:3-4).

Even when our faith wanes, He helps our unbelief (Mark 9:24). Our spirit is perfect; but our soul - our thoughts, choices and feelings - is still in the process of healing and maturing in His faith within us (Galatians 2:20).

God elevates us as His adopted children and we no longer depend on our self (Ephesians 1:5). We turn our faith toward Christ and we live by the direction of His Spirit. His peace floods our soul and our pent-up anger dissolves (Isaiah 26:3).

God's Spirit conforms us to the mind of Christ and transforms our nature to Christ's divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). He exchanges our human weaknesses with God's strength; so we can do all things through Christ's presence within us (2 Corinthians 13:4; Philippians 4:13).

Prayer:

Father God, often when we pray, our mind is full of what we did and did not say or do. We cannot get in touch with our true needs, because we are not listening to our own soul. We are not listening to Your Spirit either, who wants to pray and function through us.

Yet, as we spend our time in complete and anxious-free prayers of praise, we learn to live unencumbered by things of this earth. We enter into a life of praising and worshipping our living Lord. As we trust in You alone, You make all things work together for our good (Romans 8:28). Our faith is built and strengthened as we see Your faithfulness in our life.

Thought for the Day:
Journaling our thoughts, feelings and prayers allows us to empty our soul from its load of cares and concerns; when we look back over what we wrote and the prayers of our year, we see God's hand, working in the details our life.

Divine Appointments

 

 

God is very involved in our life. We do not always recognize His participation, because we think we are the ones earning the blessings, which He freely showers on us each and every day.

Divine appointments and interventions occur moment by moment. His angels protect us and His Spirit directs us to safely progress from one event to the next.

We rarely give God the glory and we often take the credit for how smoothly our life is running. He not only introduces the events of our life, but He also coordinates the timing and circumstances surrounding them.

He leads us and other people involved with us to say and do the right thing at the exact time and way in which we or they needed His divine intervention the most.

If we practice sitting still and quiet in His presence (Psalm 46:10), we will know with more assurance that He is God; and we would see His involvement in our life, which would build our faith in His faithfulness, love and care for us (1 Kings 19:11-13).

During times of companionable silence, God communicates with us in His still, small voice that penetrates our awareness deep within us. Silence truly is golden and more productive than the stress of worldly demands, negative self-talk and destructive friendships and activities (Psalm 46:10).

Prayer:

Father God, we desire above all else to walk in Your Spirit and to do only those works which come from Your heart. Do not allow our thoughts, words and actions to grieve Your Spirit, but give us words of life that make a difference in another's life.

All of our good works are nothing more than dirty rags if they are not done by Your Spirit's direction (Isaiah 64:6). It is only what we accomplish by Your Spirit that lasts into eternity. Rise up in us and accomplish Your will in and through us (Acts 14:1). We give You all the credit for the fruit of our life and we praise You for your strength, which is our joy.

Thought for the Day:

The whisper of God teaches us to listen more, to limit our actions and to wait on Him rather than to race ahead of His Spirit's promptings; rather than jumping into stressful activities to which He is not calling us, we truly listen and do only those activities in which He call us to participate.

Authentic Worshipers

God is looking for authentic worshipers who will live for Him by His Spirit and in His Truth (John 4:23). He wants to raise up an army united in Christ, not a bunch of Lone Rangers doing their own thing.

As we allow the nature of Christ in us to infiltrate every area of our life, we decrease so that He may increase (John 3:30). We serve God by His Spirit moving within us and through us (Philippians 2:12-13; Act 17:28).

When we come to truly understand that we are dead, and that our life is now hidden with Christ in God, we live in God’s power, which works in and through us (Colossians 3:3; Galatians 2:20).

God will use our body, soul and spirit by His Spirit to work in the lives of people we encounter each day. He will give us His words to speak to them that we cannot possibly know in our human capacity.

This opens doors for us to witness to people and to bring Christ into their life, so that He can change their heart, lives and circumstances for their good.

We put no confidence in our fleshly abilities; and we do not boast in our own accomplishments, because we achieve all things through Christ in us (Philippians 3:3; 2:12-13).

Sinful mankind, who are lost in pride, arrogance and the exploitation of others, consider their own needs more frequently than anyone else’s (Romans 12:3). However, God brings everyone down to the same level through the grave (Isaiah 14:15).

Our eternal destination is determined by our earthly beliefs. If we live for self, we reap corruption; if we live for Christ, we reap eternal life and serve God as Authentic Believers (John 3:16-18).

Prayer:

Father God, it is not difficult to sustain a constant relationship with You as our living Lord. Every moment of our day is authentic worship to You. Living with honor and respect for You gives us a secure life with protection from lasting harm (Proverbs 19:23). Even negative circumstances turn around for our good (Romans 8:28).

You give us everything we need to live in contentment through a genuine Godly life (1 Timothy 6:6). You are our strength and shield. We trust in You with all of our heart. You fill our soul so full of joy that we spontaneously burst forth into songs of praise and thanksgiving to You (Psalm 28:7).

Thought for the Day:
Christ in us gives us joy in tribulation (Romans 5:3), hope in devastating trials and loss (Romans 15:13), and a bright vision for our future (Jeremiah 29:11).

Faithful God in Negative Circumstances

 

Negative emotions are God's red flags to alert us to some negative aspect in our life. Maybe we failed to obey the Lord and are now reaping the consequences of living outside of His will.

Possibly, we neglected our own needs or are taking things that other people say or do too personally. There may be an unresolved conflict in our soul that is piggy backing on some current event.

Pray about the negative emotion. What are the words in your mind associated with that feeling? These are clues to the source of the problem. Then ask God to reveal His truth about the situation.

We may have erected an idol in our life and God is using the circumstances to dethrone it from its position. Surrendering the issue to the Lord, who cares about every aspect that affects our body our soul and spirit, will put things into a proper perspective.

As we trust God to work out these issues with His victory, He will give us His peace and joy in the midst of them. We relinquish our will to His and enjoy His many blessings.

God's guidance always brings us inner peace, even if we do not like what we must do. With Christ in us, we experience true contentment all through the day (Philippians 4:12). We give thanks to God, even for the negative aspects we face, knowing that He will work out all of them for our good (1 Thessalonians 5:18; Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Father God, You are our sanctuary and strength, our constant protector and provider, especially in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). Due to Your dynamite power within us, we are no longer slaves to sin, but bond servants of the Living Lord (Romans 6:6; 2 Timothy 2:24).

Those who hurt us will fade like the grass and die away, because we trust in You (Psalm 37:1-5). Your promises protect our life (Psalm 119:50). You keep us in perfect peace as we keep our focus on You regardless of the people and circumstances around us (Isaiah 26:3).

Thought for the Day:

We rejoice in the Lord in the midst of our trials as we trust God’s faithfulness and obey the leading of His Spirit; we relinquish the need for human understanding and we acknowledge and accomplish His will for each moment throughout the day. - James 1:2; Proverbs 3:5-6