Living in Contentment

As we live in the presence of God, and enjoy the still, quiet moments of our devotion time each day, then our schedule, to-do lists and responsibilities fade into the background of our mind.

Cleansing our soul and life, of dead works and all negative emotions, enables us to freely hear God's voice. Unhindered by the destructive influence of the devil's lies, we walk in the Spirit. ( www.theophostic.com )

Continually praising God for His provision in our life teaches us gratitude for what we have, which overshadows our longings for what we do not have. We learn contentment at His feet (Philippians 4:11).

While we praise God for who He is, for His blessings and for His perfect plan for our life, we consult Him throughout our day and hear His will for each moment of our life (Proverbs 3:5-6).

This way, when work deadlines, emotional turmoil in our family, rushed schedules, slander and false accusation, and a lack of fulfillment in our life all upset our sense of stability, we have God's Spirit to return our soul and spirit to peace and rest (Hebrews 10:4).

Once we learn to live in the gratification and fulfillment, which walking in the Spirit afford us, we never go back (Galatians 5:15-25). If life pulls us from the shelter of God's wings, we scurry back under the shadow of our Almighty God (Psalm 91:1,4).

We accomplish more in our day under the instruction of God's Spirit than by the direction of all of our lists, calendar reminders and sticky notes. The light of God's Son brightens each step of our way (John 14:6).

Prayer:

Father God, draw us to Your side and never let us go. Wrap us in Your everlasting arms and help us to experience the contentment of living in Your presence (Deuteronomy 33:27). Lead us to accomplish Your will, rather than our will, for every moment of our day.

Remind us to look for divine appointments to share Your love with people we meet. Help us never to look past someone who may need Your light in their life, simply because we are too busy. Our days are numbered, and we want to live each one of them in the center of Your will (Job 14:5; Psalm 39:4).

Thought for the Day:

As we contentedly dwell in the Kingdom of God and seek His will for each moment of our life, God provides for all of our needs. - Luke 12:31-32

Nothing to Fear

 

God’s faithfulness is our defense and protection (Psalm 91:4). His peace surrounds us with His safety and strength. We come to realize that we are totally dependent upon Him for His goodness and grace. Christ is the head of His Body, the church. Too often, however, we ignore Him and we disobey His Spirit. What we do not realize is that Jesus bought us for a great price and we are no longer our own (1 Corinthians 6:18-19). We neglect our daily devotion and prayer time, and we fail to walk in His Spirit during each moment of our day.

The most wondrous gift God imparts to us is that of His presence within us. During any sinful activity we partake in, we drag Him right through it with us (Proverbs 15:3). Therefore, He calls us to flee immorality and to live a holy life (1 Corinthians 6:18). Let us live in a conscious awareness of His presence in our life and live in submission to Him, so His Spirit may cleanse us from all unholiness (1 John 1:9). We no longer need to live weighted down with the cares of this carnal, earthly world.

As we seek His Kingdom and righteousness, He adds to us everything we need to live a blessed and fulfilled life (Mathew 6:33). God never abandons us nor lets us down (Hebrews 13:5). He provides for all of our needs according to His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19). If the bills are not paid, perhaps we are not spending our money as God desires. Never go into debt, pay as you go. That means that if you do not have the money for something that you want now, save until you do. By then, you may not even want it any longer!

If we are in ill health, maybe we are not eating, exercising and living as He ordains. If we are sad, possibly we are focusing on, and have certain expectations concerning worldly endeavors and relationships, which He has not ordained for us. If we want something we do not possess, God probably does not want us to have it; otherwise, He would provide it! Christ in us is able to use our spirit, soul and body to accomplish every thing He ordained for us to do (Philippians 4:19).

God watches out for all of those who seek His face. Hagar is an example of a woman who prayed in faith and God answered her (Genesis 16:13). Even if we find our self alone in the world, God is always with us, removing our fears and restoring our confidence (Joshua 1:9). Ezekiel is a man who realized this truth and lived it (Ezekiel 48:35). God will provide you with what He knows will bring you fulfillment in His timing and way. His presence is more special than anything this world offers, because His divinity is love personified.

Prayer:

Father God, Your children can do anything You call us to perform, because You live within us and You give us the strength to do Your will (Philippians 4:13). You are with us every step of our life (Matthew 28:20). You tell us not to fear, because You are with us. We have no need to anxiously scrutinize our life, because You are our God and You live in us. You support us, assist us and lift us up in every situation we encounter along the road of our life (Isaiah 41:10). You are with us through whatever we are afraid of...in the airplane and the darkest woods, the elevator and the escalator, the dentist or the surgery room, the classroom and the jail room, etc. just as you were in the fiery furnace with Your faithful young Hebrew men (Daniel 3:24-25).

Thought for the Day:

The child of God has nothing to fear.

It's Not Your Normal Beatitudes

 

Faith and works are opposites. We prove our faith by our works, but we cannot work to build up our faith (James 2:17). Exercising our faith brings us patience, until patience does her work of perfection in us (James 1:3-4). Everything in the spiritual life begins and ends with Christ. He authors as well as completes our faith, because He took our shame and conquered sin death. Now He sits in His rightful place on His throne at the right hand of God (Hebrews 12:2).

We always view the Beatitudes as attributes that Jesus requires of us in order for us to inherit His blessings. We look discouragingly at the long inventory, and abandon any hope of ever reaching such holy heights in spirituality. However, Christ in us turns the remarks of His message into a declaration of His work in our life, rather than an itemized list of accomplishments to which we should aspire (Matthew 5:1-12). Look at the Beatitudes from God’s perspective rather than from ours. 

As long as we live in pride, the eyes of our understanding are glazed over by our arrogance (Ephesians 1:18). We cannot understand God’s Word. Only when Christ reveals to us how poor in spirit we actually are, do we have any hope of inheriting the Kingdom of God. Realizing our depravity, we call on Christ to save us. We mourn our hopelessness and He comforts us with His salvation. Only by admitting our sinful state of corruption may we inherit the earth.

We live our life sanctified by His Spirit, hungering and thirsting after more and more righteousness until He satisfies our longing and fills our famished soul (Psalm 107:9). God shows us His mercy, as we are merciful to fellow sinners, and forgives us as we forgive others (Acts 17:11). When we submit to God, He guarantees that we will see Him, because He cleanses our heart from sin. Due to the work of Christ in our life, the Lord of peace allows His children to act as blessed peacemakers.

Even if we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, Christ in us bears the pain and gives us the inheritance of His Kingdom as our own. Faith connects us to the reality of God’s Spirit, and His Spirit assures us of His faithfulness. We live by faith in the Son of God, because He loves us and gave Himself as a ransom for our sins (Ephesians 5:2). The Kingdom of Heaven is not about the carnal pursuits of eating and drinking, but about seeking His Spirit’s righteousness, peace and joy (Romans 14:17).

Prayer:

Father God, if our identity is wrapped up in our performance, we are slaves to society. We work our self into a frenzy to acquire success and this world’s goods. We work like slaves to secure a retirement that may never come. We run on a treadmill that leads to an endless road of hectic activity. As authentic Born Again Christians, You place Your boundless fullness in our human spirit. We ask You to use our body, soul and spirit for Your glory.

Thought for the Day:

It is time to stop taking God’s love for granted (Romans 5:8), and to start loving others with eternal, sacrificial love rather than only through impatient tolerance (John 13:34).

 

A Spiritual Overhaul

We receive Christ as our Savior and Lord, but then we have no idea what to do with Him after that! Paul tells us to walk in Him, to sink our roots into Him and to be built up in Him. In this way, He establishes our faith and we abound in Him (Colossians 2:6-7). This has nothing to do with the exercise of self-discipline (Galatians 3:1-3). It has everything to do with the grace and mercy of God. Our only command is to believe (John 3:16-18). Yet, God even helps us in our unbelief (Mark 9:23-25). We do not deserve Christ, but He loved us even while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8).

There are impediments to our Christian walk. Our guilt, our penchant toward sin, our carnal flesh, our pride and willfulness, our fears and doubts all plague us. They build a wall around our spiritual growth. However, over the years, God slowly cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7-9). He builds our faith by allowing trials in the areas of our deepest fears and insecurities. He whittles away at our pride, and allows us to experience humiliation until we are humbled. We come to realize that we did not earn our salvation and neither can we earn our sanctification (Galatians 3:1-3). God slowly empties us of our self and fills us with all of His fullness (Ephesians 3:19).

Jesus leads us into a walk of intimate fellowship with Himself. He pours His love over us like a waterfall, until we are saturated with His affection and care. He fills us with His joy, holiness and spiritual fruit as we come to a place of abiding in His presence each moment of the day. It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in, through and instead of us (Galatians 2:20). He holds us securely in His everlasting arms. We can depend on Him for all of our needs, even the strength and wisdom to walk in His will moment by moment throughout the day. We walk in confidence in Him as His Spirit directs our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).

If we are in Christ, we lack no good thing (Psalm 34:10). He lives the Christian life through us. Due to His presence, we deny our flesh, obey His Spirit’s direction and study His Word to show our self approved and not ashamed. We realize that nothing is impossible to those who believe in Him (Luke 1:37). Our life depends upon every Word that ensues from His mouth to our ears (Matthew & Luke 4:4). God grafts us into the Vine of Christ, so that we partake of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). As our thoughts permanently dwell on Him, His living Word transforms our life into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). 

Prayer:

Father God, even in our times of remorse and despair, You remind us that we are Your beloved children. You breathe hope, peace and joy into our soul regardless of our circumstances (Jeremiah 29:11). You accomplish Your wondrous work in us and for us, as You work all things out for our good (Romans 8:28). We rejoice in Your divinity within us and we thank You for Your presence forevermore (1 Peter 1:4).

Thought for the Day:

We can thoroughly depend upon Christ to fulfill His promises to us both now on this earth and also in eternity.

 

Thank you, Matt Milligan for the use of your photo.
http://www.mattmilliganphotography.com/

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

A Brand New Life

 

God fashions the hearts of everyone on the planet and He understands all of our desperate attempts to extract meaning out of our daily struggles (Psalm 33:15). God does not judge us like people do. Human beings look at the outward appearance and we form our opinion of people, but the Lord looks at our heart (1 Samuel 16:7). He knows our thoughts and He knew all of our choices before time ever began (2 Timothy 1:9). He also knew whether or not we would strive for holiness and perfection in His sight (Ephesians 1:4).

God knew before the creation of the world if we would accept or reject Christ. He predestined those who accept His Son as their Savior to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). Our salvation does not depend upon our personal works, but on us accepting Christ’s righteousness in place of our sin (Ephesians 2:9-10; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Titus 3:5). He saves us, not because of our goodness or self-effort, but because of His mercy (Ephesians 2:8-10). He saves us by the cleansing of His rebirth and He renews us by His Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).

We are buried with Christ through baptism into His death, so that we can rise from the death caused by our sinful life to a new life in Him (Romans 6:4). We receive the Holy Spirit as the down payment of our inheritance with Christ (Romans 8:17). The Spirit leads us throughout our day in the will of God for our individual life (John 6:63). Now we can draw near to God with a clean heart, full of the assurance, which is given to us by faith. Our conscience is clean and our hearts are renewed (Hebrews 10:22). We are born of God and we overcome the world by our faith in His faithfulness (1 John 5:4).

God’s unfailing love and abundant redemption belong to anyone willing to trust only in Him. Therefore, our whole being waits for the Lord. Our soul – our mind, will and emotions - waits and hopes in His Word. We put our expectation only in Him and not on any person, job, goal or ambition (Psalm 130:5, 7). In the morning we lay our requests before Him and wait expectantly for Him to respond, because we know that He hears our prayers (Psalm 5:3). No matter how long it takes for Him to answer us, we strongly and courageously wait on Him (Psalm 27:14).

Even when He hides His face from us, we wait expectantly for Him to answer us (Isaiah 8:17). He is our only source of salvation. He is our fortress and we cannot be shaken (Psalm 62:2). He strengthens us and our joy is in His great victories on our behalf (Psalm 21:1). Our heart leaps for joy and bursts forth in songs of praise for Him, because we rely only on Him (Psalm 28:7, 59:17). We rest in Him all day long (Psalm 62:5).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, the Israelites drank water from the rock. You are our Rock and You give us living water (1 Corinthians 10:4; John 4:10). Remind us not to forsake Your precepts, because You are our spring of living water. Our broken cisterns cannot hold water, but if we believe in You, then rivers of Your living water will flow from within us (Jeremiah 2:13; John 7:38). As we rest in You and follow the leading of Your Spirit, Whom You gave to us (John 7:39), then we will accomplish all of Your works in the earth (Philippians 2:12-13).

Thought for the Day:

“We will shine like stars in the sky as we hold firmly to the word of life.”
- Philippians 2:12-13

Inadequacies and Failures

Read: 2 Peter 1:5-8

“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” - 2 Peter 1:8

When it was time to make Saul the King of Israel, the prophet had to consult God in order to find him. Saul hid among the baggage because He was riddled with fears due to his insecurities. These inadequacies also caused him to rule ineffectively as the King. Rather than to trust that God had a purpose for him during his reign, he focused on what he considered his lack of abilities and forgot that God ordained him for this position. He ended up consumed with himself, possessed by evil spirits and crippled with depression.

As a young Christian, I did this too. I remembered negative comments made by significant others in my past, and I fell prey to their destructive influence. I allowed my inadequacies and failures to add to my fear and mistrust, and to influence these derisory feelings flooding my soul. Sometimes, because of these negative experiences and beliefs, I even declined the opportunities God gave me to allow Christ to make a difference in someone’s life through me.

Once I started stepping out of my comfort zone and gaining a bit of confidence, my motives in ministry still reflected my need to earn God’s love. I tried to prove to Him that I was worthy of His calling. I relied on my own talents and knowledge to accomplish God’s will in my life. I failed every time too, or I end up only partially accomplishing what God called me to do. In fact, the negative baggage in my life often hindered me from fully seeing the incredible power of Christ in me working through me.

Over the years of walking in His presence, God cleansed me from the effects of this unconstructive criticism and these past failures. Now, when I make the effort to rely on the unlimited power of Christ in me (Galatians 2:20), my success rate increases dramatically. Instead of depending on myself, I can step aside as the Spirit within me directs my words and deeds. I trust Him to work all things out for my good and the good of those to whom I minister. Empowered by His Spirit, I can do all things, because He lives in me (Philippians 4:13).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I thank You for forgiving me when I allowed fear to hinder me from obeying Your will for my life. Thank You for giving me small successes to build up my confidence in Your ability to work through me. Help me to be instant in season and out of season, because the darkness is closing in toward a time when people will no longer endure hearing sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4:2-3).

Thought for the Day:

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. - 2 Peter 1:3