Clinging to God

We tend to cling to God more during trials than when things are running smoothly. God uses the negative aspects of life to strengthen our soul, to increase our spiritual vision and to give us His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

As we take the focus of life off our self and place it on Christ in us, we are much less earthly minded and much more spiritually minded. God's influence increases in us as we decrease and get out of His way (John 3:30).

God replaces the negative character traits of our personality with the fruit of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). We are no longer self-reliant, but we depend on the Holy Spirit to direct our steps.

We learn to depend on God instead of our human understanding and reasoning. People will fail us, but God never leaves or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5). He never changes and He is always reliable (Hebrews 13:8).

Pursuing peace, which the world gives, is elusive and fleeting. Only peace found in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ is deep and dependable (John 14:27).

There is no requirement in order to form this personal relationship. We simply sit at His feet (Luke 10:42). We abide, motionless and clearing our mind and heart of clutter.

We give Him praise and glory for all He does for us each day. We pour out our gratitude to Him for His benevolence, grace and love.

Prayer:

Father God, let us follow the example of the psalmist and sing of Your excellent love and impartiality (Psalm 89:1), Your power (Psalm 59:16) and Your goodness (Psalm 100:5). As we give You a more intimate place in our heart and life, we gain more intimacy with You.

Remind us to have fun as Your child and to enjoy spending time with You. Our soul thirsts for You, our Living God (Psalm 42:2). Our flesh cries out for You and we attentively seek You (Psalm 63:1). You are so real to us that we can almost taste and see that You are good (Psalm 34:8). We love you with our whole heart.

Thought for the Day:

We can chat with God throughout our day even about the mundane issues we are facing or the most boring of chores or responsibilities; we ask His advice about hurdles we encounter, the best way to perform a task and for wisdom about issues with our personal relationships.

From Turmoil to Transformation

Read: Leviticus 20:7-8

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” - Romans 15:13

 

When I started my quest for intimacy with God, I had so much turmoil within me and around me that I could not hear the Spirit of God. Clutter held my spirit and soul in bondage. I had to learn to regulate my thoughts and emotions, to journal the inner clutter until I could hear from God. I also had to totally surrender my spirit to the Spirit of God.

We receive the Holy Spirit into our lives when we receive Jesus as our Savior. Romans 8:9 makes it clear that if we do not have the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us, then we are not God’s child! The peace and joy of the Holy Spirit sustains us through adversity and increases our natural and spiritual blessings. Isaiah 55:12 promises, “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

Have you ever really thought about what it means to have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling you? You have all of the power of the entire Godhead residing within your spirit. Every attribute that is in God the Father and Jesus the Son reside in us through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is also our Comforter (John 14:26), our Guide (Galatians 5:16), and our ever-present Helper in time of need (Psalm 46:1). No matter what circumstance we face, the Holy Spirit within us has the power to meet it victoriously. However, a problem occurs when we do not take the time to listen to Him!  

As Christians, we have two sets of ears. First, we have our physical ears, which we can train to hear much more than the surface sounds in the immediate area around us. We can learn to hear the ticking of the clock in a crowded room, the chirping of a bird amidst the roar of a waterfall, the buzzing of a bee over the whir of a lawn mower. Train your physical ears to hear and enjoy every sound around you in God’s glorious world.

The most important ears we train, however, are our inner spiritual ears. The Gospels and Revelation are full of verses that speak mysteries from God, and are accompanied by a verse like the one in Matthew 11:15, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” In this verse, God is not referring to our physical ears. He is referring to our spiritual, inner ears.

Have you ever taken the time to listen to the Holy Spirit within you with your spiritual ears? Take a few moments right now and concentrate on the fact that the Holy Spirit lives within you. Go to a quiet place, fold your hands, close your eyes, and bow your head. Focus your entire physical and spiritual attention on the Holy Spirit within you. Listen with your inner spiritual ears. Go ahead! Sit quietly and listen. Do not stop before You hear from Him….give it some time.

Did you hear Him speak, or are your thoughts too cluttered with the natural cares of this world? I can totally relate, because mine were too. I also had to learn the discipline of having a place for everything I owned and keeping everything in its place. This cut down on the amount of clutter in and around me. If I did not have a place to put it, I did not buy it! It also made cleaning simple, since there was a shelf, drawer or closet to put everything that was out of place at the moment.

Make some time in your schedule to clean up the outer clutter in your life. Then make a habit of sitting quietly with your notebook. Begin writing out everything that comes to your mind. Keep writing until you are empty of all the peripheral clutter and negative thoughts and attitudes in your soul. Let the Holy Spirit transform your thoughts to those of Christ (Romans 12:2). Let His mind be in you (Philippians 2:5-11). Then, start listening to the Holy Spirit within you and doing His will for your life. You will never regret it.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, my life is so full of clutter…inner and outer clutter. Help me to simplify my life until every moment is filled only with Your will for me. Give me the strength to cut out all the sins in my life and to live a holy life as You command (1 Peter 1:16). Help me to walk away from shopaholic sprees and to buy only that which will fit in one of my closets, drawers or shelves. Then, help me to keep everything in its place. This way I can walk in inner and outer peace and more readily hear Your Spirit directing me throughout my day. 

Thought for the Day:

God’s presence in our life makes everything more intensely beautiful.

 

We Make The Difference

Read: Luke 10:38-42

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” - 1 Corinthians 10:31-32

The facts of creation prove to me that God intended for us to live in paradise. He wants an intimate relationship with each one of us. Instead of receiving His gift, mankind chose to exalt himself as equal to God and we ended up in this pain-filled world. There is good news, however. God’s Spirit within us makes this life not only bearable, but also victorious (Isaiah 41:10).

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit are gifts from the Lord that we can enjoy every day of our lives (1 Corinthians 13:14). We only need to accept God’s complete forgiveness and to surrender our will to His in order to make a lasting difference in our life and in the world around us.

In Luke 10:18-42, Mary realized this truth and she relinquished her need to control her environment and chose instead to sit at Jesus feet. Martha, on the other hand, assumed the leadership role in order to impress Jesus with her self-efforts. She ended up with bitterness and anger eating at her soul. Attempting to maintain control often causes mental breakdowns and emotional wounds.

Intimacy with God is available to every Believer. He longs for our fellowship (1 Corinthians 1:9). We only need to take the time to meet with Him in absolute quietness (Psalm 46:10), waiting and listening, getting to know Him intimately and experiencing first hand the width and length and height and depth of His love  (Ephesians 3:18). Tranquility of body, soul and spirit is the key to attaining this union with God.

Your flesh, the world and the devil will raise roadblocks to keep you from spending this quality time. As we simplify our lives, however, and walk in the Spirit, we end up doing only those activities, which the Holy Spirit leads us to do each moment of the day. This does not mean that we cannot plan ahead, but we follow the Spirit’s leading as we plan.

If we cannot hear from God, negative emotions in our soul, such as anxiety, stress, unforgiveness and anger, are probably the impediment. Negative emotions are our soul’s way of communicating to us that something is out of synchronization within us. If you pay attention to what your body, soul (mind, will and emotions) and spirit are telling you, then you can deal with the root cause. Then the negative emotions will disappear as well.

Another facet, which blocks communication are the lies, which Satan often whispers to us, and which we actually believe. These negative statements cripple us emotionally and limit us from realizing our potential in Christ. Ask God to reveal your negative beliefs and to replace them with His truth. Freed from these unconstructive restraints, we live productive, God blessed days.

Perseverance is the key to finding regular time to spend with God each day and then to guard it, making it a priority in your life.  You can choose morning, afternoon or evening to spend this quality time with Him. It depends upon the other demands in your life. If you force yourself to get up too early in the morning, you may end up resenting this time instead of looking forward to it. You can even spend time with God during your lunch break or while the children nap in the afternoon. This may be the best opportunity for you to focus on God. I love to spend the night watches (Psalm 119:148) with God. The world is quiet all around me and there are no distractions or needs that interrupt my time with the Lord.

It is impossible for God to love you more than He does right now (John 3: 16). He loves you infinitely and He exults over you with joy (Zephaniah 3:17). Your unrighteous behavior will grieve Him (Ephesians 4:30), but that does not alter His unconditional love for you. We cannot earn His love and we cannot earn intimacy with Him either. Both are free gifts from our loving Father (Romans 5:16).

Know without a shadow of a doubt that God wants to spend time with you. In fact, He is prepared to spend eternity with you. The relationship you build with Him here on earth will remain in place forever. You may think that you do not have time in your day to develop this intimacy with God. Nevertheless, it is actually all a matter of priorities. We make the difference through our choices. Trim the unnecessary activities in your schedule to free up your resources and to give you time to spend with Jesus, the lover of your soul (John 14:21).

Prayer:

Lord, teach me to adjust my priorities and to eliminate busyness and negative emotions from my life. They needlessly contaminate my thoughts and clutter up my time. Help me to make a difference for You in Your Kingdom on the earth by following the leading of Your Spirit moment by moment throughout the day.

Thought for the Day:

Though many things may seem important, only God’s will is necessary.