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.

No Longer a Sinner - God's Seed in Us

In reality, nothing good comes from our flesh. It is only Christ in us who works in and through us to produce lasting fruit (Romans 7:18; Philippians 2:12-13). The roots of the Spirit ground us and the Vine provides for us.

As Born Again Believers, we are born of God and partakers of the divine nature of Christ (2 Peter 1:4). When Christ dwells in us, He gives us the power to conquer temptation and sin (1 Corinthians 10:13).

We do not continue in a lifestyle of sin, because His seed remains in us (1 John 3:9). His Spirit empowers us and makes us more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). We are conduits for His work through our life.

Sin no longer controls us because His Spirit dwells within us and conforms us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 6:18). Christ sets us free from the law of sin and death (John 8:36; Romans 8:1-2).

Therefore, we grieve the heart of God when we wallow in sin and give in to temptation and the flesh. We deny His power within us and we give Satan the attention that God deserves.

We waste our lives and fail to live up to God's best for us. When we take the wide road to destruction, we end up with little to show for a lifetime of living. We reap few rewards in heaven, because we rarely served Him with our life.

Yet, if we walk in His will each moment of the day, we accomplish His work in the earth and make a lasting contribution to His Kingdom. We reap rewards for each act of obedience and earn crowns that we can cast at Jesus' feet (Revelation 4:10-11).

We cast our crowns, because we realize that we do not deserve them. Everything we accomplish on the earth is the result of His Spirit's work in and through us, and we have no bragging rights (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for Your Spirit who calls to our spirit and empowers us to walk in Your will each day of our life (Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 2:12-13). Help us to walk in Your Spirit so we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:15-25). The more our carnality decreases, the more You encompass our life. We walk in increasing increments of spirituality, and sin no longer tempts us. We have no desire for this world's enticements.

You provide for our every need abundantly more than we even expect, and we give You all the praise and glory for every good thing in our life (James 1:17). We spend our days singing praises to You as we go about meeting only Your expectations in our life. As we listen to Your Spirit, You always work out everything for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).

Thought for the Day:

If we keep living a lifestyle of sin without conviction and repentance, this is proof that we are not born of God; we remain in the flesh and our spirit is still dead in sin; once we know God, His sanctifying power causes us to gradually lose our desire to keep on sinning. 

- Ephesians 2:1; 1 John 2:29, 3:6

No Longer a Sinner - Predestined to be Conformed

God predestined those He foreknew to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). He will present us to Himself as His glorious Bride, the Church without spot or wrinkle, glorious and blameless through Christ in us (Ephesians 5:27).

The process of conforming us to Christ's image is what most people shy away from in their journey of surrendering to God. We fear the pain of being molded or that God will send us to some unfavorable place on the earth to serve in His Kingdom.

At first, what we do not realize is that He is molding us into His grace by His mercy and love. If we completely submit to His ministry in our life, this is painless and even joyful (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Once we gain experience in the molding process, we stop fearing the unknown and embrace it with faith. We experience the glory of His transfiguration in us and are stunned by the splendor of His majesty (John 14:3, 17:24).

As the elect of God and the Body of Christ, we willingly surrender to Christ, our Head, in the process of election and sanctification. We gradually conform to the image of God, which Adam enjoyed in the Garden (Genesis 1:26-27, 5:3; 1 Corinthians 15:49).

He gives us His fruit and His gifts in order to take our place as healthy, viable members of His family. His spiritual life flows through our spirit and enables us to function in His calling for our life.

According to His eternal promises, He replaces our human nature with Christ's divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). He creates us as a new creature in Christ for good works (Ephesians 2:10) and gives us His power as His glorious Body (Philippians 3:21).

Prayer:

Father God, we look forward to seeing Christ as He is and being made in His likeness (1 John 3:2). Thank You for Your holy Word, which does not leave us clueless on this earth, but which reveals to us everything we need to see and know to live godly in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:12). Carry us through any suffering and persecution, and strengthen us in every tribulation, which we experience for Your righteousness sake (Matthew 5:10-12; John 15:18-27; Philippians 3:10).

When we suffer with Christ, we will also be gloried with Him in the day of our resurrection (Romans 8:17) and share in Your Kingdom as co-heirs of all that is Yours. Hasten the day of Your coming and take us to live with You in Your holy City of New Jerusalem.

Thought for the Day:
When Christ, who is our life, appears, we will also be revealed in all of His glory. - Colossians 3:4