Sweeter than the Day Before

When we put our faith in Jesus as our Savior, we stop living for our self and instead live to serve Him in unity and holiness. He gives us a new life, which is so much better than our loneliness and deprivation.

God's Word urges us to live a holy life worthy of His call on our life (Ephesians 4:1). Jesus sets us free from our former bondage to sin (Romans 6:22) and exhorts us to follow Him and to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29).

We are a new creation and we forsake the meager existence we formerly experienced on this earth (2 Corinthians 5:17). He renews our mind and gives us the mind of Christ, which no longer depends on human reasoning (Romans 12:2).

God fills us with His presence and Spirit and draws us ever closer to His will and ways. He challenges us to give Him our bodies as a living sacrifice, which is holy and pleasing to Him (Romans 12:1).

Daily, we depend on God as we face the obstacles and discouragements of life. We love Him more today than we did the day before. We dedicate to Him our whole heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30).

His Spirit leads and guides us in His will, fills us with His fruit and gives us wisdom to face the questions and perplexities of our day (Galatians 5:22-23).

We take advantage of divine opportunities to share the love of Christ with everyone we meet. We never meet a stranger, but a potential friend and a possible fellow Believer.

We do not shy away from sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others as God gives us opportunities; and they see the joy of the Lord in our life.

Prayer:

Father God, I trust in You, so never let me be put to shame by my relationship with You. Bow down Your ear to hear me, and deliver me in Your righteousness. From eternal damnation You save me.  You are my rock, my fortress and my refuge in which I dwell continually.

Deliver me from the ruthless, wicked, unrighteous people all around me. You are my hope, my trust and my confidence. You are my benefactor since I was 18 and You even knew me when You formed me in my mother's womb. I love and worship You today and always (Psalm 71).

Thought for the Day:

Walking in the center of God's will for us is the happiest place on earth; His love cascades over us like a waterfall and His grace, mercy and peace are available in every experience we encounter.

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

No Longer a Sinner - Changed into His Glory

We are not only in Christ positionally, but we are in Christ practically and experientially as well. We are set free now from the bondage to the flesh that Paul describes in Romans 7.

We do not have to wait to go to heaven in order to walk in the freedom from sin that Paul found through the power of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ; because at salvation, this law sets us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

Whom the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36). We enjoy this freedom now, not just in eternity. The veil is removed from our eyes at salvation, and we see and reflect the glory of the Lord as we walk in the Spirit.

God's Spirit makes us more like Jesus every day as we mature spiritually, pray without ceasing and walk continually in obedience to the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

We are predestined to be conformed the His image (Romans 8:29). We no longer allow Satan to squeeze us into the mold of this world, but are transformed by renewing our mind by the washing of the water of the Word (Romans 12:12; Ephesians 5:26).

If we sin, we break God's heart; and we would never want to break the heart of the One who loved us enough to die for us. Therefore, we make no provision for our flesh and the flesh loses its desire to sin (Romans 13:14).

As we used to live in the image of the world and the flesh, we now live like Christ, in the image of the spiritual man (1 Corinthians 15:49). The old flesh died, and we are now a new creature in Christ (Colossians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:22-24).

We are renewed in the knowledge of Christ who dwells within us (Colossians 3:10). Jesus gave us the glory, which our Father gave to Him; so that we may live in union with the Father and the Son (John 17:22). We are filled with Him through our entire being (Ephesians 3:16).

Prayer:

Father God, You created us in the image of Jesus and gave us His divine nature by Your Spirit (2 Peter 1:4). We are no longer sinners, but Saints who are free to walk in the fruit of Your Spirit and to choose life rather than sin and death. Do not allow us to fall under the lie of Satan that we will never be free from sin on this side of heaven.

Remind us that Christ in all of His divinity abides within us and we have His nature now as our own. A nature that is free from the power and the practice of sin as we walk in the Spirit and do not fulfill the lusts of that old, dead carnal nature (Galatians 2:20, 5:15-25).

Thought for the Day:

We are already crucified and risen with Christ, and it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in and through us; and the life which we now live in this mortal body is accomplished through the faith of Christ in us. - Galatians 2:20