Hidden out of Sight

When we embark on our Christian quest, we learn to recognize Jesus in every aspect of our day - positive and negative. When something is hidden, it cannot be seen; it is invisible and under a cover. It is not readily accessible, except to the one who hid it.

We are hidden with Christ in God, but He knows exactly where we are. We are not alone, because we are filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16-19, Amplified Bible). We are in an intimate union with Jesus by His Spirit.

We live in the center of God's will, led by His Holy Spirit because Christ is our whole life (Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 3:3-4). Sin is not an option for us, when Christ is pre-eminent in our choices. We have no attraction to unrighteousness, and no desire to grieve God's Spirit within us (Ephesians 4:30).

God calls us to live in such a manner that when people look at us, they see Him rather than us. This occurs when we give God the credit and glory for the deeds He accomplishes in and through us. We run to Him, follow His path for us, and give Him all of the glory for what He accomplishes through our life.

The righteousness of Christ consumes us, fills us, and crowds out any ungodly desires or behavior. We are not separate from Christ. We are unified with Him as one being (Galatians 2:20). By following His peace within us, we recognize the will of God, for each moment of our life.

This peace rises above all physical, emotional, mental, natural, and human thoughts and reasons (Philippians 4:7-9). We do not trust our heart, because it is unreliable (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Instead, we discern God's will in our spirit, and this floods our soul with His peace.

Prayer:

Father God, You are our all in all - one God of all people, and Lord of all, as You work through all and abide in us all. We start this adventure by inviting You to dwell within our spirit (Ephesians 4:6). Then, before we do or say anything, we want to consult You rather than to depend on our own plans and viewpoint (Proverbs 3:5-8).

Thank You for directing our thoughts, words and actions every time that we consult You for Your will for each moment of our life. We trust You with our whole heart to provide for and to protect us in every issue of life. We promise to cease from consulting our human wisdom, and to rely on Your wisdom instead. We love You with every fiber of our being, and we are thankful for all of Your blessings on each moment of our day.

Thought for the Day:

When we trust in, rely on and obey God during each moment of our day, He keeps us on track for success, gives us the best of everything, and fills our resources with abundance for every good work that He calls us to allow Christ to preform through us.

- Proverbs 3:5-8; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Ephesians 2:10

Paul’s Surprising Revelation

Paul laments in his writings over his lack of success at overcoming the flesh. In some letters, he records that he feels utterly hopeless and he criticizes his own moral fiber.

He struggles with putting on the mind of Christ and realizes the wretchedness of his humanity. He fought with our need to be holy, and his inability to reach this level of desired consecration to God (Romans 7:19-24).

His conclusion is surprising (Romans 7:25). He was thrilled to realize that we do not have to suffer under the weight of condemnation any longer. On Calvary’s Cross, Christ already set us all free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). 

Paul calls the Galatians foolish for trying to perfect their life in their own self effort. He reminds them that we could not save our self and we cannot perfect our self either (Galatians 3:1-3).

Just as the Son could do nothing of Himself, we too are nothing without Christ in us (John 5:19, 15:5). The only effort we need to make in order to walk in the reality of this victory is to totally surrendering control of our life to God.

In doing this, we successfully enter His rest (Hebrews 4:3), cease from our striving and simplify our life. We eliminate the busyness that pervades each day and we slow down our pace.

We dedicate time in our schedule to serve God with our entire being, with all of our affections, thoughts, choices and emotions.

We give God the glory, which is due to His name; and we walk in paths of righteousness for His name's sake (Psalm 23:3). We refuse to hide our light under a basket, but we allow it to shine for the world to see (Matthew 5:14-16).

Prayer:

Father God, You exalted Jesus with a name above all other names. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord (Philippians 2:9-10). You designed us to be buried with Him through baptism into His death.

In the same way in which You raised Him from the dead through Your glory, You raise us too in order for us to live a new life through You. We are no longer slaves to sin, because You set us free from sin’s power when we died with Christ on Calvary’s cross (Romans 6:4-7).

Thought for the Day:

Just as God the Father, Son and Spirit are united as one, Jesus died so we can share in this same unity of oneness with our triune God. - 1 Corinthians 6:17

Jars of Clay

God created us as fragile, clay jars to contain the greatest treasure this world has ever known. We have the light of Christ shining in our hearts, and His power is constantly available to us in every situation (2 Corinthians 4:7). Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary’s cross cleansed us, consecrated us and set us apart to God (1 John 1:7; Hebrews 10:10-12).

Jesus chose us to be a royal, holy people who exclusively belong to God’s family (1 Peter 2:9). He bought us with the price of His life, so that we would glorify God in our thoughts, words and deeds (1 Corinthians 6:20). God’s Holy Spirit exchanges, in our soul, the fleshly carnality of our old nature for the holiness and spirituality of God’s Son (Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:13).

Christ manifests His life in and through us. The individual members of Christ’s Body die with Him, are set free from the powers of this world and are raised to walk in new life in Him (Colossians 2:12,20). When we realize our human powerlessness, dependence and worthlessness apart from Him, we enter into a place of His spiritual power and authority, and our identity is centered in Jesus (Luke 10:19).

We faithfully walk before Him in humility and total reliance on Him for every need in our life (Genesis 17:1). People see Christ in us and realize that we are set apart for Him. An example of this phenomenon is Joseph in Potiphar’s and Pharoah’s service, as well as his time in prison. They recognized the power of God in Joseph, and respected him and elevated him in power and authority.

Joseph accepted God’s plan in spite of his brothers’ duplicity and abandonment, as well as false accusations against his character. He knew that God would work out everything, even prison, for his good. Joseph gives us an example of someone entirely sold out to God. God will bless our life as He did Joseph’s, if we will put our complete faith in His faithfulness.

Prayer:

Father God, You are more to us than a help in times of trouble, the pardon for our sins and our fire insurance policy against hell. You are also our King. We do not live according to our plans and purpose and ask You to bless us. We live in constant, total surrender to Your plans for our life, and we reap the blessings of a child of the King. Thank You for sending Jesus to redeem us and to reconcile us to Yourself. Remind us to live each moment of our life in Your service and not in selfish ambition and self-serving goals.

Thought for the Day:

As we obey God fully and keep His commandments, we are His treasured possession from among all the people in the whole world. - Exodus 19:5