Childlike Faith

 

God made mankind in His image and likeness (Genesis 1: 26). God is a triune being...Father, Son and Spirit. He created us as triune beings with a Spirit, Soul and Body. Genesis 2: 7 states, "And the LORD God formed man (body) of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (spirit); and man became a living soul."

Due to Adam's sin, our spirit is dead within us at birth, until we ask Jesus Christ to be our Savior. Then the Holy Spirit breathes the breath of life into us and our spirit is redeemed. We cannot truly live integrated, connective lives until we are Born Again. Our body is our physical being that ends up in the grave at our death.

Our soul is our mind, will and emotions. Our mind is renewed into the mind of Christ (Romans 12:2), our will is submitted to the will of God (Philippians 2:13) and our emotions are controlled by the Spirit of God who dwells within us (James 1:19). Our soul also contains our Inner Child, Inner Parent and Inner Adult.

David spoke of the Inner Child of the soul when he stated in Psalm 131:2 , “Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother's milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.” So often, we lose the innocence of childhood and adopt a prideful and rebellious mindset.

As we grow up in this life, we surround our self with defense mechanisms to prevent others from perpetrating their sins on us. We mature quickly and develop strong emotions, which we use to protect our self. Unless we nurture that childlike aspect of our soul, and allow the faith and unfettered trust of a child to reign in our hearts, we cannot fully please God (Matthew 18:3).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, help us to remember that in order for You to fulfill our soul, we first need to be filled by Your Spirit. Our spirit must be born again by asking You to be our Savior and our Lord (2 Peter 3:18). Then, our Inner child will feel more secure, and adopt that childlike faith, which You desire from each of us.   

Thought for the Day:

Unless we are Born Again and become as little children, we have no hope of entering the kingdom of heaven. - Matthew 18:3

The Divine Nature of God in Us

The trauma, inconsistencies and callous aspects of life, wear on our human soul, which intensifies over the years of our lifetime. Since conception, the abuse, injustice and deprivation turn us from skeptics to raging maniacs. We shut down emotionally or we allow negative habits to rule our behavior. We over-react to situations through our habitual self-defense mechanisms.

God is love. (1 John 4:8). His love for and in us removes our reasons to fear, which is the root of all of our negative emotions (1 John 4:8; Romans 13:10). As we surrender to His love, God’s Spirit fills us with more and more of His divine nature. Love banishes our selfishness, envy, pride, and rebellion, and fills up our soul – our mind, will and emotions (1 John 4:20). God displays His love through us to the world around us (1 John 4:12).

We cannot achieve this love in our own power or effort, but only as a gift from God through His perfecting power (Romans 5:5). God’s Spirit within us sanctifies us, and gradually gives us the divine nature of our Father God (Philippians 2:12-13; Ephesians 2:10). This results in a mind, which is set on holy and spiritual thoughts and desires (Colossians 3:2). God’s Spirit does not change our carnality overnight.

God’s Spirit imparts one aspect of God’s divine nature to us at a time. He peels away our sin nature one layer after another, replacing each earthly characteristic with His fruit (2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 5:22-23). He exchanges our carnal tendencies with a display of spiritual fruit. He reveals them in our behavior each time we allow Him to do so. The entire gamut of spiritual fruit, the nature of God, is in Christ in us.

Therefore, we already have each of these fruit resident within our soul through the abiding Holy Spirit. God replaces hatred with love, depression with true joy, discontentment with peace, irritation with patience, criticism with gentleness, backbiting with goodness, pride with meekness, excess with self-control, and worry with the faith of God as we are controlled and guided by His Spirit. The closer we walk in God’s will, the more holiness and spirituality we exhibit.

Prayer:

Father God, the perfect triangle of Your love for us, our love for You and our subsequent love for one another is a witness to the world of Your power (John 13:34-35). Heal our wounded hearts and remove any lies in our soul, which Satan planted in our subconscious mind. Share with us Your Truth about the trauma we experienced in this sin-filled world, and pluck Satan’s lies right out of our belief system. Allow us to view our self as You see us...as perfected in Christ.

Thought for the Day:

God’s divine nature in us is not something we use for personal gain or reputation, like so many people in this modern society, but for the glory of God and to further His Kingdom in the earth.