High Calling of God

God did not leave us defenseless on the earth. He gave us His Word and His Spirit to comfort and guide us, to give us wisdom and to help us to order our steps (Psalm 119:133).

He teaches and inspires us, and gives us His life and skill for living (Philippians 1:6). Each word in scripture encourages our soul and feeds our spirit. We can actually feel it filling us with faith and determination to press on toward the prize of His high calling (Philippians 3:14).

The high calling of God is to walk in His Spirit and not to fulfill the lusts of our flesh (Galatians 5:15-25). We enter into God's rest and entertain only those fruitful thoughts which lead to repentance and Godliness (Hebrews 4:10-11; Philippians 4:8; 2 Corinthians 7:10).

Paul exhorts us to press on to win the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24). Our confidence is not in our flesh, but in the Spirit of God (Philippians 3:3). We complete His Kingdom work for which He called us, before time eternal (2 Timothy 1:9).

God fills us with His Spirit and His presence which provide us with everything we need to do His will and to find joy in our tribulation (Esther 4:14; Jeremiah 29:11; Proverbs 3:5-6). By His Spirit we abound in hope and He fills us with His joy and peace (Romans 15:13).

His steadfast love never ceases and His mercies are new every morning; therefore we can keep our hope fixed on Him (Lamentations 3:21-24). If God is fighting for us, nothing and no one can remove us from His loving presence or prevail against us (Romans 8:31-39).

Prayer:

Father God, You are our God and You guide us through each moment of our life, even the day of our death (Psalm 48:14). You listen to the prayers of Your Saints as we delight our self in You (James 5:16). As we focus our mind on You, we keep our trust in You, because You put Your desires in our heart as we press toward the goal of Your high calling (Isaiah 26:3; Psalm 37:4).

Even in our trials and tribulation, we find rest for our soul as we remained yoked up with You. You make the negative events of our life easy and light, because You carry them with us (Matthew 11:28-30). You do not give us fleeting peace as from the world, but lasting peace which keeps our hearts from being fearful and insecure (John 14:27).

Thought for the Day:

We often needlessly suffer in this world because of our choices, which cause us to vere away from the will of God for us; but we can do everything which God calls us to do, because He gives us strength to press toward the prize of His high calling. - Philippains 4:13

A Secure Life

 

Every trial in life threatens our stability. Physical illnesses, emotional trauma and mental stress take their toll. Sometimes they cause us to lose our job, home, mate, family, bank account and our security. We have nowhere to turn and we end up defenseless, scared and lonely.

Our human independence drives us to deal with life's stresses on our own. We pridefully believe that we can conquer every obstacle without anyone's help. In his day, Paul called people like this "foolish" (Galatians 3:1-3). God did not redeem us to forsake us (Isaiah 43:1). We cannot save our self for eternity and neither can we save our self on a daily basis.

There is only one stable place on this earth, and that is in the loving arms of our Heavenly Father. He sacrificed His Son in order to pay the penalty of our sins and to give us free access to His throne (John 3:16; Hebrews 4:16). He invites us to call upon Him anytime. He will answer us, give us security in our soul - our thoughts, choices and emotions - and work out our circumstances for our ultimate good (Jeremiah 33:3; Romans 2:28).

As authentic Born Again Believers our house is no longer built on the sand of Satan's lies, but on the solid Rock of Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:26; Psalm 18:2). Jesus is our chief cornerstone and He keeps us secure through all of life's stormy trials. God's Spirit within us provides us with a solid foundation (Matthew 7:24-27). As we cast our burdens on our Father God, He tenderly cares for us (Psalm 55:22; Proverbs 16:3; 1 Peter 5:7).

We cannot be good, holy or spiritual enough to deserve God's blessings; therefore, He loved us while we were still sinners (Isaiah 43:4; Romans 5:8). As we trust in Him, God manifests His glory in and through us during our entire lifetime (Titus 3:4-6; Ephesians 2:8-10). Once we enter God's rest, we no longer strive in our human carnal efforts (Deuteronomy 33:12; Hebrews 4:9-12).

Prayer:

Father God, if we consider more than this one moment of time, we will feel remorse for our past and fear for our future. As we realize that in this one moment we are blessed beyond measure, we can dwell in peace with our confidence in You. You give us peaceful dwellings, secure homes and undisturbed places of rest now and for eternity (Isaiah 32:17-20). Only in You do we have a secure life.

Thought for the Day:

Regardless of life's circumstances, nothing can separate us from the love of God. - Romans 8:31-39

Let God Be God

 Read: Titus 3:3-7

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will wait for Him." The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good to hope silently for the salvation of the Lord. - Lamentations 3:24-26

We all adopt survival techniques from birth, which we carry with us into adulthood. Even though our caretakers did their best in most cases, they were not always available to make sure that we had what we needed at the time that we needed it. This caused us to grow up relying on and protecting our self.

Therefore, we try, by the sheer power of our will, to hold everything together. We think that we have to handle our problems on our own. We search, often in vain, for any sense of security in life. We use all of our might to hang on, to fix it, to change it, to manage it or to try to make it right. God wants us to LET GO and to admit that we are powerless and that we need His power in our life.

One reason that people are reluctant to trust God is that they blame God for the bad things that happen in life. This launches us into a lifestyle of controlling. Controlling life puts a tremendous amount of stress on us. We suffer mentally, emotionally and physically because we try to hold everything together. We carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. We think that keeping our self and our loved ones safe is up to us.

We forget that God created paradise as His will for our lives. Actually, sin in our life and the lives of everyone around us causes negative situations to occur. The key to remember is that when we surrender to God, He always works everything out for our good, even the negative things (Romans 8:28).

God knows everything from the beginning to the end of our life. He sees the pitfalls and He knows the joys, which He prepared for each of us. Only as we surrender our will to His can we know the true riches of life on this earth (Romans 8: 28; Jeremiah 29:11). Admitting we are powerless and that we need Him is the first step toward serenity and healing. Let God be God in your life.

God wants us to completely surrender our will to His and to stand defenseless before Him. To surrender means to cease resistance and to submit to authority. That may sound like walking into bondage, but surrender is actually the doorway to freedom. This is called “dying to self.” Pride will not surrender. Self-righteousness will not surrender. Fear will not surrender. Only those who are totally broken are ready to surrender and to live with total dependence upon God. God does not take our free will away from us. He simply asks us to surrender our will to His.

When we surrender to God, we say, “Go ahead, Lord, and have Your way with me.” We allow Him to humble our pride and to stop our reliance on our self as we put our life into His capable hands. He will then restore us to the person He intends for us to be, free of mental and emotional pain and guilt and equipped to serve Him in His chosen ministry for us.

Trying to control our life usually produces the OPPOSITE effect of what we want. Our dependency on anything other than God - addictions, people, places, jobs, things, animals - puts us into bondage to them. Only God’s love produces true freedom.

WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG (2 Corinthians 12:10). When we stop trying to control life and give our control over to God, we allow Him to provide for and to protect us. His mighty power starts working in us and through us. When we surrender our life to Him, He accomplishes infinitely more in and through our life than we could ever ask or think (Ephesians 3: 20).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I want to get off the throne of my life and relinquish control of my life to You. Life is chaotic when I am on the throne. Life is peaceful and calm when You are on the throne, and only then can I live and walk in true serenity.

Thought for the Day:

Surrender each moment of your day to the Lord and rejoice evermore.



(Many thanks to Donny Roberston for his photo.)

Greater Love

Read: Isaiah 41:17-20

“For God has said, ‘I will never, never fail you nor forsake you.’”  - Heb 13:5 (TLB)

I read the other day that when the Bible speaks of love, it means a love that endures long and continually. This made me realize that God always thinks the best of us, wants the best for us and rejoices when good things happen to us. He is patient with us and defends us when others come against us. He believes in us and wants us to trust Him in all things, because He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Then I realized that God not only loves, but He IS love. Since God lives in us, His love does too. This powerful love gives us a loving character, helps us not to demand our own way, teaches us to give and to forgive, helps us to show His love instead of our own prejudices and teaches us not to speak negatively to or about anyone else.

Prayer:

Lord, rid me of my prejudices so that I can love everyone without hesitation. But also, Lord, help me to remember that I am a person too, and that I need to love myself as well. Amen.

Thought For The Day:

When Jesus stretched open His arms and died for us all, God gave us an example of how true love performs.

The Triple Treat

Read: Romans 5:8-10

"For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." - Romans 15:4

I am amazed at the extent of God's love for us. He not only made provision for our Salvation through Jesus Christ, He also gave us the Bible with detailed instructions on every aspect of life. He did not leave us defenseless to survive a lifetime of trials and tribulation. The Bible gives us wisdom to live victoriously, even in these perilous end times.

Events, which are chronicled in today's newspapers, are predicted in God's Word. We know exactly what will happen and what to expect according to God's timetable. God gave us a triple treat: His Son, His Word and also His Holy Spirit. When the headlines threaten to douse our faith with fear, these three lead us on to victory as they comfort us every moment of every day. (Isaiah 43:2)

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, remind us that You have everything under Your control. Nothing surprises You, because You set it all in motion before the foundation of the world.

Thought for the Day:

The darkest hour of the day is always followed by the dawn.