Spiritual Awareness

As God proves His Faithfulness to us, our intimacy with Him grows. We feel safe and we trust Him with every aspect of our life. This makes it easier to submit to His will (Ephesians 2:10). 

We spend time in prayer, Bible reading, fellowshipping with His Saints and continually seeking Him. We also develop a confident intimacy with our Father God, which deepens over the years.

Spending time with God increases our spiritual awareness. We learn His ways, and He transforms our nature by His Spirit into His fruit and divine nature (Galatians 5:22-23; 2 Peter 1:4). 

His Spirit illuminates His Word for us. He gives us discernment to make good judgments (John 7:24). Living in His presence brings us total satisfaction as we joyfully die to our flesh and to this sin-filled world (Romans 8:13). 

Eventually, our union with Christ takes priority over everything else in our life (Colossians 3:3-4). We are a better mate, employee, friend, child, parent, employer, etc because of our relationship with Him. 

Since He dwells within us, we live a fuller and more fulfilled life. We come to realize that He is our all in all (Ephesians 4:6; Ephesians 2:8-9). We can do nothing without Him (Philippians 4:13). 

God is our high tower. We run to Him and are safe (Proverbs 18:10). Under His wings we trust (Psalm 91:1,4; Proverbs 29:25). He is our Rock, stronghold and deliverer in whom we take refuge (Psalm 61:3; 91:2; 144:2). 

He is our shield and the horn of our salvation (Psalm 18:2). Our love and respect for the Lord provide our children and us with a secure future (Proverbs 14:26; Deuteronomy 5:10, 7:9; Exodus 20:6).

Prayer:

Father God, lead us by Your Spirit into a richer relationship with You. You promised that everyone who believes in and trusts in You will enter Your eternal life (Hebrews 4:1-11; John 3:16-18).

Bring us to the end of our striving and allow us to enter into the rest You already prepared for us (Matthew 11:28-30). It is only then that we can experience an intimate relationship with You and enjoy a keener spiritual awareness.

Thought for the Day:

God calls us to be still before Him and to patiently wait on Him. - Psalm 37:7

Standing on My Rock

The Lord Jesus Christ is our Rock. His work is beyond perfect. He is completely fair and just in all of His ways. There is no prejudice in Him and we have faith in His faithfulness. He is upright and totally impartial (Deuteronomy 32:4). There is nothing and no one, in which we can trust, that is as solid as God Almighty. He embodies all that is holy (1 Samuel 2:2). We find glorious refuge in the house of our salvation, in Christ, the Lord of hosts (Psalm 18:2). His actions and precepts are perfect.

When we run to the Lord in our distress, He shields us. He is the true and only perfect Lord and God in our world (2 Samuel 22:31-32). We take refuge in Him as our strong fortress and perfect deliverer. He is our stronghold and He saves us from the long-term effects of violence. He came to earth to lift us up. He works everything out for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28). We can call on the Lord at anytime (Hebrews 4:16), because He is totally worthy of all of our praise (2 Samuel 22:2-4).

If we do not build our life on the Rock of Christ, the tempests of life will destroy us (Matthew 7:27). He gives us the shield of salvation and trains us to battle the devil. Sanctification gives us supernatural ability to withstand the arrows from people in life who attempt to harm and belittle us. He forgives all of our sins and sets us free from bondage to the law of sin and death by His law of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2).

Our Lord lives and we bless Him as our Rock. We exalt Him as the God of our salvation (2 Samuel 22:47; Psalm 18:46). There is salvation in no one else (Acts 4:12). His joy fills our heart and we prance like steady deer on the high places of life. He broadens our path beneath us, so that our feet do not slip from His straight and narrow path (2 Samuels 22:33-37; Psalm 18:33-36). Those who refuse to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation will reap destruction for themselves and fall under the wrathful judgment of the Living God (John 3:18; Hebrews 10:31).

Prayer:

Father God, we are Your sheep and You know us and we hear Your voice. Help us to follow You in all of Your ways and to listen to Your Spirit’s promptings each moment of our day (John 10:27-28). Thank You for eternal life, and for preventing Your Saints from the second death (Revelation 21:8). You put us in Jesus’ hand, and no one can take us from Him (John 10:29). We praise Your name and give You all the glory for our life.

Thought for the Day:

The wise will build their life on the Rock of Christ. - Matthew 7:25-26

Enoch Walked with God

"And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." - Genesis 5:22-24

Police statistics estimate that one person disappears per minute in the UK and USA. In Australia one person every 18 minutes is reported missing. It is the same around the world. Then there are those who disappear and are never reported as a statistic. Many are kidnapped, or die unnoticed and undiscovered. How many of those who disappear, like Enoch, walked with God and God translated them home? In His foreknowledge, God prepared a destiny and a destination for the soul of every person before He ever created the earth.

Enoch was the father of Methuselah, the oldest man who ever lived; and the great grandfather of Noah. His claim to Biblical fame is that after his son was born, he “walked with God” for about three hundred years. This paints a portrait for us of two intimate friends unhindered by the lusts of the flesh and the world around them and totally immersed in one another’s fellowship (Amos 3:3). Scholars tell us that many of Enoch’s writings had the poetry of the Psalms and the wisdom of Proverbs.

Enoch was honorable, he loved mercy and He walked humbly with our God. (Micah 6:8). With his will totally submitted to his Lord, Enoch learned from God. As a man of faith, Enoch knew it was impossible to please God without trusting in Him. He also pleased God in his thoughts, words and deeds (Hebrews 11:5). This was the testimony he exhibited before God and his neighbors. He saw great visions from the Lord about heaven, Satan’s rebellion, worldly nations throughout the ages, as well as the consequences of wickedness and the rewards of the just. Enoch instructed his family in the ways of God.

Jude tells us that Enoch was the seventh generation from Adam and that he prophesied about the Lord returning with His Saints and executing judgment on the ungodly for their unbelief (Jude 1:14-15). Enoch walked in the ways of the Lord and all went well with him and his descendents (Deuteronomy 5:33). He lived to the age of 365. He saw a vision of the great flood and told his children about it. Noah lived by his great grandfather’s example, and walked with God as well (Genesis 6:9). The more Enoch knew God, the more he loved Him, and his love for the world dwindled (1 John 2:15).

Enoch was a man of integrity and a pure heart. He saw righteousness flowing like water, and mercy scattered like dew over the whole earth. He longed to dwell with the righteous. He realized that the Lord strengthens the spirit of the righteous for the sake of His own righteousness, and that many see Heaven without tasting the sleep of death. He saw Christ as the light of the nations, the hope of troubled hearts, the name by which we are saved and the one, which the righteous lean upon without falling. He foresaw the destruction of the wicked and the peaceful dwelling place of the righteous.

Therefore, rather than allowing Enoch to enter heaven through the gates of endless sleep, God translated Him to Heaven and he did not see death (Ephesians 5:10; Hebrews 11:5). Like Enoch, Adam and Eve enjoyed the cool of the day in the garden walking with God (Genesis 3:8). God revealed Himself to Moses and the face of the deliverer of God’s people shone with the glory of the Lord (Exodus 34:35). Abraham walked with God (Genesis 24:40). Jesus walked with God and embodied God personified (John 14:7-9). God loves to walk with all of His Saints. We are His Temple and He communes with us every moment of the day by His indwelling Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Prayer:

Father God, we want to walk with You, commune with You, listen to Your wisdom and direction, and walk by Your Spirit moment by moment throughout the day. Reveal Yourself to us in Your secret places, and teach us to walk in Your ways (Palm 91:1). Your mercy is great as is Your patience with us. All of your powerful works are wondrous for us to behold. You reveal all things to Your Saints, to Your elect. You write all of our deeds in Your journals and nothing we do escapes Your sight. Let us walk in justice and righteousness for Your name’s sake now and forever, and if our ways please You, translate us to Heaven as well.

Thought for the Day:

If Enoch can walk with God in this devoted intimacy, we can too.

 

 

 

Thank you, Stephanie Bentley, for the use of your photo.

When I Am Weak

Read: Romans 5: 3-5

“That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, troubles, hardships and persecutions that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:10

Bad things do happen to good people. Life does hurt...everyone. The good news is that your negative experience holds the seed for a miracle! God is working ALL things, even this fearful experience, out for your good (Romans 8:28). We can actually look forward to bad things happening, because it is just another opportunity for God to show us His goodness and greatness! Paul put it like this, “Count it all joy, when you fall into various trials” (James 1:2).

Life is imperfect because of original sin. When Adam and Eve disobeyed, God's perfect plan for Paradise came to a screaching halt. Man forfeited his dominion over the earth to Satan. Sin became the new norm in the world. Due to our sin, we deserve hell! God owes us nothing! Everything He does for us is whipped cream on the pie, icing on the cake, and gravy on the potatoes! God’s love is a gift from above, way beyond what we deserve.

Negative circumstances are not God’s fault! So, do not blame Him! He created a perfect world in which He planned for us to live. Yes, God can change the circumstances of our life, and He often does. However, He is not obligated to change them. Once He redeems us by the blood of the Lamb, all of our sins are washed away; but sin still rules in the hearts of mankind. Bad things happen to us when others impose their sin on us, or when we reap from the sins that we sowed.

Our God is an awesome God. He hides us under His wings during stressful times! The Lord is our rock, our fortress, our stronghold and our deliverer. He delivers us from our enemies. We call upon the Lord, because He is worthy of our praise (Psalm 18: 2-49). He is our refuge, our shield in battle and the horn of our salvation. We still have to go through battles in this imperfect world, but He is our shield that protects us from even greater harm.

Jesus stated that in this life we WILL have tribulation, but to be of good cheer, because He aleady overcame the world (John 16:33). The righteous have many afflictions, but the Lord delivers us out of them all (Psalm 34:19). Remember Job? He is an example of a man who continued to trust the Lord in sorrow and suffering. We can see how the Lord’s plan saw him through suffering and affliction, which eventually ended for his good (Romans 8:28), because of the Lord’s tender mercy (James 5:11).

President Bush, Sr. told the story about a boy who offered this simple prayer at bedtime: "God, bless my Mommy, and my Daddy, and my brother and sister.  And God.... do take care of Yourself...because if anything ever happened to You, we'd all be sunk." I love that!

Since the Lord lives, we are assured that ALL things will work together for our good (Romans 8:28). This is His promise to all of those who love Him and who are the called according to His purpose. We can rely on it and look forward to it. He probably will not bless you in the way you want Him to, but He will bless you in the way you need Him to!

Why do we find it so hard to trust and believe in the goodness of the Lord. One reason is that we take the Lord for granted (Psalm 106:7; John 12: 37-38). Also, we do not stand on what we know as truth (Isaiah 7:9), and we do not relying on the Lord (Matthew 13:58).

Another reason, is because Satan is very quick to blind us by his lies and deception (Luke 8:12). Then, shamefully, at times we also walk in disobedience (Hebrews 4:6 & 11), and/or are double minded (James 1:6-8). Thankfully, God steps in and helps our unbelief. God is faithful, even when we fail to obey (Romans 10:21; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; 2 Timothy 2:13).

Sometimes, we turn the concept of believing into a mountain that seems impossible to climb. The simple truth is found in Hebrews 11:6. It tells us what we must believe: "Anyone who comes to God must believe only two things:
1. That He exists.
2. That He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

With this belief in our heart, we can live victoriously in whatever plan God assigns to us, because God is worthy of our trust.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You tell us to cast all of our cares upon You, because You care about us (1 Peter 5:17). Remind us to come to You when we need something, and then leave the method and timing of Your supply up to You. Thank You that we can live in the center of Your will with Your peace ruling and reigning in our hearts (Philippians 4: 6-9).

Thought for the Day:
We know that God exists and rewards us, because of His past deeds and His future promises.