Radical Transformation

When Almighty God moves into a life, we can expect a radical transformation. The speed at which this occurs depends on our willingness to totally surrender to His will.

Our spirit is immediately changed, brought from the state of death in sin to alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:1). The next step is sanctification in our soul, which takes a lifetime for most people (1 Corinthians 6:10-11; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

We come as we are, and jump up on the operation table of God's grace; so that His Word can separate our soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12). We facilitate the process as we actively decrease, so that He may increase (John 3:30).

God calls us to die daily to our fleshly desires and to work out our own salvation; but at the same time He makes it clear that it is His Spirit that actually does the work (Philippians 2:12-13; Ephesians 4:22-24).

God created us to imitate Christ and to walk in true holiness by repenting of every sin. We cooperate as the Spirit sanctifies us. We live, move and have our entire being in Him (Acts 17:28).

He forgives us and calls us to submit to the Spirit as He transform us into the divine nature of Christ (2 Peter 1:4). We mature spiritually and this conversion consumes every area of our life (Galatians 2:20).

We relinquish our cares to Him, because He really does care for us (1 Peter 5:7). We stop worrying and walk in His peace. When we pray, we give thanks for all that God already did in our life (Philippians 4:6-7).

Jesus encouraged us not to work to attain the things of this world that rust and spoil; but to seek food that endures throughout eternity (John 6:26-27; Isaiah 55:2). We long for Him like the deer panting for the water brook until we joyfully experience His presence within us every moment of the day (Psalm 42:1-2; Acts 3:19).

Prayer:

Father God, You made it possible for us to eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus Christ (Psalm 34:8). Taking Him into our being and consuming Him in an intimate relationship where we two become one. This provides us with eternal life now, and You will also raise us up on our last day on earth in order to dwell with You for eternity (John 6:34). 

Only You can satisfy our longing and fill our hungry soul (Psalm 107:9). Your Word gives us milk as new born babies (1 Peter 2:2). Jesus is the Bread of Life on which we feast as we mature (John 6:35). Then, like Jesus, our food is to do Your will every moment of our life (John 4:34). Prepare our hearts, lead us, fill us with Your presence and Spirit and provide for our every need as we make the radical transition from worm to butterfly.

Thought for the Day:

In Christ, His whole body fits together in perfect harmony, supporting one another, growing together spiritually, loving one another as Christ loves us, and all of us functioning in the ministry into which He calls us. - Ephesians 4:16, 2:10

Making a Profound Difference

 

God is the Potter, and we are the clay (Isaiah 64:8). We are the vessel that contains the liquid. Satan attempts to keep our focus on our innate beauty as a crafted container, or he draws our attention to the flaws and cracks.

However, these do not matter in the larger scheme of life. When we are thirsty, we do not admire the glass, we gulp the liquid in the glass.

We are not the focus in this relationship, but Christ IN us is the focus. We are simply clay jars, made from the dust of the earth; yet, as Born Again Believers, we contain the God of the universe (Colossians 1:27).

Although we are dying daily in our body and carnal nature, God's Spirit give us life (Romans 8:10). God fills us with His presence and Spirit to sanctify our soul and complete us in Christ (1 Corinthians 6:11; Colossians 2:10).

Realizing that we are dead and our life is hidden with Christ in God, we relinquish our goals and allow Christ to live through us (Colossians 3:3; Galatians 2:20).

Christ shines from our heart and radiates to the world around us in the same way in which the light from a bulb emits light in a dark room. We make a profound difference.

We are so united with Christ that His thoughts fill our mind, His wisdom directs our steps, His life flows through us like a river and His love radiates in us and from us (Philippians 2:5; James 1:5; John 7:38; Isaiah 58:11).

Prayer:

Father God, Your grace draws us to Jesus, keeps us pursuing holiness and finishes our perfection through sanctification (1 John 3:2). Jesus is our advocate with You (1 John 2:1), and the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us before You (Romans 8:26).

You each have your function as a person of the Trinity and You complete us within and without (Colossians 2:10). You direct our steps and use us for Your glory to advance Your Kingdom in the earth (Luke 17:21).

Thought for the Day:

Living in the center of God’s will is the happiest place on earth.

The Power of a Spiritual Life

Jesus suffered agony in the garden when He felt the weight of our sin on His shoulders. Jesus, who knew no sin, mercifully gave His life to pay for us the penalty of our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21). He went all the way to the cross, because He came to earth with one purpose: to surrender His life for our salvation. God has a unique purpose for each one of us, as well (Ephesians 2:10).

Only through the death of our carnal nature do we learn the secret of living our life through our rebirth in Christ Jesus. Like Paul, we die to the world, Satan’s temptations and our human will and flesh daily (1 Corinthians 15:31). This way God’s Spirit can live His life through us. We wait on God, and He works out His intentions in us moment by moment throughout our life.

We owe Jesus all glory and honor for giving us our spiritual life. We are rooted and grounded in Him by faith (Colossians 2:7). Jesus gave us the perfect example of how to live on this earth. Even at an early age, He focused on God’s Kingdom (Luke 2:46). He trusted in, depended upon and lived and died by trusting in our Father. We can follow in His footsteps.

God’s fullness in our life will take us deeper and deeper into the power and wonder of His spiritual realm. As we cast our soul on Him and abandon our self completely to His love, He who lived in total surrender to our Father will impart His nature to us (2 Peter 1:4). We live our life in the power of the resurrected Lord who dwells within us.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You so much for preparing the perfect sacrifice for our sins by coming in the form of a person and dying on Calvary’s cross in our place. The fact that You raised Christ from the dead and to His throne in glory gives us so much hope and faith to know that You will bring us up from the grave and into Your glorious presence.

Thought for the Day:

To have the love, peace and joy we crave in our life, we simply surrender wholeheartedly to God. – Matthew 10:39

Split Personality

God did not call us “Christians”. It is a word derived from the concept of living as “Christ-followers.” There is a slight misconception with this word. God does not see us as individual beings, but as Christ’s Body. We do not actually “follow” Christ, because He lives within us. 

We follow His teaching (Galatians 6:2) and His example (1 Corinthians 11:1); but we live in Him and He lives in us (Colossians 2:6). We are actually dead now, and He lives His life in and through us. His divine presence permeates every part of our spirit, and as much of our body and soul as we surrender to God’s will (2 Peter 1:4).
 

God does not see us as a human self and divine self. He only sees Christ in us. In this same sense, neither are we to divide our life into secular and spiritual, or into human and divine pursuits. We are not split into two personalities or compartments, because our human self is dead now, and we are fully united with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3; Galatians 2:20). 

As authentic Born Again Believers, we live in Christ throughout every moment of the day, just as He permanently lives in us (Colossians 1:27; John 17:23). Christ is our life (Colossians 3:4).We do not have a quick devotion in the morning and then go about our day, leaving Him behind. 

Jesus wakes our body up in the morning, so that He can live His life in and through us all day long. Jesus types our boss’s reports, answers the phones, builds the buildings, repairs the cars, ministers to the sick, beautifies our clients, teaches the students, empties the trash cans, cares for the children, cleans the house and grooms the lawns or the pets through us. 

We are dead, not we but Christ lives in us. The life which we now live is by the faith of Christ who loves us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20). There is a fine line between reckoning the human-side of us dead and actually living as if we are dead and living now through the Christ-nature within us. 

That is why Paul said that he dies daily (1 Corinthians 15:31). We die to our self until we are so surrendered to Christ in us that He uses our body, soul and spirit as vessels to live out His will in our life. 

We have no aspirations, dreams, goals and desires of our own, because He lives His life instead of us. We walk in total obedience to the Holy Spirit as Christ performs through us all of our mundane tasks during all of our waking moments.

Jesus provides the job for us that He wants to use to witness to our co-workers. He takes our car to the mechanic that He wants to influence for His Kingdom. He uses our body and soul to heal the sick, encourage with our smile or kind word, or minister in a myriad of ways to the person beside us in the grocery store and bank, and all the people He encounters through us during each moment of our day. 

We are dead, and Christ accomplishes God’s work in the earth by leading us by His Spirit. 

Prayer:

Father God, teach us to recognize that Christ in us is fully divine. We have the same chance, which Jesus did of living a Spirit-filled life. You want us to cease from our efforts, so that we will enter into Your rest (Hebrews 4:10). I am still learning how to do this. The fullness of what this means is still sinking into my soul. 

I am still in the flesh sometimes. However, now I walk more and more by the direction of Your Spirit. This is such a serene and joyful life. Your love flows over me like a waterfall all day long! People actually ask me why I am so happy! They see the difference, which the Christ-life makes, even in my face!

Thought for the Day:

God does not want us to plan our day, but to enter His rest as His Spirit leads us to live out His plan for our day.