Reflecting Gods Character

 

As a new born Christian, we look at Biblical mandates and attempt to make a list of all of the requirements to keep in order to please the God who saved us. We want to walk righteously before Him.

Or some people look at the requirements and consider giving up before they start, because the chore of walking in righteousness appears overwhelming.

What we do not yet understand is that the same Spirit that justified us is present within us to sanctify us and to quicken our mortal body in glorification when we see Jesus.

We will have the sanctified mind, eternal spirit and glorified, immortal body of Christ Himself (Philippians 2:12-13). Jesus is both the author and the finisher of our perfection.

We do not need to sprint up the mountain to attain Godliness as quickly as possible; but merely to obey God's call and directives one moment at a time.

The only help He needs from us is that we enter His rest, consult Him before we do or say anything, and then walk in His Spirit each moment of the day (Proverbs 3:5-6; Galatians 5:15-25).

We spend intimate time in His presence, which fill us; in His Word, which instructs us; in His Spirit, which inspires and guides us; and in His fellowship, which completes and fulfills us.

Prayer:

Father God, when we surrender each moment of our day to You, we do not instruct You on how to make our dreams come true. Instead, we accept Your will for our life and draw from the power and strength of Your Spirit within us to fulfill each directive which comes from You.

Give us the power and authority that Paul and Silas enjoyed when they went to the synagogue and spoke in Your name about Jesus. Help us to make a difference in this life for as many people as You bring our way. Your Holy Spirit works in their life and in ours through each divine appointment.

Thought for the Day:

As a mirror, we reflect God's glory and divine nature to the world around us.

Attitudes Count

What is an attitude? It is a state of mind, a prevailing thought and it influences every aspect of our life. As a melancholy from birth, my attitude reflected a pessimistic bent.

I had a hard time seeing a glass half full, because my fearful and insecure personality saw everything as a potential problem. I was never satisfied and rarely hopeful. Depression constantly nipped at my heels.

The stresses of life intimately influence our attitude, which effects our thoughts, words and deeds. According to doctors, stress causes illness and infection to invade our physical, mental and emotional state of being.

Scientific research found a direct correlation between stress and our cortisol levels, which is supposed to help us to deal with stress. The adrenal glands produce cortisol, so we are able to flee or fight.

After we deal with the stress of a situation, the cortisol and adrenalin are supposed to subside and our body returns to normal. However, with chronic stress these chemical are constantly on high alert and affect our heart, digestion, sleep and energy level, and cause us to suffer from weight gain and adrenal fatigue.

In turn, adrenal fatigue contributes to major issues such as autoimmune disease and its accompanying illnesses. Pessimism exacerbates these issues and affects our mental and emotional status as well.

The exception to this rule is when a healthy sense of pessimism encourages us to seek wise counsel, make prudent plans and discourages us from taking unnecessary risks.

However, optimism usually works more in our favor. If we discipline our inner dialogue with our self to stay positive and trust God to help us, we will live more optimistically. Godly optimism empowers us to make a difference in our life and also in our world.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that negative self-talk in our mind will defeat us every time. Satan whispers lies in our "ear" and we end up embracing them. Help us to stop judging or criticizing our self and others, and to be encouraging - especially to our self.

As a pessimist, life feels overwhelming to me, but I thank You for helping me to reword my self-talk and to think more positively. You changed my thought processes and are helping me to change my world by allowing Your Word to cleanse my soul and to restore to me the joy of my salvation (Psalm 51:10).

Thought for the Day:

God's Spirit will choose one aspect of our life at a time, and change our way of thinking about that issue, which helps us to change our focus about other issues as well.

Fervent, Effective Prayer

Prayer is an ethereal concept that is often hard to grasp. We are communing with a celestial being that we have never seen and there is no proof that He even exists. 

Yet, even scientific studies prove that prayer changes things. The key element about prayer is that God answers them. We can trust Him with our most intimate needs.

Through prayer, the Holy Spirit heals our body, soul and spirit, even if we do not know how to pray. He searches our heart and actually prays for us according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27). 

He renews our mind from carnal to spiritual thoughts, and enables us to crucify our flesh and to live a spiritual life (Philippians 2:13; Galatians 5:16-25). In prayer, God gives us His burdens and He places His cry in our heart (Psalm 145:19). 

God searches our innermost desires and finds the areas in our life where we need healing, enlightenment, guidance and love. He pours out His resources into our life and abundantly meets our every need according to His glorious heavenly riches (Philippians 4:19).

The Holy Spirit actually prays through us, if we will allow Him to do so (Romans 8:26; Ephesians 6:18). This does not mean to pray in tongues only, but also to pray in the Spirit in your native language. 

We do not know how to pray sometimes, but God gives us the burden on our heart, sometimes for people we do not even know. God responds to our prayers and often answers them while we are still praying (Isaiah 65:24).

Prayer:

Father God, we can make a real difference as we join together as the Body of Christ to pray for individual needs. Our united prayers are sweet incense to You as You hear them and respond to them with Your wisdom and strength (Revelation 8:4; Psalm 141:2). 

Thank You for caring about every area of our life and for working out everything, even the most horrendous circumstances, for our good (Hebrews 4:15; Romans 8:28). We will spend eternity giving You all the praise and glory due Your name.

Thought for the Day:

If we give Him our time, and if we realize our need to live dependently upon Him and seek His wisdom in our prayers, then the Holy Spirit will pray through us and accomplish God's will in the earth.

Hopelessness

There is a common malady in today’s society, which leads many into addictions and crime. It is called hopelessness. They have tried to make something of their life and they failed at every turn; so, they turn to chemicals and theft to relieve their symptoms. Some have never heard of the hope, which Jesus Christ provides. Others have heard that Jesus makes a difference, but they do not believe it.

 

It is up to those of us, who have first-hand experience with the wonderful love of God, to share the hope we find in Christ in a gentle, informative fashion and to entreat others to trust their life to Christ too. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and He saves all those who are crushed in spirit, if we will simply call out to Him (Psalm 43:18; 147:3). 

Total surrender to God is the key to getting out of our misery. He holds us up when we fall and lifts up everyone who is discouraged. We surrender our family, our future, our worries and our desires to the love and care of God Almighty (Mark 9:23). Then, we leave them in His capable hands.

When our soul is disheartened, we put our hope in God alone (Psalm 43:5). Complete surrender to God’s will in negative circumstance is the only way to stay sane. Even through the loss of a job, spouse, child, pet, home or parent, God cares for us. We walk in obedience to His Spirit, and live victoriously moment by moment throughout the day.

We learn to trust in God and not in our bank account, friends, children, job, the government or our parents. When we take our eyes off our self and put them on Him instead, He keeps us in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). We do not fear tomorrow, because God only leads us one step at a time. We obey His Spirit, and find rest in God alone. Our only true hope comes from Him (Psalm 62:5).

Prayer:

Father God, You are my helper, so I will not be afraid (Isaiah 41:10,13-14). What can mere mortals do to me? In my distress, I cry out to You and pray to You for help. You always hear me from Your sanctuary, because my cries always reach Your ears (Psalm 18:8). Thank You that once we put our trust totally in Your miraculous love, we always find a victorious way through every negative circumstance we face (2 Corinthians 4:8; Romans 8:28; Jeremiah 29:11).

Thought for the Day:

God gives us grace for today and hope for tomorrow. - Ecclesiastes 9:4

Centered Focus

 

Salvation comes in stages. If we happily camp around the salvation of our spirit, we miss the glory of the redemption of our soul. One day we will also experience the glorification of our body when Christ appears for His Saints (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Once we realize that the divinity of Christ and all of the power of the complete triune Godhead live within every Born Again Believer, a new enthusiasm produces constant praise from our lips to God’s ears (2 Peter 1:3). We no longer view our self as a grubby worm inching around in the world of selfishness and sin.

Instead, we see our self as beautiful butterflies soaring in the Heavenly, spiritual realm of life. God calls His elect and then reveals Himself in us. He has a purpose for each of our lives (Ephesians 1:11). He loves us with His abundant, ageless and everlasting love (Psalm 25:6; Jeremiah 31:3). We are totally dependent upon Jesus for our direction, health and provision moment by moment throughout the day (Ephesians 1:9; Philippians 2:12-13). Through our connection to the Vine, the life of Christ flows through us by His Spirit and we produce much fruit for the Kingdom of God (John 15:8).

Through our union with Christ, we shed the shackles of our sin nature and submit to the dealings and leadings of God in our life (1 Corinthians 1:30). As branches in the Vine of Christ, we experience God as our husbandman. He prunes the flesh from us so more spiritual fruit grows (John 15:1, 5). We walk out of the bondage to carnality and into the glorious freedom of the sons of God (Romans 8:21). Jesus is our center and God is the focus of our life. We seek to do His will in our job, community, church, extended family and home. If we walk in the darkness of self and sin, we stumble and fail in our attempts (John 11:10).

As we walk in the light of Christ, we find fulfillment in living out His will for our life (1 John 1:7). God’s wisdom, grace, love and supernatural abilities reside within us in Jesus Christ and are always available to meet all of our needs (1 Corinthians 1:30). As we make every effort to walk in peace with God, He renews our soul and makes us blameless and spotless at His coming (2 Peter 3:14). Our perseverance in our walk with God, guarantees that we will not stop short of His glorious riches, which He prepared for us before time began (Romans 9:23). We will steadily walk into complete maturity in Christ (James 1:4).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, as we abide in You throughout the day, Your wisdom, grace, love and peace manifest in our life and out into the world around us. As we abide in You, You provide us with a dedicated life full of the wisdom, strength and Godly conviction, which we need to further Your Kingdom in our world. We look forward to the day when we can also walk in Your power, so You can make a true difference in others through our life.

Thought for the Day:

Undistracted devotion to God allows us to tap into all of His power and majesty in order to live our life as Elijah, Moses and Enoch did.