Spirit over Matter

 

Our spirit is our dwelling place with God. When we live in the center of God's Will, we dwell in the heavenly realm and everything that happens to us is in the sphere of His purpose and control.

As we view any circumstance from within our spirit, the physical and emotional and mental aspects of the event are outside of our dwelling place and have no real effect on who we really are in Christ.

We know without a doubt that He has an eternal purpose for us in any experience and that He will work out all of the details for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).

Even physical illness, loss, relational issues, financial disaster and every other negative incident which may occur are in His control. We can rest in His everlasting arms through it all.

If we happen to slip out of our spirit and allow our self to feel the emotion or physical pain of the experience, then it affects us negatively. But in the spirit, it cannot touch us.

Jesus experienced loss and grief a few times in His life. His good friend Lazarus died and Jesus wept (John 1:35). He looked out over Jerusalem and grieved for the coming destruction of His beloved city (Luke 19:41).

He sweat drops of blood as He faced the cross and begged our Father to release Him from the anguish of taking on the sin of the whole world and being rejected by God (Luke 22:44).

Yet, once He stepped back into His spirit in all of these situations, He accepted God's will over His own desires and no longer suffered any negative consequences from the trials of His body and soul (Hebrews 4:15).

This happened in my life. After an auto accident, I was bruised, bleeding, had half a face full of glass, broke my little finger and eleven ribs, and suffered a concussion and a punctured lung.

I totaled my car, but I was out of the hospital in one day, back to work as a secretary in one week, and I never took one pain pill as I slowly healed over the next three months.

That was spirit over matter with a generous helping of God's grace (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Prayer:

Father God, we know that nothing catches You by surprise and we can relax and look forward to the miracle, which You place within every trial that we encounter. You are in control regardless of what the circumstances look like or how much suffering and turmoil we experience.

As we view the experience from within our spirit, Your Spirit buffers any loss to our body or soul. We know that the suffering is occurring, but it has no effect on our attitude because we count it all joy (James 1:2-8).

Thought of the Day:

A Christian does not experience life through mind over matter, but through spirit over matter; because though we suffer loss in this world, it does not affect our eternal existence now or in the world to come.

The Blessings of God's Law

God did not give Moses the Law in order to restrict and burden the people with too many rules to keep. He gave the Law as wisdom and enlightenment of how we can live a healthy life in body, soul and spirit. Our Heavenly Father developed the Law in order to protect us from our self and from people who desire to perpetuate evil on others. The Law also leads us to our need for Christ (Galatians 3:24-26).

As we read His Word and meditate on His Law, God uses these words to caution and instruct us during our daily life. This keeps us from breaking the laws of our nation and ending up in jail, it stops us from contracting illnesses from other people, it prevents us from getting enslaved by addictions, it averts disasters in our personal relationships, etc.

God will circumvent His law in certain cases when He divinely intervenes in the circumstances of our life. For instance, if two cars are heading toward one another on a collision course, God can send His angels to prevent a wreck. We usually reap what we sow in life. Although because of God's mercy and grace, He often protects us from our own, or someone elses choices (Galatians 6:7; Isaiah 63:7-9).

In addition to His Word, God also uses His Spirit to speak to His Saints and to direct our choices (Proverbs 3:5-6). However, if we are not committing our way to the Lord and walking in His Spirit, then we will often harvest the results of our humanistic decisions. As we walk in God's will instead of our own, we are filled with peace and joy, and our life is much more fulfilled.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for Your Law, which gives us the wisdom to live productive and blessed lives. You do not want us to make our plans and ask You to bless them. Instead, You want us to hear from You and to accomplish the works You created us to do (Ephesians 2:10). In order to hear from You, we need to quiet our body, ignore the thoughts and emotions in our soul, and focus on Your still, small voice communicating with us through our spirit. Show us Your ways, and teach us Your truths as we wait on You all through the day (Psalm 25:4-5; 27:11; 86:11).

Thought for the Day:
There is no conflict between the law and promises of God; the law shows that we are all controlled by sin, but those who believe in Christ will receive God's promises. - Galatians 3:21

The Peaceful Life

Read: 1 Corinthians 3: 1-3

“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” - Romans 8:6 NKJV

Conflict is not only prevalent in modern society, but probable as well. We get so jaded in our thinking, and so fearful in our expectancy of opposition, that we end up walking through life just waiting for someone to say or do something hurtful or inflammatory. We worry that someone or something will invade our personal space and strip us of our power, control, prestige, comfort or intimacy in our relationships. Murphy’s Law is always in play; so if there is anything that can possibly go wrong, it certainly will. Nothing, not even the simplest of tasks, is ever easy.

The potential for harm is probable, and therefore, overwhelming. So, we hide behind a thick wall of suspicion and mistrust. As a consequence of living with all of this stress we bring harm to our body and soul anyway. Physically, we tend to develop ulcers, heart issues, and nerve damage; mentally, we drown in phobias, anxiety and hypochondria; as well as emotionally, we erupt with irritability, anger and defensiveness.

Our only hope of rising above the conflict is to dwell in the spiritual realm. Our goals, outlook and focus are then eternal rather than temporal. Issues that used to affect us, no longer make any impression on us at all. We recognize Jesus as the Author and Finisher of our faith, and we surrender our life to His direction. We live our days in total worship to Him.  

We can actually relax, once we realize that God has plans for us that include peace rather than disaster, plans to give us a future filled with hope (Jeremiah 29:11). When negative circumstances do arise, we have the faith that God works even these destructive events out for our good (Romans 8:28). We look forward to the days, which are coming, when God raises up a righteous Branch, King Jesus, who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land (Jeremiah 23:5). Then peace and joy will flood our lives. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All of the negative issues of life will be gone forever (Revelation 21:4).

Prayer:

Lord, help me not to allow the unknown to threaten my peace, but to totally trust in You. Help me to relinquish the control of my life to You. Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me in a level path, because of my enemies (Psalm 27:11). Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way in which I should go, for to You do I lift up my soul (Psalm 143:8).

Thought for the Day:

True peace and success only come when Jesus sets us free from the power of sin and the entanglement of this world.