Emotional and Mental Health - The Center of God's Will

 

Most people are either on top of the world right now, or buried under the burden of frustration, discouragement and disappointment. Jesus Christ makes the difference in both of these instances.

Even if someone is totally successful and right where their goals led them over the last few years, they may be as unsatisfied and unfulfilled as they were when they started their journey to the top.

Many people give up at this point and opt for a simpler life, downgrading their salary and vocational expectations for a quieter and less stressful lifestyle.

For Believers, living in the center of God's will is the only place where we find complete contentment. He may continue to lead us in the vein in which we started - adding an altered mindset, or He may change our circumstances completely.

It all hinges on finding and fulfilling God's directives for our life (Proverbs 3:5-6). We completely surrender our will and plans to Him, and live by the direction of His Holy Spirit instead of our human desires.

Even if God leads us through some valley or trial, we find His purpose for us in it. We can witness of His mercy and grace to a fellow traveler, learn a needed lesson, view His provision for us in a whole new light, and grow in our intimacy with Him through it all (1 Peter 4:12).

We learn to depend on His Body during our trials, to grow closer to our spouse, family and church family; our faith grows in the fact that we can count on certain people to help us and that God never fails us.

Prayer:

Father God, some trials devastate us to our very core. They shake the foundations of our trust in You and our faith in humanity. Yet, we often survive these unhappy circumstances with enduring blessings that we never would have experienced without them. Remind us to focus on You in the good times and the bad, giving You praise for each instance as we focus on You - You never change (Hebrews 13:8).

Help us to see life from Your viewpoint rather than our limited, human perspective. Spur us to remain faithful to You in spite of them. We look at life now through Your unfailing love and comfort, according to Your promises and provision (Psalm 119:75-76). Demonstrate Yourself to us in all of Your power and majesty. 

Thought for the Day:

Prayerfully surrendering our trials to God allows us to gain His perspective on what seems like a turn of bad luck; we ask God's Spirit for His wisdom and direction; and we come through these times of testing with a deeper faith and stronger spiritual, mental and emotional fortitude than we ever experienced in our life in the past.

An Unveiled Mirror

I want to be an unveiled mirror, reflecting God's glory to the world all around me (2 Corinthians 3:18). There are issues in my life that prevent this from happening - they come from my fleshly, carnal nature and shroud me in a veil.

My spirit is regenerated, but my soul is not completely sanctified yet. I still have issues that prevent God's glory from shining from within me. Fears, insecurities, feelings of being overwhelmed, discouragement and an intolerance for change all block Him from being foremost in my life.

I no longer obsess over the issues that cause these negative emotions, but some of them are still in my subconscious mind, blocking the glory of God from fully shining out from my spirit.

God reveals these issues to me one at a time throughout my years of spiritual growth in Him. Sometimes one issue will solve the problem with other issues, so that we cast a net over them all at one time.

For instance, fear of change is connected to the fear of destitution. I falsely believe that as long as I maintain the status quo, I will be safe. There are just too many variables in life to maintain any status quo for very long. Life happens - and when it does, it often brings change and adversity.

So, if I lay down at God's feet this idol of wanting to stay safe, He can fill me with His faith that believes that even in adversity, God is my constant companion and champion (Luke 24:13-35). He never leaves or abandons me (Hebrews 13:5).

This builds my faith in His faithfulness, so that I can view trials as adventures and seek God's purpose even in the midst of them. Maybe He has someone for me to witness to, or a lesson for me to learn, or some ulterior motive that He may never reveal to me.

The more time that I spend in God's presence, the more I allow Him to change my personality to His fruit, the less control I attempt to maintain over my life, then the quicker He is able to sanctify my soul and the more of His glory is revealed in me.

Prayer:

Father God, You love us with Your everlasting love and draw us close to You by Your loving kindness (Jeremiah 31:3). I ask Your Holy Spirit to control my every thought, word and deed for Your glory (Colossians 3:17). Grant us according to the riches of Your glory, to be strengthened with power through Your Spirit in our inner being, as Christ dwells in our heart through faith (Ephesians 3:16-17). 

Root and ground us in Your love, flood us through all of our being with all of Your fullness, oh God; so that we may have the richest measure of Your presence and become a body wholly filled with You (Ephesians 3:18-19, Amplified Bible).

Thought for the Day:

The Lord has searched us and intimately knows us, even when we sit down and when we will get up and walk around again; He understands our thoughts, even the ones we will think in the distant future; He knows every detail of our life and is acquainted with all of our ways. - Psalm 139:1-6 

Our Eternal Destiny

Life is full of trials and opposition. We come out of one trial and slide right into another one, which is just waiting to engulf us in discouragement, loss and often physical, mental, emotional or financial ruin.

Jesus may send us into a trial, but He is right there with us - sleeping in the same boat or walking out to us on the choppy waves. He draws us close to Himself and calms the raging seas.

He sends us into the storm to prove our faith as genuine and to give us opportunities to praise, glorify and honor Him through it all. He refines our faith as gold in the smelter's pot (1 Peter 1:7).

As we look at life from God's perspective, rather than our lowly human viewpoint, He showers us with continual revelations of His love, care and provision.

His eternal plan will bring every Born Again person, as well as nature back to Himself; and restore our union with Him such as Adam enjoyed in Paradise.

We abide in Him through Christ in us and find our true identity in this personal relationship with the Trinity (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3-4). We have an eternal perspective and walk in God's will for our life.

We are spiritually alive through Christ in us, and we abide in Christ. Nothing can every pluck us out of His hand (John 10:28). He is eternal in the heavenly realm, and we dwell there with Him even now.

We possess eternal life by knowing God intimately and Jesus Christ whom He sent (John 17:3; 1 John 5:12). We will never die. Our last breath on earth is followed by our next breath in Heaven (John 11:25-26).

He gives us His divine life in exchange for our carnal one (1 John 5:11-12), His Spirit to guide us and His love to envelop us so that we may rejoice through every circumstance.

Prayer:

Father God, our glorified body will be ours when we see Jesus, either in eternity or when He returns for His Bride. Just as Jesus ate, spoke and was recognized by His disciples, we too will look very much like our self now. Our glorified body will be like His. He could walk through walls and rise into heaven unassisted. His new body was no longer subject to death.

We look forward to that immortal, resurrection body and to serving You for all of eternity. We cannot even fathom the wondrous world You prepared for us, which we know is even better than the majesty of this universe in all of its splendor. Remind us to keep a Kingdom focus through all of the trials we experience now here on earth and to look forward to spending eternity with You.

Thought for the Day:

As we live each day with eternal values and viewpoint, we mature spiritually until we come to the fullness of the stature of Christ in us. - Ephesians 4:13