You Will Be Amazed

 

Most people have no idea how electricity, the weather, the human body or the universe works, but we believe these things nonetheless. We do not have to understand God’s mysteries to believe them either. God’s Kingdom is full of mysteries, which God asks us to fully embrace, even if we do not actually understanding how they work. For instance, Christ dwells in us by His Spirit, works through us, and we abide in Him. We believe this by faith.

We did not acquire our talents, skills, resources and energy by our human efforts. God gave them to us. He does not want us to use them for Him. We get in His way when we try to work for God on our own. God wants to use these assets through us. He wants us to realize that we are actually dead, and we are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). We have no human ability to accomplish anything for God. We simply need to stop our human efforts, enter His rest (Hebrews 4:10), and allow Him to use our body, soul and spirit for His glory.

We do not need to understand this in order to follow God’s directions. We simply surrender to His will each day and go where the Spirit leads us. We work and bless others wherever He directs us. We come to know Christ more intimately with each moment we spend in fellowship with Him. He already prepared works that He wants to accomplish through us (Ephesians 2:8-10). We just need to get out of God’s way and give Him full reign with our life.

We do not need any program to witness or to help other people, because Christ will work instead of us. He wants to use our spirit, body and soul – our mind, choices and emotions – to accomplish His will in our world. We simply abide in Christ as He dwells in us. We cease from our human efforts and allow Christ to accomplish His will through us. We will say and do what the Spirit directs, and we will be amazed at all He accomplishes by the end of our day.

Prayer:

Father God, fill us through all of our being with all of Your fullness (Ephesians 3:16-19). We submit to Your Spirit, unreservedly cling to Christ and refuse to rely on our own understanding any longer. We believe that Christ will do His work through the power of Your Spirit instead of us. We do not want to hinder You by our need to understand or to control our activities. We totally surrender to Your will and direction moment by moment. 

Thought for the Day:

The sap of God’s Spirit flows through us and bears fruit, sometimes in spite of us!

 

Dynamite Power

The word “dunimis”, pronounced “doo’-nam-is”, is the root for our word “dynamite”. It means to have the power residing within, by virtue of its nature. It allows a person or thing to put forth this dynamite power for performing spectacular events. This is the same word used to describe the power by which Jesus raised Himself from the dead. Jesus claimed that no one could take His life from Him and only He had the “dunimis” power to raise it up again (John 10:18).

Once we come to Christ through salvation, all of this “dunimis” power is also resident within us. It is equal to a zillion fireworks going off inside of us at one time. Christ’s light shines in our hearts. We radiate Christ to the world in the same way that a light bulb radiates light. The light does not come from the bulb, but from the electricity flowing to the bulb. The power in us does not come from us, but from God’s “dunimis” power working in us and lighting up our world through us.

We contain Christ in the same way that a glass contains water. The container is not the object of focus, the water is. We usually do not pick up a glass to admire it, but to drink from it. Although we are simple “clay jars”, made from the dust of the earth, we contain God’s greatest treasure, Jesus Christ, who actually lives within every Born Again Believer (Colossians 1:27). Satan wants us to focus on our failings, and he tries to make us feel like failures. However, if Christ is in us, although our body is dead in sin, God’s Spirit gives us life (Romans 8:10). God fills us with His Spirit to sanctify us and to complete us in Christ (1 Corinthians 6:11; Colossians 2:10).

When we recognize the truth that we are dead and our life is hidden with Christ in God, we step aside and allow Christ to live through us (Colossians 3:3; Galatians 2:20). Our light will shine so brightly that people will see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16). 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). We do not focus on the mundane activities of life. We keep our mind on Christ and live in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3).

There is a balance between living in the flesh and living in the Spirit. The key is to walk in the Spirit 24/7. That is a challenge at first, but it gets easy with practice. We follow His peace within our spirit, and do not consider human logic and reasoning. Christ in us wants to live His life through us, while we work at our job, care for our home and family and community, and minister to our church family. We just follow the leading of God's Spirit moment by moment and we live in fullness of joy, even in negative circumstances (Psalm 16:11). Our Father is always well pleased with us (Matthew 3:17).

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.






Thank you, Flowers With Heart, for the use of your photo.

Fairytale or Reality

Read: Acts 19:8-10

“As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything." - Ecclesiastes 11:5 (NKJV)

Paul appealed to the people in his day, and quite successfully convinced many of them about God’s reality. Others refused to believe the Gospel, and some even mocked it. The same is true today. Since scientists cannot examine God under a microscope they explain Him away. They have no proof of the origin of electricity, the wind or magnetism either; yet, they accept these assumptions as facts. With God, however, since they cannot prove Him scientifically, they dismiss Him as a fairytale. This is not consistent, nor is it logical.

Not only can we see the handiwork of God in our universe, we can also see the consequences of His work in a Believer’s life. The miscreant transforms into a productive citizen, the selfish woman considers her family first, and the wandering husband spends his time at home every night.

I thank God that He is not finite and measurable; but that He dwells in infinity. I would not want to serve a God, which I can categorize, allegorize and automatize. I much prefer serving a God that I can apotheosize.

Prayer ~ Lord Jesus, Your Spirit creates a difference in our thoughts, words, and actions. Till the soil in the lives of those around us, so that we can successfully plant the seed of Your truth.

Thought For The Day ~ As long as Believers live in our universe, there is absolute proof that God is real!