A Reflection of God's Glory

 

God is always waiting with open arms to embrace us at any moment in which we care to cast our self on Him. He inhabits eternity and uses all of His power and authority to meet the needs of our body, soul and spirit.

As we walk as a fragrant gift in surrender to God’s will, we savor the sweet love, which Christ gives to us (Ephesians 5:1-2). He is our strong tower and our everlasting Father. Even if we fall, we are never utterly cast down, because He sustains us in His hand (Psalm 37:24; Song of Solomon 8:3).

God made a new covenant with us; different than the one He made with those who lived during the Old Testament times. He created this new covenant in Christ; and it gives us all of the rights and privileges of His spirit-filled, adopted heirs.

God's Spirit transforms us through the experiences we have each day. He teaches us through our participation in life to trust God, because of His faithfulness to us. As the Holy Spirit directs us, we learn to lay our life down for God as Christ did.

We learn of Jesus' character and divine nature through His inspired Words in the Bible (2 Peter 1:4). We read about Saints of old who actually experienced face-to-face encounters with Him. We learn to trust Him with our life, because they did (Exodus 24:15-17).

He satiates us through all of our being with all of His fullness and we grow in our intimacy with Him on a daily basis (Ephesians 3:16-19, Amplified Bible). Our love relationship deepens as we focus on Him and totally surrender every aspect of our life to Him.

Prayer:

Father God, Jesus was in Your very form and equal to You even while He existed in this earthly realm (Philippians 2:6). This same glory abides within each Believer due to Christ abiding in us (Colossians 1:15). In Christ there is no fading of Your glory as was Moses' experience after his time with You on the mountain (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Remind us that our words and behavior are also a reflection to the world of Your character. If we walk in the flesh, we tarnish Your name and cause people to speak evil of You. Lead us in paths of righteousness for Your name's sake (Psalm 23:3). Help us to reflect Your glory so they will see Your power and majesty and come to believe in You as we do.

Thought for the Day:

God fellowshipped with man in the Garden of Eden during the cool of the day, from the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies, and now through Jesus as He dwells in the spirit of every authentic Believer. - Genesis 3:8; Exodus 2:21-22, 33:11

Internal Calm

 

Once we go to the Cross of Christ and surrender our sin-filled life, the Spirit brings forth new life through His fruit and He starts to rid us of every obstacle that blocks His flow.

The more we allow sin to rule in our flesh, the more trials we endure. The quicker we relinquish our self-centeredness to God, the less tribulation we encounter.

Our attitude about life changes from earthly to spiritual. When God’s Spirit fills us, we cannot help praising Him. We even wake up with a song flowing through our mind.

Natural issues no longer bother us. We truthfully do not care where we live, what we eat or how many earthly possession we accumulate. In fact, we prefer the simplicity of life over the clutter of possessions and a stress-filled life.

We do not allow life to rob us of our peace, joy and contentment. Christ in us triumphs over sin in us. We are free from the power of sin, because we now live in our true identity in union with Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Prior to salvation, our spirit is dead in sin (Ephesians 2:5). After Salvation, our humanity is dead to sin. We die with Christ through His death and we can no longer live in habitual sin (Romans 6:2, 6:5, 7:4; 2 Corinthians 5:14).

If we keep on living in sin, it is because Christ is not living within us (Romans 6:1-2). Although we are not yet perfect, we press on to attain this goal, because it is possible through Christ’s divinity within us (Philippians 3:12).

Prayer:

Father God, once we realize that we are dead to sin, then we enjoy a fresh new life. We identify with Jesus’ resurrection and walk in union with Him (Romans 6:4-5). In Him all of our needs are met according to Your glorious riches (Philippians 4:19). Your abundant and unconditional love flows over us like a waterfall and we are complete in Jesus (Colossians 2:10).

Thank You for giving life to our mortal bodies through Your Spirit who indwells us (Romans 8:11). Our physical body will tire from exertion, but we have Your supernatural energy in our body, soul and spirit because Christ lives His life in and through us. You give us Your peace so our hearts will not be afraid or anxious in times of trouble (John 14:27).

Thought for the Day:

Even when our soul is troubled, we find hope in God's faithfulness to us and to those in our world all around us. - Psalm 42:11

Created for God

Did you ever wonder why the earth's axis holds its exact degree of slant and stays in its exact obit? If it did not do this, we would all be frozen or burned up.

It is only due to God's great love and compassion that we are not consumed. His care for us never fails. It is new every single morning because God is faithful. This fact gives us unending hope.

The Lord is our provider as we wait upon Him. He is good to those who quietly hope in Him and concentrate the largest portion of our energy on seeking Him and the fullness of His salvation (Lamentations 3:21-26).

At times, we feel like the Lord does not really care about us. That is only because we have unrealistic expectations of Him that are not part of His will for our life.

We treat Him like a genie in a bottle created to grant our wishes, rather than as our Lord and King who created us to do His will with our life.

If we align our will with His, we are never disappointed in the answers to our prayers, because we pray in the Spirit rather than in our flesh.

We are taught by false prophets to claim Biblical promises, as if this puts God under obligation to us to do our will. He provides His promises to encourage us, not to give us some weapon to use against Him; which by the way, does not work and just leaves us frustrated.

God never changes. His mercy never fails us. His goodness is everlasting. His love is eternal. He is under no obligation to grant our wishes or to do our bidding. Instead, He requires that we lay down our life every day, take up His cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24; Numbers 23:19; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17).

Prayer:
Father God we often weave a tangled web with the circumstances of our life and then expect You to get us out of the mess we made. When we live in the center of Your will, Christ strengthens us to accomplish everything which You call us to do. You make us more than conquerors over the issues of life which You allow us to encounter, not over the jumble we create by our self-centered pursuit of this world.

In You we find peace, joy and boldness to walk in Your ways, which are so superior to our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). Remind us that at the moment of salvation You move into our life, abiding there and desiring for us to get out of the way and to allow You to use us to accomplish all that You created us to do.

Thought for the Day:

As we live fully in each present moment, with no expectations or goals of our own, we can more easily follow the leading of God's Spirit and walk in the center of His will; we hope in God alone, instead of hoping that He meets what we think are our needs.