Our Patched​ Humanity

Through a lifetime of fighting the circumstances, which life deals out to us, we are so encumbered by bandages that it is hard to function. Our body and soul often end up bruised, broken, patched up and in the hospital - on crutches, just to traverse our day. Our spirit is already dead in sin, and no help to us at all (Ephesians 2:1).

Once we come to Christ through salvation, He heals us from the inside out. Our works of righteousness have no influence over God's love for us or our eternal standing; but they are very necessary for our wedding garment as the Bride to our Savior, King Jesus (Revelation 19:8).

We start to focus more on the spiritual, eternal aspects of life rather than the humanistic, temporal issues. Life is no longer about us; but Christ is now our whole life (Colossians 3:3-4).

Even when our faith wanes, He helps our unbelief (Mark 9:24). Our spirit is perfect; but our soul - our thoughts, choices and feelings - is still in the process of healing and maturing in His faith within us (Galatians 2:20).

God elevates us as His adopted children and we no longer depend on our self (Ephesians 1:5). We turn our faith toward Christ and we live by the direction of His Spirit. His peace floods our soul and our pent-up anger dissolves (Isaiah 26:3).

God's Spirit conforms us to the mind of Christ and transforms our nature to Christ's divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). He exchanges our human weaknesses with God's strength; so we can do all things through Christ's presence within us (2 Corinthians 13:4; Philippians 4:13).

Prayer:

Father God, often when we pray, our mind is full of what we did and did not say or do. We cannot get in touch with our true needs, because we are not listening to our own soul. We are not listening to Your Spirit either, who wants to pray and function through us.

Yet, as we spend our time in complete and anxious-free prayers of praise, we learn to live unencumbered by things of this earth. We enter into a life of praising and worshipping our living Lord. As we trust in You alone, You make all things work together for our good (Romans 8:28). Our faith is built and strengthened as we see Your faithfulness in our life.

Thought for the Day:
Journaling our thoughts, feelings and prayers allows us to empty our soul from its load of cares and concerns; when we look back over what we wrote and the prayers of our year, we see God's hand, working in the details our life.

Deliverance from Evil

 

God is the Holy One of Israel; yet, He cares for each one of us individually, regardless of our circumstances. He is our redeemer and our strong tower (Isaiah 41:13-14; Psalm 46:1).

He actually holds our hand when we are afraid, and He promises to help each one of us. When we allow fear to overwhelm us, we fall into its trap; but when we trust the Lord, He keeps us safe (Proverbs 29:25; Psalm 34:4).

We see how Jesus calmed the storms for His disciples, and He abides within us and protects us as well (Mark 4:39-40). The angel of the Lord actually camps around those who honor God with their life, and He delivers us (Psalm 34:7).

Even if we are reviled or falsely accused when we are living righteously, God will reward us for it. Regardless of what any person says about us or threatens us with He is our defense (1 Peter 3:14; Deuteronomy 3:22).

God places His redeeming hand on our life, encourages us not to give place to fear and reminds us that He is our all in all (Revelation 1:17). He took on the form of a man in order to save us.

All He asks of us is to believe in Him (Mark 5:36). In failing to believe, we condemn our self to eternal damnation (John 3:18). In our belief, we accept God's eternal plan for our life (John 3:6-17).

Nothing we do, think or say, or anything that is in heaven or on the earth, can separate us from God's love (Romans 8:38-39). We are eternally His child and He loves us unconditionally.

Prayer:

Father God, You actually rejoice over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). We dwell in the shadow of Your wings and You give us shelter and rest. You are our refuge and fortress in this world of unrest, and we trust in You. Your faithfulness is a shield and strong tower for us. We have nothing to fear in the day or the night.

You give Your angels charge over us to keep us. Even if we fall, they are there to sustain and guard us. Since we love You, You rescue us, and You protect us when we walk in Your will and ways. We call on You and You answer us, deliver us and give us honor in any sort of trouble (Psalm 91:1-16).

Thought for the Day:

Since the Lord is with us, there is no reason for us to feel fear. Man can do nothing to us if God is right there with us, helping us and delivering us from every sort of evil. 

- Psalm 118:6-7

Abundant Living through Christ in Us

 

Life is a struggle…until we realize that we are struggling for no reason. With Christ dwelling within us, the only struggle we really have is to enter into His rest (Hebrews 4:11).

It is a struggle to enter His rest, because it is so hard for human beings to lay down our goals, plans and dreams and to stop relying on our human efforts and talents.

Our goal as authentic Believers is to totally surrender to God in every area of life. Dwelling in Christ allows us to succeed at living in serenity and fulfillment all of the time (John 17:23).

It is useless to dream of or to wish for a problem-free life. In this world, we are guaranteed to have problems (John 16:33). However, they are not our problems to handle. They are God's problem.

Christ in us has all the wisdom and resources needed to meet our problems and to solve them. He turns them into adventures and opportunities for us, and He works them out through us during each moment of our day.

We see life from a different perspective, through God's eyes; and even our trials take on a new meaning. We learn patience through the negative aspects of life as we also learn to praise God in them and for them.

We make our requests known to Him with gratitude in our heart for all He has already done for us. This builds our faith to know that He has our future worked out for us as well.

Allowing the Holy Spirit of God to control our spirit, body and soul – our mind, choices and emotions - gives us the privilege to live an abundant life in Christ.

With His strength and peace, we can face any trial with His praises on our lips and His joy in our hearts (Romans 8:6; Psalm 29:11). He provides all of our needs according to His glorious riches.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, all that You require from us is that we obey Your Spirit's direction, and that we allow You to work in and through us. You desire for us to take a step back and to view the issues of life through Your eyes. We hide under the shelter of Your wings and live with joy in our heart and a smile on our face, no matter how disturbing or challenging life becomes.

The more we allow You to live through us, the easier we walk in this realm of faith and Spirit. We center our mind and emotions on You and we walk in complete peace (Isaiah 26:3-4; John 14:27). You deal with the temporal aspects in our life, as we focus on the spiritual aspects moment by moment throughout the day (Galatians 5:15-25; Isaiah 41:10-13; Matthew 6:33).

Thought for the Day:

“The love of Christ controls us.” - 2 Corinthians 5:14

Freed from Bondage

 

If we are interested, God will teach us His ways and help us to walk on His paths (Psalm 25:4). He forgives us, defends us, provides for us and takes revenge for us on those who inflict harm on us in any way.

God takes the persecution of His Saints personally and He will avenge His own (Acts 9:4; Romans 12:19). It is easier for us to forgive others when we know that God will take them off our hook and put them firmly on His.

They will not escape their punishment from Him (Luke 17:2). Our forgiveness of them does not exonerate them from the wrong they perpetrated on us, but it frees us from being in bondage to them through our unforgiveness.

When we exact the revenge our self, it shows a lack of faith in God's protective care for us. We do not believe God cares or can make the person pay for what they did or said to us.

Attempting to vindicate our self leads us into trouble which often makes matters worse and leaves us more vulnerable than ever before (Deuteronomy 32:35-36; Romans 12:19; Hebrews 10:30).

When we view life from a temporal rather than an eternal viewpoint, we often think that God is taking too long to make things right.

We also overlook our call from God to function in the ministry of reconciliation (Ephesians 1:18), and that we are filled with God's Spirit and firmly established in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

God's Spirit gives us the advantage in life by providing us with power in spiritual warfare, which is where much of our abuse by others is initiated (Mark 3:14-15).

Prayer:

Father God, open the eyes of our understanding and enlighten us of Your exceeding power within us. Show us the glory of our inheritance with Your Saints (Ephesians 1:18-20). Open our eyes and spiritual ears and teach us to walk in Your Spirit. Teach us to draw our strength, wisdom and grace from Your Spirit who abides within us.

Thank You for removing us from the Kingdom of darkness and freeing us from Satan's bondage over our life through Christ in us. Reveal to us the extent of Your power within us and teach us how to use it for Your glory and to further Your Kingdom on the earth.

Thought for the Day:

Our lack of power in our Christian walk stems from the fact that we do not fully understand our identity in Christ and the power of His Spirit within us.