A Roller Coaster Life

A life immersed in and dependent upon this world, often produces intense fear, anger and depression, which plague our days. When our peace is dependent on our circumstances, we live a roller coaster life filled with anxiety, insecurity and stress. However, when we depend on God, and walk in His will, He fills us with His peace, joy and love, regardless of our circumstances (Romans 8:31-39).

As we depend upon God's grace through our difficult circumstances, people see God's faithfulness in our life. We show them that He is trustworthy, and this gives them the opportunity to respond to His grace in their life. When we rely on God through our trials and the pressures of our daily life, we are an example of an authentic Believer to new Believers, as well as to the unsaved.

When we seek God's Kingdom first, He supplies us with everything we need: from employment to retirement, for singleness and a fulfilling career or for a marriage partner and a home in which to raise our family (Matthew 6:33). Even through rejection, dejection, opposition and persecution, the Lord delivers us from all of our troubles (Psalm 34:19). 

God's love never fails to prevent us from drowning in our daily concerns. Every morning His mercy comes to us in a fresh, new way. His faithfulness to those who hope in Him brings us only good. We wait patiently for Him and His salvation as we hope in His eternal promises (Lamentations 3:22-26). God is good all the time.

Prayer:

Father God, we often take Your goodness for granted. We overlook the myriad of blessings You provide for us all throughout our day. However, if we do pay attention, we can find the thread of Your provision and loving kindness woven throughout every aspect of our life. The only time You answer our prayers with a "No" is when our request will harm us. You always work out everything for our good (Romans 8:28).

Thought for the Day:

We can trust God with our circumstances rather than trying to work them out in our human effort.

A Brand New Life

 

God fashions the hearts of everyone on the planet and He understands all of our desperate attempts to extract meaning out of our daily struggles (Psalm 33:15). God does not judge us like people do. Human beings look at the outward appearance and we form our opinion of people, but the Lord looks at our heart (1 Samuel 16:7). He knows our thoughts and He knew all of our choices before time ever began (2 Timothy 1:9). He also knew whether or not we would strive for holiness and perfection in His sight (Ephesians 1:4).

God knew before the creation of the world if we would accept or reject Christ. He predestined those who accept His Son as their Savior to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). Our salvation does not depend upon our personal works, but on us accepting Christ’s righteousness in place of our sin (Ephesians 2:9-10; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Titus 3:5). He saves us, not because of our goodness or self-effort, but because of His mercy (Ephesians 2:8-10). He saves us by the cleansing of His rebirth and He renews us by His Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).

We are buried with Christ through baptism into His death, so that we can rise from the death caused by our sinful life to a new life in Him (Romans 6:4). We receive the Holy Spirit as the down payment of our inheritance with Christ (Romans 8:17). The Spirit leads us throughout our day in the will of God for our individual life (John 6:63). Now we can draw near to God with a clean heart, full of the assurance, which is given to us by faith. Our conscience is clean and our hearts are renewed (Hebrews 10:22). We are born of God and we overcome the world by our faith in His faithfulness (1 John 5:4).

God’s unfailing love and abundant redemption belong to anyone willing to trust only in Him. Therefore, our whole being waits for the Lord. Our soul – our mind, will and emotions - waits and hopes in His Word. We put our expectation only in Him and not on any person, job, goal or ambition (Psalm 130:5, 7). In the morning we lay our requests before Him and wait expectantly for Him to respond, because we know that He hears our prayers (Psalm 5:3). No matter how long it takes for Him to answer us, we strongly and courageously wait on Him (Psalm 27:14).

Even when He hides His face from us, we wait expectantly for Him to answer us (Isaiah 8:17). He is our only source of salvation. He is our fortress and we cannot be shaken (Psalm 62:2). He strengthens us and our joy is in His great victories on our behalf (Psalm 21:1). Our heart leaps for joy and bursts forth in songs of praise for Him, because we rely only on Him (Psalm 28:7, 59:17). We rest in Him all day long (Psalm 62:5).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, the Israelites drank water from the rock. You are our Rock and You give us living water (1 Corinthians 10:4; John 4:10). Remind us not to forsake Your precepts, because You are our spring of living water. Our broken cisterns cannot hold water, but if we believe in You, then rivers of Your living water will flow from within us (Jeremiah 2:13; John 7:38). As we rest in You and follow the leading of Your Spirit, Whom You gave to us (John 7:39), then we will accomplish all of Your works in the earth (Philippians 2:12-13).

Thought for the Day:

“We will shine like stars in the sky as we hold firmly to the word of life.”
- Philippians 2:12-13

Go Deeper - Part 2

 

Please, first read Go Deeper – Part 1,  before reading this post.

God calls us to go deeper into the river of His spiritual life. He wants an enhanced, more intimate relationship with us. The first step into the shallow water is to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior from our sinful lifestyle. We make Him the Lord of our life and desire to do only His will on a daily basis. Then we continue into ankle deep water and start the practice of weekly worship, daily devotional reading and prayer.

Some people fear the unknown and decide to live as shallow Christians rather than to totally surrender to the Will of God. It is so much easier to live in shallow carnality where we have more control over our destiny, than to trust God in the unfamiliar aspects of life in the Spirit (Galatians 5:15,25). However, God is calling us to go deeper. 

A few will slowly move deeper into the river. As the water rises up to our knees, it is darker here and murky. We cannot see where we are stepping or what is lurking beneath the surface of the water. At this level, we begin to exhibit faith in God’s faithfulness. We start attending more than one church service a week. We take notes on what we hear and we review our notes during the week. We attempt to allow the Lord to order our steps (Psalm 37:23). Many Christians want to hold onto their secret sins and they have no desire to go deeper spiritually. Yet, God is calling us even deeper.

As we get thigh deep in the river of our walk with God, we add a ministry to our weekly schedule. This allows the Lord to work through us to further His Kingdom. We are also more fully surrendering our will to the will of God and are guided by His peace, which transcends human understanding (Philippians 4:7). We find our true identity and self-worth in Him. Many Christians never go any deeper with the Lord. They just want to be fed by the Word of God. Their soul and spirit grow obese, because they continually feast at the Lord’s Table, without the exercise of giving back to the Kingdom of God. Nevertheless, God continues to call us deeper yet.

Those willing to follow God’s call this far find themselves waist deep in the river. Now, we start to spend quiet times with the Lord. We pray and listen to His voice. We praise and worship God for who He is without expecting anything in return. We fully submit our will to the will of the Father; and we relish our deepening personal relationship with the Trinity. Some people swell with spiritual pride at this point. They elect their self as judge and jury, and they constantly complain and criticize the church and its leaders. They do not want to go deeper, so they try to discourage others from going deeper as well. Nevertheless, God is calling us all deeper still. 

The water rises to our chest now. We start to lose our earthly footing as the natural buoyancy of the Spirit causes us to float. Our friends and family try to discourage us from continuing with our desire to cross the river into the Promised Land. Satan will also try to stop us at this point. He wants us to drift along in apathy. If he cannot convince us to go back to the worldly side of the river, he attempts to drape us with a complacent attitude of indifference. We dodge these arrows of the devil by putting on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6: 10-18).

As we continue to follow the Lord, the ground falls away from our feet. The water is over our head now. We must either go back to the bank, start to swim or drown. If we have the courage to swim across the river, we learn to pray without ceasing and to communicate to others what we learn in God’s Word (Hebrews 5:12-14). We may not be able to teach or to write, but we can share with anyone who will listen about God’s Truth and the peace He provides for us (John 14:27). We take up our cross daily and walk in tune with the Spirit’s direction each moment of the day and night (Luke 9:23; Galatians 5:16,25).

Incredibly, God’s Spirit leads us to go even deeper. We are almost to the Promised Land and we realize that we are either in a trial, coming out of trial, or about to go into another trial. Broken tree limbs, submerged and drawn by the current, hit us without warning. Rip currents, piranhas, eels and alligators threaten our life. We start to lose faith and spin into a spiritual spiral. As we start to drown in the circumstances of life, we totally give up our life and completely surrender to the Spirit of God. We realize that the only way to live is to die to our own desires, ambitions and goals, and to hide our life with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). It is then that we enter the Promised Land of oneness with Christ on a daily basis.

Prayer:

Father God, we trust in Your protection of us each day of our life. Life holds no surprises for You. Our committed walk unfolds before us in one accord with Your perfect will for each one of us. Even if we end up in a foreign country, in jail, in the hospital or in the nursing home, we completely surrender to Your will, because You have a ministry for us there. You are with us and Your Spirit will guide and direct us no matter where we live, or with whom we live, or even if we live quite alone. Your faithfulness gives us the faith to cross the river and to enter into this intimate union with You that is perfect and eternal.

Thought for the Day:

Will you accept the challenge and go deeper in your relationship with the Lord?