Living In God's Presence

Many people are too busy to hear the call of God's Spirit within them to abide alone in His presence and to come and rest a little while. We fill our days and nights with chores and activities, and then sit in front of the TV or radio if we have a moment to spare! 

We also have texting, instant messages, and social media to keep us occupied; sometimes, even after we turn off the light and go to bed! God's Spirit is calling us to cease from our labors and to enter into God's rest (Hebrews 4:1-10). 

God captivates us and draws us closer to Him with each passing day. He calls us to wait on Him and to luxuriate in His holiness, love, peace and joy. In our spirit, we experience the delights of fellowshipping with the Spirit of the King of Kings. We focus only on God and tune out the world around us.

Our desire for intimacy with God increases daily. In our quiet times, He reveals to us the truths of His Word and the answers to our questions. We choose to make our self available to service in any area, which God highlights for us to do. 

We live in more and more victory over sin and more peace in our soul (Isaiah 26:3). The angel of the Lord camps all around us to protect and care for us (Psalm 34:7). The divine nature of Christ replaces the carnal nature of our humanity (2 Peter 1:4). 

We are more spiritually minded and we care less about the aspects of this world. We sit at Jesus' feet and soak up His presence, even if we sit in companionable silence. We eventually physically leave this place of solitude, but we remain there spiritually through each moment of the day.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that we can come to the place where we live in Your presence and never leave. We can carpool the children, give our boss 100% of our effort, provide for our family and nurture our mate as we dwell under the shadow of Your wings. 

We can view life's disappointments, heartbreaks and successes from Your eyes and react to life's stresses with Your character rather than our human nature.You fill our entire being with Your presence and You make us Yours forevermore.

Thought for the Day:

We continually remain in God's presence each moment of the day and walk in His Spirit to accomplish the works, which He calls us to perform. -  Ephesians 2:10

The Power of the Trinity

 

The only way to have the power of God’s Spirit in our life is to spend time with God all throughout the day. Seek Him first before you make any decision and He will direct your steps (Proverbs 3:5-6). Serving God from our own self-effort is useless. God already planned works for us to do before we were ever born, and He wants us to function in them (Ephesians 2:10).
 

Sin breaks our fellowship with God. We do not have the spiritual support or power of the Trinity when we sin. If we attempt to use our flesh to perfect our flesh, we will certainly spin our wheels and end up frustrated. Every sin is from the flesh and widens the gap between God and us, because it grieves His Spirit. 

God’s Spirit is in the transforming business. The church at Pentecost started by the unction of the Holy Spirit and that is the only way we can function today too. We must be Spirit-led. The Spirit deals with one area of our life at a time. Negative emotions are a red flag to alert us to something wrong in our life. Take that negative emotion to God and ask Him to show you the real underlying cause of it. 

We may have a need that we can meet for our self. There is nothing wrong with this. Maybe we need to repent of sin, or ask for God’s healing if we are sick in body or soul, or change our focus about the issue or to realize that we are clinging to the flesh or serving an idol in our life. As we humble our self before the mighty hand of God, He will exalt us in His due time (James 4:10).

Prayer:

Father God, our human nature takes the path of least resistance. We do not want to do hard things. We want life handed to us and for everything to work out perfectly without any effort on our part. Life never works out perfectly. Our only hope of success is to draw near to You and submit to the working of Your Spirit within us. You give us both the desire and the power to serve You (Philippians 2:12-12).

Thought for the Day:

If we wait upon the Holy Spirit to come with His omnipotent will and anointed power, we will see great things happen by His hand in our own lives and in the life of our churches.

Long-Range Dividends

 
There are times in our life when Christians might pursue the lusts of the flesh and step outside of their fellowship of God. They eat the bread of idleness and wickedness (Proverbs 31:27, 4:17). Then they reap the bread of affliction and adversity (1 Kings 22:27; Isaiah 30:20). As a result, they end up eating the bitter bread of the tears and sorrows of the mourner (Psalm 80:5, 127:2; Hosea 9:4).

There are consequences of our sins, even as Believers. Sin robs us, and it always inflicts negative, long-range dividends on us. God promises to chastise those whom He loves. We can rejoice when this happens, because it proves that we are sons and not without God's Spirit within us (Hebrews 12:7). We actually learn to forgive others because God forgives us.

Jesus taught His disciples to forgive seventy times seven times (Matthew 18:21-23). This is not a limiting number, but shows the limitless love and forgiveness God has for us. When we come to Christ through salvation, we no longer live life our way, because we are now dead and hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). We live in union with the Father, Son and Spirit (John 10:30).


We are dead and buried with Him, but also raised in Him to a whole new life (Romans 6:4). Jesus took our sin nature and nailed it to the cross, paying the penalty of our sins for us. Now, Christ lives through us and we express His righteousness in our lives (Romans 3:14). We no longer live for our self, but for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:15), because Jesus is the source of our spiritual life.


Christ in us unites us with the Kingdom of God, which gives us light and love, even in the darkest trial we may traverse in this world (1 Chronicles 16:34). The will of God should set the course for our life and determine the choices we make (Ephesians 2:10). Christ in us is our hope of living in glory with God both now and throughout eternity (Colossians 1:27), which pays great dividends.


Prayer:

Lord Jesus, the entire world was created through You (Ephesians 3:9), and only in You does anything exist. You hold everything together (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:17). This proves that You are not far from any one of us; especially if we live, move and have our existence in You (Acts 17:27-28). We learn to love, because You first loved us enough to suffer and die for us (1 John 4:19). You died, but You live again both in heaven and in all of Your Saints. This is the most convincing evidence that You are our God.


Thought for the Day:

When we love the basest person on earth; we are, in fact, loving Christ, and reaping His rewards. – Matthew 25:31-46

 

Choose You This Day

Choose You This Day - Joshua 24:15

God gave the earth to Adam and Eve and their descendants. However, when they believed Satan’s lie over God’s truth, the first couple promptly gave up ownership of the earth to Satan. God already planned for this contingency, however. He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to free us from Satan’s control and to eventually take back dominion over the earth in the Millennium.

God gives everyone the right to choose between Him and Satan. If we put our trust in God, He will work out all things, even the negative aspects in our life, for our good (Romans 8:28). When we give God control of our life, even our setbacks and idiosyncrasies are not failures, just detours to put us at the right place at the right time for Him to use us to further His Kingdom in the earth. He is in control of our victories as well, and we cannot take any credit for them (Ephesians 2:8-10).

If we say that we have fellowship with God, yet we habitually live in sinful habits, we are lying (1 John 1:6, 2:3-4,). If we love the world, then the love of God is not in us. We are not truly Born Again, and our spirit is still dead in sin (1 John 2:15; Ephesians 2:1). Even if we prayed the sinner’s prayer and got baptized, all we did was get wet! If we truly know that He is in us, and we are in Him, then we walk and live and act in the same manner in which Jesus walked  (1 John 2:5-6). This deeper walk with Christ brings us lasting joy (1 John 1:1-4).

We base our identity, not on the roles we have in this life, but on our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. These roles may change, but our relationship with Christ can only change by getting deeper. We grow in unity with Christ and the Father by immersing our day in His Word and in His will. As we read the Bible and meditate on it, we allow it to conform us to the nature of Christ (Romans 12:2), His Spirit guides us and we walk in His truth throughout the day (Romans 8:14).

Through His mercy, our righteous God listens to our prayers, answers us when we call to Him and gives us liberation from our anguish on this earth (Psalm 4:1). We hear the voice of God within us, and we spend our time consciously seeking the glory of God and living in His presence moment by moment throughout the day. We walk in victory over our sins, success over our enemies and achievements that last for eternity, not just for our lifetime.

Prayer:

Father God, we thank You for Your grace and mercy in our life. You continually keep Your promises and show patience with us all. You do not want to see anyone perish, but for everyone to come to the saving knowledge of Your Son (2 Peter 3:9; John 3:16-18). You are gracious to Your Saints and You shower us with compassion (Isaiah 30:18). Help us to walk worthy of Your calling on our life, so we can enjoy Your blessings now and for all eternity (Ephesians 4:1; Colossians 1:10).

Thought for the Day:

The rapture of the church could happen at any moment. Your ticket to the rapture is your salvation in Jesus Christ.






Thank you, Dawn Ritzert, for the use of your photo.

Intimate Communication

 

We owe our ability to enjoy an intimate relationship with the Creator of the Universe to the sacrifice made for us by Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:9). We were slaves to sin. However, through Christ’s completed work, we are now alive through Him, and He is living His life in us and through us (Galatians 2:20). Even when we fail in the battle against the flesh (Romans 7:16), His forgiveness is only a prayer away. God’s mercy is new for us each morning. With the rising of the sun He faithfully pours out His great love on us all (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Intimate communication with God is hindered by our sins (1 John 1:6; Habakkuk 1:13). It breaks our fellowship with God, which is only restored through repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Our relationship to one another can also obstruct our fellowship with God. If we forgive one another, then God can forgive us; however, if we refuse to forgive, our Father cannot forgive us either (Matthew 6:14-15, 18:35). This definitely hinders our companionship with the Trinity.

God’s mercy is no excuse for deliberate sin (1 John 3:9). Our lawless behavior breaks His heart (Genesis 6:5-6; James 4:17). Even so, He faithfully forgives our transgressions throughout our lifetime (1John 1:9). Even the mundane parts of our life, such as what we eat or drink, affect our relationship with God. Everything we do and say as self-proclaimed Christians is a reflection on God’s glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). That limits our choices quit a bit, but still gives us plenty of wholesome options to enjoy. Biblical Truth slowly replaces our former belief systems and we act accordingly.

God is just, but He is also merciful. The universe and each inhabitant of it continue to survive due to the endless grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10). There will come a terrible day of His wrath, however, and the wise will pay attention and repent (Revelation 14:10). As we study God’s Word and spend time with Him in intimate communion, our understanding of spiritual concepts grows (James 4:8; Proverbs 2:3-5). We are less encumbered by negative attitudes and emotions, and the peace and joy of the Spirit fill our soul to overflowing.

As we learn to reverence the Lord, He gives us His wisdom and knowledge on which to base our decisions (Proverbs 1:7). Since the Holy Spirit conforms us into the image of Christ, our sin nature diminishes more each day (Galatians 5:16, 25). We are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Our old carnal, sinful, hell-bent character is slowly replaced by the dependence and trust of a child of God (2 Corinthians 5:17). God knows each of us so intimately that He numbers the hairs on each individual head (Matthew 10:30). Our intimacy with God is a privilege to enjoy and cherish.

Apart from God we are basically useless (John 15:5). However, if we walk in the light of His truth, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with God and with one another, because the blood of Jesus purifies us from all of our sins (1 John 1:7). God seals us with His mark of ownership (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). We are not our own, because Jesus bought us with the price of His crucifixion (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Our union with Him is unconditional and guaranteed (Ephesians 1:13-14: Romans 8:38-39).

Prayer:

Father God, confessing our sin is similar to apologizing to those friends and family members whom we offend. Yet, for human beings, this is one of the hardest choices to make. Apologizing takes great humility. Our pride stands in our way and limits our obedience to Your directives. Help us to humble our self under Your mighty hand (1 Peter 5:6). As far as it depends on us, help us to live in peace with everyone (Romans 12:18). Keep us as the apple of Your eye and draw us ever closer to Your heart (Psalm 17:8, 34:18).

Thought for the Day:

God’s unfailing love is a priceless treasure. - Psalm 36:7

Filling The Empty Void Within

Read: John 1:12-13

“So don't be surprised when I say, 'You must be born again.' ” - John 3:7

God originally created us in His image as triune beings (Genesis 1:27). Adam and Eve had a spirit, soul and body. God created our spirit to have fellowship with Him and to bring Him glory. He wants mankind to dwell with Him for all eternity. He even created Paradise for us to live in, and God considered this arrangement very good (Genesis 1:31).

However, when Adam and Eve sinned, the spirit within each of them died. They still possessed a body and soul – mind, will and emotions – but they and all future generations had no connection with God because of their disobedience. In today’s society we say, “I love his/her spirit.” The truth is that what we admire is the spark and passion in the human soul. Unless a person is Born Again, their spirit is dead in trespasses and sins (John 3:7; Ephesians 2:1,5).

The dead spirit within each person forms a void, an emptiness that we spend a lifetime trying to fill. People investigate every sort of substitute to alleviate this bareness. They use drugs, alcohol, advancing their education or career, physical and emotional relationships, hobbies, gambling, pets, humanistic causes and service to other people in order to fill this hollow space inside of them. We yearn for and even feel faint at times for the presence of God in our life. Our whole being cries out for the living God (Psalm 84:1-2). However, we have no idea that only a relationship with Him will fill this deep void in our life.

In fact, we ignore this desire and look for satisfaction in fleshly, carnal pursuits instead of the spiritual ones. Of course, some people do look for fulfillment from religion and spirituality; but they find no real fulfillment, because they are not following God’s Truth. At the end of their life, many wise people tell us that most of the activities humans pursue are meaningless and are like chasing after the wind (Ecclesiastes 1:14). People reject the simple truth of Christ and His sacrifice for us on Calvary’s cross; when the only true remedy is for our spirit to be Born Again through repentance and salvation.

The only antidote for a troubled and anxious soul is to develop a deep and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Repentance leads to the restoration of our position as a child of God (Romans 8:16). With this position come peace, joy and righteousness in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). We obtain wisdom beyond our experience and years, because the Holy Spirit gives it to us when we ask for it (James 1:5). Our relationship with Christ eradicates stress and helps us to walk in a peace, which transcends human reasoning (Philippians 4:7). God also writes our name in the Lamb’s Book of Life and guarantees us a place in heaven (Revelation 21:27).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we pray for all of our loved ones who do not have a saving relationship with You. We ask that You work in their lives, drawing them ever closer to Your heart with each new day. We thank You for giving us the right to become Your children. We thank You for our salvation and we ask that You help us to deny the flesh and to take up Your cross daily as we follow You (Matthew 16:24). Thank You for giving our spirit a new birth, so that we can live with You now and always (1 Peter 1:3).

Thought for the Day:

“Jesus washed away our sins, giving us new birth and a new life through the Holy Spirit.” – Titus 3:5