School of Hard Knocks

Life often sends us through a crash course at the School of Hard Knocks. We feel overwhelmed and hopeless, because of the weight of disappointment smothering the life right out of us.

As authentic Born Again Believers, we have Father God, Brother Jesus and their Holy Spirit - who defend, protect, advise, guide, provide for and love us so much that Jesus laid down His own life for us (1 John 2:1; John 14:16, 15:13).  

We can have faith in God's faithfulness, because He proves His love for us each moment of every day. He provides a miracle to accompany every trial, such as: spiritual growth, lessons learned, or blessings, which come in spite of our suffering.

In our trials, God surrounds us with His ministering angels, provides for our needs, builds our faith, gives us wisdom to share with others, and uses us as an example of one who maintains faith in God (Hebrews 1:14; Philippians 4:19; 1 Peter 1:7; Luke 22:32).

God's Spirit uses trials to shape in us the fruit of His Spirit: love, joy, faith, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control and faith (Galatians 5:22-23; James 1:3).

God also teaches us contentment, which fills our heart regardless of the severity of the circumstances (Philippians 4:11-12). God continually abides in us through everything we ever experience (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27).

At times, Satan tempts us to blame God for our losses and to feel anger towards Him for what we perceive as Him letting us down. However, God sees the big picture and He allows trials for our ultimate good.

Prayer:

Father God, as we live through the school of hard knocks, remind us to adopt an attitude of joyful acceptance and thanksgiving. Help us to focus on Your sovereign purpose in everything we experience (Romans 8:28). Remind us to trust in Your foreknowledge and grace (Romans 8:29; Hebrews 4:16).

Your infinite ways exceed our finite human understanding; therefore, we can always trust that You have our good at heart. We trust in Your faithfulness to fulfill all of Your promises, even when the circumstances appear hopeless.

Thought for the Day:

Praising God in and through trials helps us to feel contentment in spite of them and gratitude for His presence in us through each one of them. 

- 1 Thessalonians 5:18; John 17:23

God is Infinite

 

 

The Trinity of God is a confusing concept when we attempt to understand it in human terms. It is one of those facts, which prove to us that God’s ways are infinitely more advanced than our finite mind can comprehend (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Many people attribute super-human qualities to space aliens that may or may not exist; yet, they refuse to believe that God is infinitely more superior than we are. They reduce Him to a genie to grant their wishes.

God often makes no human sense, but that is why we serve Him. He is eternal in the heavens (1 Timothy 1:17). We cannot contain Him in our little human box, because He is immeasurably greater.

God uses human terms to describe spiritual functions, so that our finite mind can understand them to the best of our ability. Yet, these infinite spiritual concepts do not quite fit into our limited understanding.  

This causes people to doubt God, the validity of the Bible and the sanity of Christ's followers. They attribute our belief to gullibility or an emotional crutch. Their spirit is dead and they cannot understand the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14).

For instance, the Trinity is actually one God who has three functions: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4; Galatians 1:1; John 1:1-18; Matthew 28:19). God functioned as Creator, Jesus serves as Savior, and the Holy Spirit inspires, comforts and guides us.

In the same manner that water is liquid, steam and solid, but still water; God is Father, Son and Spirit, but still one God. The finite discord comes in when we read that the Son is obedient to the Father, or that the Father and Son sent and direct the Holy Spirit (Luke 22:42; John 16:15).

The three are distinct, but one. Jesus made it clear that He and the Father are one (John 10:38, 14:11; 17:11, 21). Yet, He also spent much time in devotion to the Father and receiving direction from the Father.

Another instance is that God sent His only Son, the first born among many children of God, into the world to be a sacrifice for our sins (John 3:16; Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 15:20). Yet, Jesus made it clear that He laid down His own life and took it up again (John 10:18, 15:13; 1 John 3:16).

Since these ideas do not make sense in human terms, and appear to be a contradiction, then people dismiss them as rantings of male chauvinists who attempted to deceive the masses. They refuse to believe that God transcends human understanding.

Prayer:

Father God, humans tend to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel (Matthew 23:24). We make issues harder for our self than they really are. We are so glad that You are greater than we will ever humanly understand; otherwise, why would we bother to serve, glorify and honor You with our life?

We can never have enough time to praise You for all You do for us, even the tiny love notes You provide, which we take for granted. Remind us to be grateful for who You are and what You provide for us every day.

Thought for the Day:

God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit exists in perfect unity as one, yet are three distinct entities. – Gospel of John, chapters 14-16

Wise Wisdom

At times, we stay up all night with our mind whirling with issues that need a wise solution (Ecclesiastes 2:23). Solomon, the wisest man in the world, realized that following the world's wisdom is like following the wind (Ecclesiastes 1:17). 

He pursued God's wisdom instead. God's wisdom is the opposite of the world's wisdom, and it often takes faith to walk in it. The Apostle Paul tells us that the rationale of this world is futile. 

He advises us, when directed by God's Spirit, to dare to be unwise in certain temporal matters. This way we may truly become wise in eternal matters (1 Corinthians 3:18-20). 

Heavenly wisdom is not tainted by the world. It is pure, serene, tender, steadfast, sincere, sensible and full of mercy and the fruit of God's Spirit (James 3:17).

So many people miss the opportunity in their life to come to Christ, because they are so dependent on the wisdom of the world, that they miss the simplicity of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 2:21).  

Jesus Christ became the wisdom of God for us (1 Corinthians 2:24, 30). An intimate, personal relationship with the Son of God gives us wisdom of which unbelievers have no concept.

Mankind throughout the ages spent countless generations attempting to figure out the meaning and origin of life. All along, the answers to mankind's most perplexing issues are already described and answered in God's Word. 

God reveals His deep wisdom to anyone who seeks Him with all of his or her heart (1 Corinthians 2:10; Jeremiah 29:13).

Prayer:

Father God, Your wisdom instructs us to consider more than what meets the human eye. You want us to read between the lines, to think outside of the box and to envision Your reality instead of what we see in human terms. What we can see is merely temporal and earthly, tied to this finite world. That which is discerned only by Your Holy Spirit is eternal and lasting (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Thought for the Day:

God gives us His wisdom through natural events (Romans 1:19,20), the miracle of His Son (Luke 10:22; Galatians 1:16), His written Word and personal revelation, which He only gives to authentic Christians.

Our Futile Self-Life

In our finite existence, we experience many areas of life, which are so painful and almost impossible to survive. However, with God, all things are possible (Luke 18:27). So, when God dwells in us, we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37), and we can accomplish whatever He calls us to do (Ephesians 2:10). Outside of His anointing, we are powerless and our efforts are futile (John 15:5). We reap no lasting value from all of our earnest, but frantic works for God.

In truth, God does not expect us to succeed apart from Him. As Paul declares, we often concede to sin when we actually want to walk in holiness. We cannot even achieve many of the spiritual goals we set for our self (Romans 7:15-24). There is no shame in this. The shame comes when we persist in living for God from our own self-efforts. We continually fall short, and we live in disgrace and depression because of our failures.


Our attitudes influence our body, soul and spirit. Criticism, gossip, self-pity, depression, anger and bitterness all strongly impact our soul, which in turn affects our body and spirit. Once we realize the futility of attempting holiness on our own, we can sigh in relief and stop disparaging and demeaning our character or someone else’s failings (Proverbs 15:4, 18:21). Living a holy life is impossible for us, but more than possible for Christ in us (Colossians 1:27).


Our part is to guard our body, soul and spirit and to live in surrender to God’s will (Proverbs 4:23; Proverbs 3:5-6). As we meditate on God’s precepts and guard what we focus on, we will mirror His Word and delight in His Truth (Psalm 119:15-16). We are all lost and undone on our own, but Christ is victorious in and through us. When we come to the end of our self-efforts and completely surrender to God’s Spirit and Lordship, then God can actually use us for His glory.


Prayer:

Father God, we know that Your power is manifest only in our helplessness. As we daily surrender to Your will, You conquer our self-life and fleshly carnality. We are in Your care and You live out Your will in our surrendered life. We are strengthened by Your might in our inner core (Ephesians 3:14-21). Holiness and consecration bring revival in us and in Your church, so help us to deepen our union with You in all things.

Thought for the Day:

It is only as we realize our utter human hopelessness, and depend entirely on God, that He can use us for His glory.

 

 

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!