God Satisfies Our Soul

Our whole being finds fulfillment only in the everlasting arms of our Lord God. His love is better than anything that life on this earth provides (Psalm 63:3); and we cannot help but lift up our hands in praise to Him as we glorify Him with our every thought, word and deed.

Through His salvation, He satisfies our soul and makes us secure in this sin-filled world (Psalm 23:3-4; 63:1-5). Our spirit is no longer dead in sin, but dances through life, alive in Christ forevermore. We bathe in His love, rest in His peace and sing because of His joy in us, as He rejoices over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17).

Our fellowship with Him is in perfect and complete harmony and unity due to His mercy, love and grace (1 John 4:19). We walk in His light and enjoy fellowship with His Body now and throughout eternity (1 John 1:7).

Clinging to our pride and rebellion, our addictions and our insecurities only brings us trouble and devastation; but surrendering all to Jesus gives us the faith and security to thrive in this war-torn world.

When we reach out to Jesus, turn away from our sinful lifestyle and submit to His authority in our life, we find satisfaction and healing in His love. God heals our pain associated with all of our relationships, even those filled with disappointment and trauma. 

He helps us to humble our self and to reconcile with those in our life that caused us pain. We forgive one another and bless each other with God's encouragement and love.

God's perfect love is what our soul longs for and that which heals our broken heart and drenches us like a waterfall in this discouraging and broken society. We live as sojourners and pilgrims until He is ready to take us home with Him for eternity.

Prayer:

Father God, You created us so that our eyes are the windows of our soul. We often answer glibly when someone asks us how we are, because we know they do not really have time to hear our honest answer, nor are most of them concerned with how we really feel. Help us to look into each other's eyes and to see the true feelings emanating from them, to take time to really listen, and to show concern and ask how we may help to improve each other's lot in this life.

Remind us that we have to start by taking a searching inventory of our self in order to understand exactly how we do feel. What does our spirit need to grow in Your grace? How is our body and soul - our thoughts and feelings, which affect our choices? You are patient with us, and Your kindness is everlasting. You love us beyond words. You strengthen us and shower us with so many blessings that those who know us stand in awe of You (Psalm 86:15).

Thought for the Day:

Our success in this dark and pain-filled life comes from trusting in God alone to help us to live victoriously over the evils present all around us; as we call on Him to empower us, so that we can keep a daily, vigilant watch over our body, soul and spirit; this enables us to live serenely in His everlasting arms.

Healing from Life's Trauma

Life in this perverse and dark world is evil at best and cruel and unthinkable at its worse. The atrocities perpetuated on one human being by another without conscience is wounding and debilitating.

From a one-time event to repeated and ritualistic abuse, we tend to bury this pain in our subconscious mind and often refuse to revisit it or we may deny its existence. Yet, it influences every moment of every day of our life.

Traumatized in body, mind and emotions, we separate parts of our self and bury them in the past, moving forward with any self-respect and reality, which we can find.

We survive by erecting walls, hiding behind anger, staying in a protective mode to prevent future real or imagined abuse. We cope through any means available, even addictions and defense mechanisms.

As Christ strengthens us from within and becomes the focus of our life, this pain loses some of its strength. God's love covers a multitude of sin perpetrated against us and helps us to forgive and move on.

He brings these issues to light along with the lies, which Satan plants in each trauma. He speaks His truth about each memory and situation and completely sets us free from bondage to these memories.  ( www.theophostic.com )

As God reveals any issue which may keep us in bondage to sin, Satan, the world, the flesh and our past, we recover the bits and pieces of our self, which litter our past and God heals them and molds them back into our life as productive pieces of who we are today.

Prayer:

Father God, You see the secret pain of our past and desire to search us and to heal the pain which causes our current fears, depression and anger. You lead us into complete healing by Your Spirit to live whole and complete lives unhindered by the pain of our past (Psalm 139:23-24).  You make us a new creation, created by Christ Jesus for good works to further Your Kingdom on the earth (2 Corinthians 5:17).

You bring an article, a sermon, a Bible verse, a song, a comment by a friend or enemy to open those wounds, remove the splinters and to allow us to heal from the inside out. We bring our troubled thoughts to You and rejoice as You lead us to the freedom only You can provide both now and throughout eternity.

Thought for the Day:
The Holy Spirit is God's wonderful Counselor who operates on the infected splinters embedded deep within our soul and frees us from the source of the infection, healing the wounds and making us whole.

Serving in the Body of Christ

The Body of Christ is too busy for its own good. We neglect our Lord and one another, because we make our own pursuits more important than God’s will for our life (1 Peter 4:10; Ephesians 2:10).

The government took over so many of our ministries, because the needs went unmet. Take, for instance, the care of our elderly. They go unvisited and feel unwanted, because we do not make them a priority in our churches.

Elderly Saints, who ministered for the Lord all of their life, need and deserve our attention. Rides to doctor appointments, visits, taking someone out to lunch, cards, phone calls and praying for one another are just a few ways that we can minister to our elderly.

Parents are so busy today that children's workers in the Body of Christ can fill in the gaps and encourage our children to grow up in service to God. Many adults give their children and youth leaders credit for their dedication to God. We influence eternity by our service to children now.

However, caring for the children attending our churches is another neglected ministry. We already raised our children, or we are in the process of raising them, and we want nothing to do with children's ministries in the Body of Christ.

Single parents need the most help. We can babysit to give these parents a chance to allow their Inner Child to play. Gifting these hardworking parents with a certificate to go out to eat or to buy whatever they need at a retail store is also helpful on their tight budget.

Many churches end up hiring people in order to have someone committed to the children, since very few people will commit to this ministry. Our children need Godly authority, responsibility, approval and nurturing in the same way which God relates to us (John 3:16; Romans 5:8).

If we all band together, the care required in these vital ministries will not be a burden on any one person, but will be a blessing for everyone involved (Romans 15:7).

We can make time for God and His Body as a priority in our schedule. Before we do anything, we consult the Lord and live each moment in His perfect will for us (Ephesians 2:10). While living by the Spirit, we will all function as a valuable member of the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).

Prayer:

Father God, teach us to love Your Body as You love us. Allow us to be Your ambassadors to Your Body. Unconditional love and acceptance gives Your Body the assurance we all crave as human beings, regardless of our age or social/economic status. Remind us to give one another grace in our failings and to encourage one another in our successes.

Give us listening ears and the ability to recognize body language in order to be present with one another, rather than taking each other for granted. Help us to make one another feel safe to share our issues with each other, so we can bear each others burdens as You expect us to do (Galatians 6:2).

Thought for the Day:

If Satan can keep us in bondage to our failures, he cripples us in our service to God and His Body; as we learn to nurture and forgive our self, we will have an increased ability to accept, nurture, affirm and forgive one another. 

- Mark 12:30-31

Forgiveness and Boundaries

Human beings tend to suffer in silence. We fear rejection and criticism, so we internalize our thoughts and feelings rather than confiding in one another.

Inner voices, which do not line up with God's Word, are lies from Satan Himself. The only way to dispel His lies is by hearing and then speaking God's truth (Philippians 4:8; 1 Timothy 4:1).

Once we receive our forgiveness from God through repentance and faith in exchange for our sins, then God receives us as His own precious children (1 John 3:2).

Like Jesus we forgive those who harm us. If they are repentant, we allow them back into our heart. If they refuse to repent, then we forgive them for our sake, but keep them at a distance.

Even though we forgive them, we do not condone their behavior toward us, and we certainly never allow them any opportunities to harm us again.

We derive our self-worth through Christ in us, rather than through our own achievements. This way our esteem does not depend upon people, circumstances or meeting our goals.

It depends on God's faithfulness and the presence of Christ abiding within us. We are secure in who we are through Christ. We live the life to which He calls us (Ephesians 2:10).

This way too, we have no need to attempt to manipulate and control the behavior of others in order to make our self feel better, safer or more secure.

Prayer:

Father God, people do tend to maliciously use us, but You encourage us to love them with Your agape love and to forgive them and pray for them (Matthew 5:44). However, we can also be wise as snakes and gentle as doves in our dealings with them (Matthew 10:16).

We point them to Your love for them, but we never again allow them to take advantage of us or to use us for their evil gain. Their opinion of us does not matter anymore, because our identity and our good name come from You (Proverbs 22:1; Psalm 52:9).

Thought for the Day:

No one is more deceived than the person who will not admit that he or she is wrong; but we can forgive them anyway and erect boundaries to keep them from harming us again.