Trust Only in the Lord

Trust must be earned, rather than blindly given; and is more important to a relationship than love. If we spend our time telling little white lies to keep us out of trouble, this undermines the love that others feel for us

When life boils down to the details, we are not even able to trust our self. We often disappoint our self, because we let our self down and then have a hard time forgiving our self.

God is truly the only trustworthy being in the universe. He keeps His Word through generations of time (Psalm 147:13). We can trust in the Lord with our whole heart and refuse to lean on our own human reasoning.

He will always direct our steps and lead us in His will and way (Proverbs 3:5-6). He preserves our life, and inspires us to devote our time and resources in His service. He is our God and He saves His children who trust in Him (Psalm 86:2).

We keep our focus on Him because He never leaves us destitute. He offers us continual refuge under His wings, regardless of how dire our circumstances become (Psalm 46:1-3, 141:8).

God is only a prayer away and provides us with all of our needs according to His glorious riches (Psalm 142:5). He hears our prayers and answers us in His faithfulness and righteous judgment (Psalm 143:1).

Prayer:

Father God, even though our food supply stops producing or our drinking water is contaminated, we know that You will faithfully supply all of our needs. We may suffer persecution and hardships on this earth, but You are the strength of our life (Psalm 46:1-2).

We give You the praise, glory and honor that is due to Your name, even if we face imminent deprivation in this life. You will always see us through any and every trial, because You walk through it with us and in us (Colossians 1:27, Galatians 2:20).

Thought for the Day:
The Lord allows us to hear His promise of unfailing love with each new morning, and calls on us to totally trust His mercy and goodness for our life. - Psalm 143:8

Sinner or Saint

 

If Christ dwells in our Born Again spirit, our body and soul cannot live in a lifestyle of sin, because it grieves God's Spirit to be a part of anything remotely sinful.

What is a sin? Sin is missing the mark of God's perfect holiness. The main sin is that of unbelief (John 3:18). We condemn our self to hell by our unbelief. No one sin is more grievous to God, than unbelief (Romans 14:23).

The Bible gives us several lists of other particular sins, such as fornication, witchcraft, strife, envy, murder, alcoholism, homosexuality, backbiters, disobedient to parents, proud, unmerciful, covenant breakers, profane, whoremongers, liars, divorcing one's mate, thieves, foolish talk, jesting, covetousness and blasphemy to name a few (Galatians 5:19-21; Romans 1:26-32; 1 Timothy 1:9-10; Revelation 21:8; Matthew 19:18-19; Ephesians 5:3-7, 18; Mark 7:21-22; 2 Corinthians 12:20).

The Body of Christ will welcome most sinners into the ministry with carte blanche forgiveness, except someone who has been divorced. They act as if divorce is the unpardonable sin; even if the otherwise qualified man did not want the divorce.

Yet, we see that there are other characteristics which should exclude someone from the ministry. Consider an alcoholic, a murderer, a liar, a permissive parent, or a sex addict. These are all equal qualifications, and yet often ignored (1 Timothy 3:1-13).

The good news of the Gospel of Christ is that while we still lived in a lifestyle of sin, Jesus died for us all (Romans 5:8, 11). Jesus became sin for us all, so that we all could become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The only unpardonable sin is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31). All other sins are forgiven and covered by the blood of Jesus for everyone with the courage to call on His name to be saved.

Prayer:

Father God, You consider anger just as sinful as murder, and lust as hateful as fornication. There are no mortal and venial sins in Your eyes. One sin is as disgusting to You as another (Matthew 5:22, 28,32). Thank You for Your sanctifying work in our life, which sets us free from sin and death (Romans 8:2).

Remind us that if we say we are Born Again, and yet we sin with immunity and no negative side effects, we are deceiving our self (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8). A Born Again Believer may dabble in sin for a season, or carry a sin with us into our Born Again life, but we cannot tolerate sin for very long. This is because Your holy presence within us cannot dwell in a sinful environment.

Thought for the Day:

The sanctification process takes us through our season of unrighteous living, and changes us step by step to exhibit more Godliness than unrighteousness; we live as an example of a Godly Believer, full of love and spirituality.

New Creation - Final Part 3

There are just a few more negative traits, which God is changing to make me a new creation. I dislike the limelight, but God is not concerned with this. I lack the confidence, anointing and ability to function in leadership, but I make a good foot soldier, because I follow instructions.

The last two strongholds, moodiness and grouchiness, only bother me now when I am tired, but God’s Spirit helps me to overcome even then by reminding me to keep my focus on Him rather than on myself. 

Over the years, God retained a few of my positive personality characteristics; such as my organizational abilities, calendar planning, economical tendencies, neat homemaking, attention to detail and a determination to finish what I start.

Another character trait, which He preserved, was my ability to find creative solutions to solve problems. Unfortunately, I always felt the need for others to do things my way, so God did purged me of that side of the coin.

God also had to break me of the penchant to ease the burdens of everyone around me; because I ended up burned out, and I thwarted God's plan in the lives of those I enabled.

I am sure that you can see from my testimony over the last three posts that God cares about every area of our life. He wants to transform and conform us to be like Christ and to manifest His love and divine nature to the world around us. People will see the difference He makes in our life and will want His transforming power for their life too.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for making me into a new creation and for enabling me to overcome human tendencies by filling me with the divine nature of Christ and guiding me with Your Spirit (2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Thank You for forgiving my inadequacies when I fall short of Your image of who I am in Christ, who is my true identity (Colossians 2:9-10). I rejoice in the fact that my life is now hidden in You with Christ, who is my whole life (Colossians 3:3-4). 

Thought for the Day:

Allow God to work in your life to exchange your negative personality traits with His fruit, to use your positive characteristics for His glory and to make you a new creation in Him. - 2 Corinthians 5:17