United with Christ - A Healthy Spirit-filled Life

 

As Born Again Believers, we are filled throughout our entire body, soul and spirit with all of God’s fullness. We possess the richest measure of His divine presence within us and we are wholly filled and flooded to overflowing with God Himself (Ephesians 3:16-19, Amplified Bible).

We are united with Christ in the very spiritual fiber of our being (Hebrews 4:12). He provides us with everything we need to live a healthy, Spirit-filled life.

Then, His Spirit infiltrates the joints of our soul – our thoughts, choices and emotions - to operate on our carnality while He plants His fruit within us (Hebrews 4:12).

Paul counted all of his worldly possessions and gain as lost when compared to the joy of his salvation and the riches he received from intimately knowing Christ (Philippians 3:7-11).

God gives this same resurrection life to lost sinners who humble themselves and surrender their life to Him (John 19:10-11). We are liberated from living in this earthly realm, even though we physically continue to dwell here (Galatians 2:20).

In this same way, we detach from our connection to this world, even the good parts of life, which hinder our walk with God, such as extended family, houses and lands – in order to obtain the better blessings provided for us by Christ in us (Luke 14:23-33; Philippians 3:10).

We realize that even the worst of adversity in our life ultimately comes from God to perfect our soul and to provide for us everything that we need to live Godly in Christ Jesus (Hebrews 11:32-34; Job 1:8, 2:3).

Prayer:

Father God, we knock on doors and invite our neighbors to church. We pray for them and for everyone You bring to our mind. We listen to Your Spirit and obey His promptings throughout our day. We shed Your light within us for all the world around us to see, so they may live with us in eternity as the redeemed of the Lord (Psalm 107:2).

You bore our sins in Your body on the cross; so that we too can die to sin and live righteously and victoriously, just as You did (1 Peter 2:24). You take priority in our heart over all other aspects of life (1 Corinthians 9:22). We give You all the praise and glory and honor due Your name (Psalm 96:8).

Thought for the Day:

God elected us as His holy and saintly priests, because we are His special possession created to declare His praises to a lost and dying world around us. - 1 Peter 2:9

Split Personality

 

If we live life with one foot on the dock, and the other foot in the boat, we will end up getting dunked, once the boat moves from the dock for any reason. The slightest turmoil in the water will cause us to lose our balance.

God says that lukewarm people - those who live with their feet in two separate places at once - make Him sick to His stomach! He would rather that we live up to our convictions and either follow Him wholeheartedly or not at all.

To live any other way is hypocritical and smears the name of Christ in front of the world. Even unbelievers know how Christians are supposed to act, and they lose respect for us and for God if we are hypocrites with a split personality.

God prefers that we live in total surrender to His will and way. He knows that Biblical principles allow us to reap only good things in life. If we have a mixture of both secular and Biblical ideals in our world view, we end up reaping the negative consequences from the corruption we sow.

God wants us to follow Him completely, and to give Him His rightful place in our life. At the center of complete surrender we realize that we no longer live for our self, but Christ lives in and through us (Galatians 2:20).

Our obedience proves that we actually know God (1 John 2:3). He circumcises our heart, cutting away the flesh from our life, so we can live in harmony with His Spirit and one another (Romans 2:29).

We walk in the fruit of the Spirit by the power of the Spirit, and Christ's divine life replaces our carnality and worldliness (2 Peter 1:4).

Sanctification has various fluctuating tempos in our life. Sometimes, the process is fast; at other times, painfully slow. It is constant, however; and God gives us His patience and fortitude to press on through this cleansing process until our personality and goals reflect and are focused on Christ alone (Colossians 3:3-4).

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for making us a new creation by Your Spirit - with the mind and divinity of Christ abiding in us. Keep us in union with Your Spirit and hold us close to You as You use us to further Your Kingdom in the earth (Galatians 5:15-25).

Our spirituality is not complete until You give us our glorified, immortal body when we see Jesus. We need You every hour, every moment of our life. Teach us not to speak with words of carnal, mortal wisdom, but to utter only the Words taught to us by Your Spirit and full of Your glory (Philippians 3:10-12; 1 Corinthians 2:13).

Thought for the Day:

Our goal in life is to bring God glory through our every thought, word and deed, living in the fullness of His Spirit by the power of His resurrection; a surrendered life of one who is born of the Spirit and will never perish. - Peter 1:3-4

Eternal Springs of Life

Jesus Christ lived in meager circumstances on this earth, died a horrendous crucifixion for our sins, raised triumphantly over death and ascended into heaven with an immortal body.

With this same Christ abiding within us, Authentic Christians share in His suffering, fellowship in His presence, are led by His Spirit, experience His power and pass from death to eternal life instantly (Romans 8:9-10; John 14:16-17).

His living water within us never dries up (John 7:38-39). It waters the garden of our life as a never ending spring (Isaiah 58:11). This water quenches our thirst and provides us with eternal life (John 4:14).

God planned each step of our life before we were ever born. Nothing takes Him by surprise and He has a perfect plan for each one of us (Ephesians 2:10). Even on a dry and dusty road, off the beaten path, He provides us with a brook to nourish and revive us (Psalm 110:7).

This spring flows from the throne of God and the Lamb in heaven and forms a river with the tree of life on either side of it, bearing a different fruit every month and having leaves that heal the nations (Revelation 22:1-2). Every living creature and a multitude of fish dwell by and in the river of God (Ezekiel 47:9).

We joy in the God of our salvation and drink from the springs which our salvation provides for us (Isaiah 12:3; John 4:10). Our salvation in Christ gives us the right to enter the gates to the city of God, drink from the eternal river of life and to partake of the tree of life (Revelation 22:14).

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for providing us with the same Spirit which the disciples received on the day of Pentecost. He baptizes all believers into one Body, regardless of race, creed or social standing (Galatians 3:3; 1 Corinthians 12:13). We belong to You because of Your Spirit within us (Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30). You fill and seal us with the gift of Your Spirit, which You sent once Jesus rose into heaven (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Thank You that Your Spirit provides us with His fruit and gifts and transforms our carnal nature into Christ's divine nature from one stage of glory to the next (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). You provide riches for those who love You (1 Corinthians 2:9-10), and You shower us with every spiritual blessing from Your throne (Ephesians 1:3).

Thought for the Day:

God provides us with everything we need to walk each moment of the day under the direction and control of His Spirit, so that we effectually perform the works which He created us to do. - Ephesians 2:10; Galatians 5:25