Meeting God Face-to-Face

 

As we launch into adulthood, we focus on working hard and using our human talents to open doors to a better life. However, our humanistic worldview and our carnal work ethic often crumble in the face of life’s trials. Meeting God face-to-face leads to action of a different kind (Ephesians 5:8; Romans 8:4). It launches us into a life where every thought, word and deed is an expression of worship to our King. Nothing matters to us except living by God’s Spirit, and He provides us with everything we need (Galatians 5:16, 25; Matthew 6:33).

Encountering God does not occur by chance, nor is it planned or orchestrated by our human effort. We just sit in silence and wait. The human mind is so cluttered, that when we attempt to sit in silence, our mind will go in many directions at one time. We will have a very strong compulsion to jump up and do something before we forget to do it; but then...our time to wait on God is over. Instead, bring along a pen and some paper.

As these ideas pop into your mind, just write them down. This will make a great to-do list for you when you finish your time with God. So here you are, sitting in your comfy chair, under a tree, on the floor or any other place you feel led to wait. You are jotting down the thoughts that flow through your mind. Finally, your lists end and you can begin writing your prayers to God. Continue to wait as you write Bible verses or words to a song, which come to your mind.

Write down how you are feeling, what is worrying you and people you are concerned about. Express your full desires, questions and concerns. Write until you empty your soul of all of its petitions. Then, wait some more! Listen in the silence. Wait for God to speak. Wait for the waterfall of his love to pour over you and bring a refreshing to your soul. Wait until you sense the warmth of His smile beaming down on you, and luxuriate in the folds of His arms.

Write more notes if you want to, sing songs of praise, lift up in prayer the people that God brings to your mind. Sit in companionable silence with Him, and enjoy the presence of God enveloping you. Then, when it is time to go, spend your day walking in the Spirit, one moment at a time. Our life no longer depends on us to reach destinations. We simply walk in obedience to the inner direction of God’s Spirit and live as a brand new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:27; Galatians 2:20).

Prayer:

Father God, my soul waits silently and patiently for You alone. My hope comes from You. You alone are my rock and my salvation. You are my fortress; therefore, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my glory are in You. You are my rock or strength and refuge. I trust in You at all times. I pour out my heart before You. I praise You for who You are and for all You do for me each and every day (Psalm 62:5-8).

Thought for the Day:

A fruitful life is born through an intimate relationship with God. - John 5:8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dead to Sin

Read: Matthew 20: 1-15

“God gives us a heart and mind that is new and no longer feels satisfied with a sinful lifestyle.” - Philippians 2: 12-13

If a person can sin without any remorse, then he/she is not truly born again and the Spirit of God does not reside within them (Romans 6:2-4). If we are not willing to crucify all sinful passions and desires, we do not really belong to Christ (Galatians 5:24). If the Spirit of God does reside in us, however, then we are dead to any attraction to sin and to the world (Galatians 6:14). Sin does not appeal to us any longer, because we are not enticed by it. We are even grieved by sin now, because of the Holy Spirit within us. We died to sinful desires and we do not want to live in sin a moment longer. We are baptized into Christ’s death and raised in the power of the Holy Spirit to live a new life.

Once a person does choose to follow Christ, Jesus’ saving work on Calvary is appropriated to his/her spirit. If this same person dies physically the very next day, they are saved and will live for eternity in heaven, even though they never started the sanctification process. Think of the thief on the cross. He believed in Christ as he hung there next to Jesus. Our Savior assured him, "Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). This person is justified and still gets "paid" a day’s wage...they still go to heaven; but they will have very few rewards in heaven and they lived a very sorrowful life here on earth (Matthew 20:1-15).

Once the Spirit of God moves in, our base nature no longer has any claim on us. We are not drawn to partake in the lower level of human behavior. Through Christ’s death, we put to death all the sinful longings of our body, so that we can live now in the resurrection power of Christ (Romans 8:12-13). We are like a seed of wheat. We have been buried with Christ in baptism and now we produce a fruitful life.

People who claim to be Christians, but who still continue in worldly fellowship with carnal friends and who continue to partake in a lifestyle of sinful behavior, risk the wrath of God falling on them because of this disobedience (Colossians 3:3-7). If we love the old way of living, we will lose our life forever; however, if we hate the sin-filled life we once lived, we will remain alive in Christ for eternity (John 12:24).

Due to God’s forgiveness of our sins, our eyes are wide open to His mercy. We give Him our body as a living sacrifice, consecrated to Him and accepted by Him. We no longer allow the world to squeeze us into its mold, but we submit to God as he remodels our actions and improves our attitude (Romans 12:1-2). We lay down the old nature, which has a propensity to sin, and we destroy any deceitful, indecent desires that linger in us. We can do this only because God gives us a heart and mind that is new and the power to stand against temptation (Philippians 2: 12-13). We no longer feel satisfied with a sinful lifestyle.

The tyranny of sin over us is broken and we are free from sin from now on, because we died with Christ (Romans 6:5-7). Since Jesus died for our sins, we are now alive in Him (Romans 6:8-11; 2 Timothy 2:11). He erased every record of sin against us by nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:12,14,20). He died for us so that we no longer live for our self, but we now live for Him. Our past is dead and buried, and God gives us a fresh, new life (2 Corinthians 5:15,17).

Prayer:
Lord God, Your grace appears to every person who is born on this earth. You call us to refuse the draw of sin and worldly passions and to live a decent, self-controlled, godly life instead (Titus 2:11). Your Spirit works right along with us, replacing our old habits with the His fruit. He weaves into the fibers of our personality the works of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness self-control and faith (Galatians 5:22). We live upright and holy lives in honor of Christ who sacrificed Himself for us all (Ephesians 4:22-25; Galatians 2:19-20).

Thought for the Day:

Born Again Believers focus on spiritual desires and set our hearts on pleasing the Lord. - Colossians 3:1