Intimate Communion

 

 

The word communion denotes a union, intimacy, fellowship, harmony, compatible communication, etc. God wants to share His sweet communion with flawed humanity. Yet, so many people reject His offer.

In fact, while we were still sinners, God died for all helpless humanity who are lost in a garden full of the thorns and thistles of sin (Romans 5:7-8).

Yet, the world hates being told that they are wrong and accountable for their choices and behavior. They want the happiness, success, riches and provision of the kingdoms of this world.

Very few hunger for forgiveness, peace and walking on the road of life that leads to heaven. The discipline it takes to learn sensitivity to the leading of God's Spirit is daunting to them.

Christianity also involves discernment in order to walk the straight and narrow path through a life with a smorgasbord of options. However, the Spirit of God takes the guesswork out of all of this.

If we seek God each moment of the day, He leads and we follow. We end up in divine appointments, which will blow our mind and provide godly results that further God's Kingdom in the earth.

All God asks of us is that we spend time in intimate communion with Him: worshipping the beauty of His holiness, sitting at His feet in humility and prayer, and waiting patiently until He leads us so that we can follow.

Prayer:

Father God, sensitivity to Your Spirit is the issue which makes us or breaks us as Your fulfilled child. You fill us with Your enthusiasm and You help us to walk in Your ways with Your truth. Teach us to walk in all the light You give us each day and to humbly serve You with our life.

You are always faithful to lead us by Your perfect peace and to keep us in the center of Your will as we spend time in intimate communion with You. We flourish in divine appointments and we see Your Spirit within us impacting the lives of people all around us.

Thought for the Day:

As we allow God's Spirit to lead us, His fruit replace the short-comings in our life and opens the door for the divine life of Christ to control us during each moment of the day.

Blooming Like a Garden

 

Human beings are slaves of whatever entity we obey: either Almighty God or the god of this world - Satan. Allowing the devil to entrench us in sin leads to destruction both now and for an eternity in the lake of fire (Romans 6:16).

Instead, we enjoy life so much more as slaves of God in obedience and holiness. This allows us to live in the Spirit rather than in the flesh, since God's Spirit abides within us (Galatians 5:15-25).

Whoever does not have God's Spirit does not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9). Yet, as we totally surrender our humanity to Christ, He saves us and adopts us into His family (Ephesians 1:5).

Satan continually attempts to draw us away from God through our body and soul. He trips us up with a single temptation. Then, it is easier for him to tempt us in the future to follow his will for us.

Yet, Christ in our spirit gives us a way to escape temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). As we ignore Satan's lies and keep our mind on Christ, we are not tempted by his fiery darts and lies.

Our thoughts and emotions affect the decisions of our will. The decisions of our will determine our behavior, which motivates every area of our life: financial, relational, emotional, spiritual, physical, etc.

When we walk by the faith of Christ in us rather than by our human reasoning, we avoid so many of life's pitfalls and live in a serene and victorious existence (2 Corinthians 5:7).

God gives us a free will both to choose His salvation; and then to choose to live in His will, rather than to follow Satan's or our own plans for our life.

By submitting to God's Spirit within us, we reap the blessings of His will. He sanctifies our soul and fills our spirit with His power, so that, as His Body, we bloom like a spectacular garden (Romans 12:1-2; Jeremiah 31:12).

Prayer:

Father God, we want to present our bodies to You as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1), to do Your will and to live in Your ways all the days of our life. Teach us to submit to the leading of Your Holy Spirit and draw us ever closer to Your presence within us.

Thank You for Your Spirit, who abides in our midst and fills Your house with greater splendor and glory than Solomon's Temple (Haggai 2:4-9). Remind us that, as Your Body, we are perfectly joined together with Jesus, the chief corner stone, into Your dwelling place (Ephesians 2:19-22).

Thought for the Day:

As we walk in God's Spirit, joined together by His love, we bloom where He plants us in His garden. - 2 Corinthians 2:15

Slow Down and Spend Time with God

The soul is the most overlooked aspect of our Christian life. Prior to salvation, we allowed our heart to advise us, control us and comfort us. This does not refer to our blood pumping organ, but our inner self of thoughts, choices and emotions - our soul (Proverbs 4:23, 15:13, 23:7; Matthew 12:34-35). This way of life is weak, at best, but all we had.

When we come to Christ, our spirit is Born Again, and we begin the adventure of living in and by the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:16-25). This is when we start to mistrust our soul, and rightfully so. However, we also ignore the needs of our soul, thinking that they are carnal and unholy. Some of our soul's demands are unrighteous idols, which we lay at the altar for sacrifice (Romans 8:6-7; 1 Corinthians 3:3).

Yet, many of our soul's desires are given to us by God, and He wants to supply them through His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19; Ephesians 3:16). We can nurture our soul by listening to praise songs, reading God's Word, learning a new hobby, taking college courses that interest us, making new Christian friends, planting a garden, exercising to trim down and raise endorphins, serving in the ministries of our church, planning a healthy snack to look forward to every day, joining Bible study classes, etc.

The most powerful way to nurture our soul, however, is to be a friend of God. It takes time to develop this relationship, but it is so nourishing to our body, soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Slow down and spend time alone with God. You will focus on the wholesome side of life, find peace and joy in the midst of negative circumstances and feel God's presence in each moment of the day.

Prayer:

Father God, Satan has his agenda for our life, and we merrily follow his lead until we come face to face with Your invitation to accept Jesus as our Savior. Satan's deception is no match for Your presence in our life. He fades into the background and loses the battles he wages for our soul. Your Spirit nurtures our body, soul and spirit as we follow Your direction for each new day. We love You and give You all the praise and glory for Your wondrous intervention in our life.

Thought for the Day:

God's Spirit transforms our soul into the image of Christ throughout every moment of our life. - 2 Corinthians 3:18

Keep Vigilant Watch

In the process of moving from one house to another, my husband went back for yet another load of boxes. As he opened the house door, his arms encumbered with a teetering stack of our worldly treasures, he noticed a black racer snake paused just outside. In a flash, the racy reptile slipped between his feet and into the house.

Gently tossing the boxes into our vehicle, he hurried in hot pursuit of the sleek, slithering black ribbon. By this time the snake was scared out of his mind and his only thought was, “Get me out of here!” Through several rooms in the house, this awkward duo danced a duet, trying to outsmart one another.

Finally, with a stroke of genius, my husband opened the front door again and got behind the snake. The wary hunter paused for just a moment, eyeing up his options, then raced through the gaping opening in seconds and sought cover in the garden plants.

This detour in his plans and the adrenalin of his pursuit caused my husband to grab a drink of water and sit to rest in the only chair left in our house. Satan does this very thing in our lives. He lurks just outside the door to our soul – our mind, will and emotions, and waits for the narrowest opening to dart right in and cause havoc in our life.

He gives us a merry chase, taxing our spiritual power and exhausting our soul’s supply of energy. Without wisdom from above, he might get the upper hand; but if we seek God’s counsel, the Lord always shows us how to defeat the devil’s schemes (James 4:7). Even better, we can prevent his entrance by keeping a vigilant watch over the door to our soul (Proverbs 4:23).

Prayer:

Father God, if we wear the full armor You provided for us, polished and ready for battle, we can stand our ground, protected from the wily snares of the devil (Ephesians 6:13; 2 Timothy 2: 26). We have no need to fear, because Christ in us is greater than Satan and his hoard of demons (1 John 4:4). Jesus already won the victory over sin and death and His divinity abides in each one of us (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Thought for the Day:

As we submit to God, and resist the devil, he has to flee from us.

– James 4:7

God's Gardening Laws

If we live an honorable life, God will use our life to silence the foolish accusations, which ignorant people make against Christians (1 Peter 2:15-16). We know the truth that will set them free, but they do not want to hear it. They act as if our words are disgusting to their ears. They label us as intolerant for insisting that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Do you ever get weary of witnessing to people who will not listen? I grew weary and prayed about what to do.

The Lord reminded me that when we plant a seed in a garden, it takes a great deal of work and care before we reap the fruit. We rope off an area, remove the weeds and till the soil into rows. We fertilize the soil and then plant the seeds. It takes weeks for the plants to sprout and then many months before the plants produce any fruit. We continue to water, pull weeds and keep the plants safe from obstacles to their growth. Eventually, the time of the harvest arrives (Genesis 8:22).

Witnessing takes the same care and labor of love as gardening. Sometimes we till the ground, or plant the seed, or water; however, only God gives the increase, and only a few can actually be part in the harvest (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). This gave me the faith to continue sharing Christ with everyone around me. If we do not give up, we will eventually reap a plentiful harvest in God’s timing (Galatians 6:9). God gives us His grace to enter His rest and to allow Jesus to accomplish His work through us (2 Corinthians 9:8; Ephesians 2:10).

God calls everyone to take part in His gardening process (Matthew 28:18-20). We are not obligated to share God Truth with anyone; but as a good steward, we cannot help but invest in God’s Kingdom and reap His reward (Matthew 25:14-30). God resists the proud, but has mercy for and gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). If we liberally sow God’s truth in the lives of our friends, relatives, associates and neighbors, we will eventually reap a hearty harvest; however if we sow stingily, we will also reap sparingly (2 Corinthians 9:6).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us not to become weary of working in Your Kingdom, because You promised that we will reap a harvest if we keep on sowing (Galatians 6:7-9). Help us to follow Your gardening laws. We know that You do not desire that anyone should die in their sin, but that everyone should come to know You in an intimate, personal relationship (2 Peter 3:9). Give us the wisdom and strength to continue with patience as we ready the ground, fertilize and water, plant the seeds, and then wait for You to give us the fruit of the harvest.

Thought for the Day:

A wise person reaps what they sow. - Galatians 6:7

A Completed Work

We Christians tend to compartmentalize our life into work, family, play, and lastly we worship, if we have time and we are not too tired. If we view God on the throne in heaven, it is easier to compromise our thoughts and behavior. 

However, the reality of the Christian life is that Christ lives within us. If we partake in some activity that would grieve the Lord, we cannot separate our self from Him to experience it. 

He must endure our most sinful acts with us. We drag Him right down into the pit of degradation. That puts a whole new perspective on our activities.

We inherited our penchant for sin from our first father, Adam (1 Corinthians 15:35-48). However, the new Adam, Jesus Christ, frees us from these base and self-defeating tendencies. The husbandman of our garden prunes our life until we express the nature of Christ through the fruit of His Spirit (John 15:1; Galatians 5:22-23). 

Gradually, we express nothing but His character. We abide in Christ and He abides in us and produces His holiness in us (Hebrews 12:14).

With a dual mindset, which separates the human and spiritual life, we walk alone through life’s disasters, which claim our attention, time and energy. 

Once we recognize our union with Christ, however, we experience them all through the power and wisdom of God. Focusing more on spiritual matters requires that we trim down our hectic schedule and our accumulation of things. 

We start to withdraw from any activity or contemplation that would grieve His heart. His Spirit provides for and directs us in the midst of whatever calamity comes our way.

God equips us with His wisdom and ability to perform the work, which He created for us to do before the beginning of time (Ephesians 2:8-10). 

He intends for our entire life to be lived as a form of worship to Him. Paul exhorts us to do even the most mundane things, such as eating and drinking, for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). 

We do not withdraw from life in order to worship Him, because worship is our life. Our whole life is lived in devotion to God. We live our life as a praise to His name. We forsake sin and worship Christ in us.

Prayer:

Father God, we thank You for Your complete work in our life (Ephesians 1:14, 4:30; Romans 8:21-23). Christ is both our redemption and our sanctification. We are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). Through Christ in us we experience, even now in this earthly realm, all the power and glory of the spiritual realm. Christ, who is our life, sits on His throne in glory, so that we may now experience the earnest of our inheritance of things to come. 

Remind us to perform our duties in life as an act of worship to Christ in us, no matter how mundane they are, how much we dislike them or how time consuming they tend to get.

Thought for the Day:

When Christ faced Golgotha, He cried out to God for deliverance; but He faced the cross, triumphed over sin and death, and we now reign with Him in glory.