Surrendering to God's Love

A pure heart is the key to knowing God (Matthew 5:8). His love overwhelms us with its joy and peace. His perfect love slowly, but surely, casts out all of our fears (1 John 4:18). When we trust in Christ and keep God's Word, we become His dwelling place (John 14:23). He fills us through all of our being with all of His fullness (Ephesians 3:19).

As the Temple of the Holy Spirit, we experience more and more intimacy with the Trinity (1 Corinthians 3:16). The outer court of the temple is our body, the inner court is our soul and the Most Holy Place is our spirit, where the presence of God dwells and fills our soul and body. As we present our body to God, as a living sacrifice, we die to our self and the destructive lusts of life (Romans 12:1).

God's Spirit fills our soul with all of the characteristics of faith, hope and love. These are the greatest traits a person can possess (1 Corinthians 13:13). The more we walk in obedience to the directives of God's Spirit, the more our faith increases. Our obedience to Biblical standards comes as we grow in love for God (John 14:15). Then, our love and faith increase our hope in God.

God's love is wider, deeper and higher than any human emotion or any created thing (Ephesians 3:18; Romans 8:31-39). God's proven love for us, over the years of our relationship with Him, helps us to have more love for one another (John 13:34). Surrendering to God's love opens doors for us that we can only dream about, and brings fulfillment to our life in this sin-cursed world.

Prayer:

Father God, faith, hope and love are intertwined throughout our entire personality and relationship with You. They affect our lifestyle, and are the foundation of every other fruit of Your Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Teach us to surrender to Your love, and to allow Your light to shine through us, so that men will see our good works and give You the glory (Matthew 5:16). Perfect Your love in us and help us to bring You glory with our life (1 John 2:5).

Thought for the Day:

God is love and love is of God; everyone who loves is born again of the Spirit of God and knows God. - 1 John 1:7-8; Luke 10:27

An Abiding Relationship

Read: 1 Thessalonians 5: 23-24

"Is not my word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” – Jeremiah 23: 29

Christ walked in deep peace, in complete serenity of mind, which allowed Him to perform every ministry His Father ever called upon Him to accomplish. He met every calamity with calm dignity. He kept his entire body, soul and spirit under the control of God’s Spirit. With a joy-filled focus, He performed our Father’s divine will, even to the point of suffering the devastating trials He had to endure in life and ultimately in death.

When we enter into a covenant relationship with Christ — His holiness, His faithfulness, His mercy and grace are ours. The God of peace spends a lifetime sanctifying us. He keeps your whole spirit, soul and body blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls us is faithful and He is the author and the finisher of our faith. The promises of His Word strengthen us with His joy (Nehemiah 8:10). This results in a good conscience, a holy walk and the assurance of hope in His promises.

Catherine Marshall stated, "God allows us to have disappointments, frustrations, or even worse, because He wants us to see that our joy is not in such worldly pleasures...our joy is in the fact that we have a relationship with God.”

If we want to impress a person, their opinion means too much to us; therefore, their scorn demoralizes us. If we want to amass worldly goods, but we fall on hard times financially, the disappointment devistates us. If we want to obtain notoriety and fame, yet we live in obscurity most of our lives, then the lack of notice desolates us. Once we realize the point that Catherine Marshal is making in her statement, and it sinks into our understanding, worldly disappointments no longer affect us so severely. They hit us, but bounce off instead of piercing us to the heart.

If we focus instead on our spiritual walk, listening to the Spirit and following His lead on a minute-by-minute basis, we find success, fulfillment and people who admire our walk and want to follow us as we follow Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). God’s Word divides between our carnal flesh and our growing spirituality, even to the depths of our joints and marrow. The Bible exposes our innermost thoughts and desires (Hebrews 4:12) and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1: 9). Meditating on scripture makes our soul happy, our spirit holy and our body healthy.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, Your joy sees us through the devastating events in our lives, which force us to our knees. Your joy is greater than human happiness and transcends the negative human emotions created by our circumstances to give us Your strength. Help us to walk in Your ways and to delight in Your will for our life.

Thought for the Day:

It is not God who withdraws from us, but we who withdraw from Him.