My Soul Waits - Filled with God's Fullness

 

God chose us before the foundation of the world to redeem us, to transform us, to give us His divine nature and to use us in the work of His Kingdom (Ephesians 2:10; 2 Peter 1:4).

We no longer deflect His will with hurried lives and busy days. We grow spiritually and come to the place where we surrender our desires and embrace His heart and mind as our own.

We have a continual conversation with God as we share our heart with Him and listen to His answers and directives for our day. God's presence satisfies our longing and fills our hungry soul (Psalm 107:9).

God redefines our plans and leads us in His Truth and everlasting way. He gives us a new name and nature with a heart of compassion and a willingness to do His will (Psalm 43:3; Revelation 2:12; Colossians 3:12).

Our focus switches from our self and our little place in the cosmos and increases to the world around us and the needs of the people involved in our everyday life.

We relinquish our hurt, bitterness, anger, and pride and walk in forgiveness, love and humility instead. This diminishes Satan's hold on our life and increases our fellowship with our Father.

We empty our soul of the cares of this life, having faith in God's faithfulness to work out every detail for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28). He fills us with His fullness and we change the world around us - one person at a time (Ephesians 3:16-19).

Prayer:

Father God, spiritual understanding is ours as we allow Your Spirit to discipline our carnal nature and strengthen our spiritual nature as You fill us with Your faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Help us to totally surrender to Your love and to trust You in the good times and the bad.

We know that only You hold the issues of life and death in Your hands (Psalm 41:13). We so enjoy the immeasurable intimacy which You share with those who love You and who keep Your commandments (John 14:15; Ephesians 3:8). We enjoy our fellowship with You and appreciate the showers of Your blessings on our daily life.

Thought for the Day:

Let us walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in our thoughts, words and deeds, so that we can bear fruit by His Spirit through every good work which we perform; and may we continually increase in our knowledge, understanding and intimacy with God. - Colossians 1:9-10

Too Vulnerable

One objection people have about completely surrendering to Christ is that it makes us feel too vulnerable. Men especially despise admitting that they need help. It makes us feel deficient and dependent in some way.

Yet, humility is always the best course of action in this life. Admitting that we are not self-sufficient and that we need a Savior is actually freeing and empowering (John 8:36).

We cast our cares on Christ, knowing that He cares for us enough to give His life for us and to submit Himself to the horrendous crucifixion in order to guarantee our salvation (1 Peter 5:7).

We can ask God for protection and provision and reject Satan's lies in his attempt to discourage us with contempt and judgment for vulnerably admitting that we are powerless.

We come to realize that feeling emotions and admitting our needs is not weakness but strength. We acknowledge that we need our Father God, and possibly even a human confidant as well.

This helps us to heal and to feel less anxious, alone and shamed (2 Corinthians 5:20). We rely less on addictions and destructive behavior and have more inner fortitude to live our life for Christ.

God's Spirit can then empower us to help other people who have similar needs as our own. Seeing God's light and love shining in our life inspires them to trust Him with their life as well.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for caring for all of our needs as a doting Father who delights in us and even rejoices over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). We can pour out our heart to You with all of our hopelessness and fear, knowing that You care about everything, which concerns us.

Although You often require that we traverse the trial anyway, we are confident that You are walking through it from within us as well as beside us, completely surrounding us with Your love, wisdom, presence and power. You help us to look beyond despair to Your comfort, which is always more powerful than our burdens.

Thought for the Day:

When we come to Christ in our weariness and hopelessness, He hears us and comes to our rescue; He helps us to carry our heavy load of cares with His gentle humility, and we find true rest for our devastated soul. - Matthew 11:28-29

The Mind of Christ

Paul encourages us to adopt the same mindset about life that Jesus had. He goes on to explain that Jesus proclaimed that He was equal with God. With Christ in us, we too have His Godly nature (Philippians 2:5-6).

Even with His divine nature and character, however, Jesus did not use this fact to build His reputation. He did proclaim His deity (John 10:30, 17:21), but He did not use this fact to promote Himself.

We learn this same humility in our daily walk (Philippians 2:7), which allows us to also serve one another (Mark 9:35). Jesus obediently paid the ultimate sacrifice on Calvary's cross and taught us to lay down our life for one another (Philippians 2:8; 1 John 3:16).

When we realize that our sin crucifies again the Lord Jesus Christ, we run from sin and live in the will of God instead (Hebrews 6:6; 1 Peter 4:2). We want to honor God with our thoughts, words and deeds.

Jesus fulfilled the law through His birth, death and resurrection (Matthew 5:17). He kept God's commandments and He helps us to keep them too. We abide in His love (John 15:10), and He gives us His wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Through His death, God exalted the name and person of Jesus above every name, and every tongue will eventually proclaim His Lordship over all the nations of the earth (Philippians 2:9-11).

Jesus did not abandon us, but He sent us the Holy Spirit of God to teach us all things and to bring them to our remembrance. God's Spirit teaches us to change our focus from one of carnality to one of spirituality (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The Spirit serves as our comforter and guide (John 14:26, 16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 2:11-13; Acts 8:29, 11:12), and helps us to be like-minded, loving and living in one accord with the rest of the Body of Christ (Philippians 2:1-11). 

Jesus' life and crucifixion exemplified perfect patience (1 Timothy 1:15-16). With the mind of Christ in us, we find spiritual support, comfort of love, fellowship with His Spirit, affection, mercy and joy in our relationship with Christ.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for giving us the mind of Christ, which helps us to make sense of this world of strife and confusion (Philippians 2:5). You inspire us to live in humility and to serve one another as Christ serves us. We look out for one another and protect each others interests (Philippians 2:3-4).

Although Jesus is equal with You, He still took the form of a man in order to redeem us from our wickedness and sin (Philippians 2:7-8; Matthew 20:28). We exalt His name in our hearts and with our lives and look forward to His rule and reign on this earth for eternity (Philippians 2:9-11).

Thought for the Day:

Once we learn to think as Jesus thought, then we can live, move and find fulfillment on this earth just as Jesus did in all of His humility, love and power. - Acts 17:28

When Faith Fails

We all have faith in something or someone. It is a natural human tendency to believe, even if we just believe in our self. Humans are usually optimistic and hopeful.

We believe that the sun will come up tomorrow, our job and bank account are secure, our car will start, the chair will hold us when we sit down, our children will grow up to be successful and happy, and a myriad of other concepts using faith.

Yet, when we let our self down, or the object of our faith fails us, what happens to us? Our hope is shredded, we get discouraged and we vow never to trust again.

At best, it takes weeks and sometimes years to have the courage to believe in anything once again. We may start to believe and then give up, feeling the pain of our former disappointment.

There is only one secure object of our faith and devotion: Jesus Christ. He is exceptionally dependable and perpetually faithful (Malachi 3:6; Numbers 23:19).

We see His hand in His creation (Romans 1:20), in a kind word, a child's delight, a friend's smile, a flower growing in the crack of the sidewalk and in normal, everyday life.

Jesus gives us His joy and peace in exchange for our misery and defeat. He provides all of our needs according to His glorious riches. He deeply cares about us individually.

Yet, to believe in Christ for salvation takes humility. We humble our pride, surrender to God's hand on our life and pledge to have faith in His faithfulness.

Prayer:

Father God, until we experience Your sovereignty and blessings in our life, we find it impossible to have faith in Your faithfulness. We cannot see or hear You; yet we feel your presence, order and power all around us.

Increase our faith in You and help us to cling to You when everything else in our life fails us. Bring peace to our soul even in the midst of the worst trials and tribulation, so that we can live as an example of your faithfulness to Your children.

Thought for the Day:

We can trust in God's faithfulness, even when we do not see a solution to our problems.

How to Prevent a Divorce

When people, joined by God in marriage, choose to divorce, there is understandably an immense amount of pain and brokenness, which affects both lives. Even the person who initiated the divorce will suffer trauma. Financial, physical and employment setbacks occur in both lives. The emotions in both parties are traumatized.

This may make no common sense; but in matters of the soul, it makes perfect sense. Our soul is divided into our mind, will and emotions, and all three are negatively affected by a divorce. We also have three ego states in our mind, called the Inner Parent, Inner Adult and Inner Child. The Inner Child of the person initiating the divorce will also experience shock and distress.

Even if the person really wants the divorce for various reasons, their Inner Child will still feel victimized. Their childlike nature, which needs nurturing, feels abandoned by the partner they are divorcing. They will often suffer feelings of rejection and abandonment right along with the person, which they no longer want to live with.

There are many unresolved issues in a relationship, which cause the marriage to dissolves into divorce. Years of underlying problems, formerly swept under the rug, are hanging in the air between the two parties. They blame each other, and some spouses are not willing to take any responsibility for the breakdown in the marriage.

We all have failings and idiosyncrasies, which may cause our partner to get weary and to wander. If we address these concerns instead of just giving up, we can find alternative methods of action. An equitable solution that is agreeable to both people will always improve the relationship. In humility, both partners can resolve the problems and allow God’s love to heal their wounds.

Truthfully, prior to any divorce, both partners need to forgive and to ask for forgiveness for the slights and issues they caused in the marriage. Mutual forgiveness will heal many injures, and may even prevent this drastic, unnecessary divorce. Then, there will be no more desire to separate, and the couple will joyfully end up growing old together.

Prayer:

Father God, our true fulfillment is found through service to You in our church and community, as well as in our marriage. We can serve our mate regardless of how we feel about them. In fact, we are serving You by serving them. This way we put our marriage in Your hands, relying on You to change us and our partner. You hate divorce and are not pleased with anyone who obtains a divorce without Biblical grounds for it (Matthew 19:9). Help us to bear one another's burdens and to fulfill Your plans for our life (Galatians 6:2).

Thought for the Day:

Divorce divides us from the one, which we thought would share our hopes and dreams and grow old with us, and it forces us into the death of a relationship once birthed in love. 

Too Proud to Believe

 

Our human penchant for self-centeredness and rebellion stems from our pride. Pride is the downfall of every human being. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). This is what caused Adam and Eve to believe the serpent’s lie that they could be like God. Mankind still wants to be like god, and many New Age religions promote this falsehood, as if saying or believing it will make it so.

The wonderful news of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ dwells within us and gives us the nature of God, as we are led by God’s Spirit. He also gave us His Word, which is His ultimate wisdom. Over the years, hundreds of Biblical prophecies were fulfilled just as they were predicted to occur (Isaiah 42:9). This proves that the Bible is true and trustworthy. We can stake our life and our eternity on it.

God’s Word also informs us of historical and scientific facts, which it took humans years to discover using experiments and research. These scientists and historians validated the scriptures as the result of their studies and tests. Actually, the truth was in front of them all along! Even today, mankind is still finding answers to age-old questions in the pages of the Bible.

Prophecy, history, archeology and science continually prove the veracity of the Bible (Psalm 119:160). We can believe it, because its words are true (John 3:12). God, Creator of heaven and earth, gave us the answers to our origin and our destiny, which people of every generation still ponder. Archeologists uncover, almost daily, the proof of Biblical claims. Yet many are still too proud to believe.

Prayer:

Father God, there is no reason that we should allow our pride to prevent us from accepting Jesus as our Savior. We thank You for bringing us to our knees through the circumstances in our life. You humble us for our benefit, and then You bless us for our humility. You are an amazing and loving Father, and we cannot find anyone or any philosophy, which mankind invented, that fulfills us and completes us like You do (Colossians 2:10). You gave us Jesus as our sacrificial Lamb and He dwells within us by Your Spirit.

Thought for the Day:

With specific details, simple truth, and flawless precision, God's Word consistently reveals to us the origin of our past and the destination of our future.