The Greatest Measure of God's Presence

 

We can never go anywhere that the love of God cannot find us (Psalm 139:7-12). He wants nothing more than to spend time fellowshipping with us, and filling us with the greatest measure of His presence (Ephesians 3:16-19).

In our busiest or calmest day, He is always within us, desiring to lead us by His Spirit and to direct us to do His will. Yet, in the hustle and bustle of life we often forget He is there.

We proceed through our day relying on our self-effort and human reasoning, making our own plans without consulting Him first and carrying them out with varying degrees of success.

We continue through life like this, enjoying the simple pleasures and the fruit of our labor, forgetting that God has specific work for us to accomplish for His purpose (Ephesians 2:10).

Then, we hit a brick wall and get the wind knocked right out of us. We make accusations against God, calling Him unfair, unjust and unloving.

We may even walk away from God with anger in our heart. We do not realize that we are either reaping the result of our own choices or we are experiencing the effects of Satan's lordship and sin's power in the earth.

When we walk away from God, we compound our problems. We abandon our best friend, our most faithful ally and our loving Father who loves to bless His children.

God is still waiting for us right where we left Him. He is calling us to Himself and wanting to cherish us and direct us in His will and purpose for our life.

Prayer:

Father God, when will we ever learn? Since you created us, mankind continually walks away from You. Even with Your Spirit abiding within us, we ignore You and do our own thing, making trouble for our self and living as a poor example of Your child.

You are our loving Creator, Father, Provider and Protector. Surround us with Your love and fill us with Your peace and joy. Submitting our life to You as our sovereign Lord, we appreciate that You are just and righteous in all of Your ways. Teach us to dedicate every moment of our day to loving You in ceaseless praise.

Thought for the Day:

Our walk with the Lord starts at the cross and continues by living in the center of God's will, which is the happiest place on earth.

Rest in the Lord

We are driven in today's society to have, to achieve, to acquire and to work toward prizes, which turn out to be nothing more than an empty box or trivial pursuits that never satisfy us.

Yet, for some reason, we continue to seek after that illusive prize that will make us truly happy and fulfilled. We look for the mate that will complete us, and the vocation, house and car which will give us status.

We buy a bigger television, more electronic toys, more lights to hang for Christmas than our neighbor did last year; and yet, they leave us flat-lining and they put our soul in the "hospital".

Our soul continually cries out for rest, peace and lasting joy and fulfillment. We do not really want to respond to the drive to earn more in order to buy more; but we cannot seem to help our self.

Like the Israelites, our disobedience and prideful, rebellious heart prevent us from entering God's rest (Hebrews 3:11). We live our whole life and fall short of entering His rest (Hebrews 4:1).

God gives us a clue during His days of creation by resting on the seventh day after six full nights and days of speaking the cosmos into existence. He calls us to join Him in that rest, so that He can restore our soul (Psalm 23:2-3).

If we respond, we will enjoy true riches for the rest of our life, because we will prosper even as our soul prospers (3 John 1:2). As we believe God, we receive all that He provides for us, and we have the faith to enter into His promised rest.

Prayer:

Father God, help us to cease from striving to enter your rest through the power of our flesh in a futile exercise to attain holiness (Romans 7-8; Galatians 3:1-3). Remind us to enter Your rest and to allow Your Spirit to work in us to attain that Godly life You offer (Romans 8:10-17).

Through Your Word, we clearly see that as we abide in You, and allow Your Spirit  to do His transforming work in our nature and character, we will see Your fruitfulness in our life (John 15:1-14; Galatians 5:22-23). Give us the faith of Your dear Son, Jesus, to enter into Your rest now and forever (Hebrews 4:2; Genesis 2:2)

Thought for the Day:

Once we finally recognize our insufficiency to accomplish the works in our own strength, which God pre-ordained for us to do, we surrender our life in whole-hearted obedience to Christ and enter into His rest. 

- Ephesians 2:10: Hebrews 4:1-10

Survival of the Fittest

 

We are able to survive in this world by no other means than the faithfulness of God pouring out His blessings on our life. Some people blindly careen through each day, never realizing that God blessed them (Romans 3:19-26).

The kindness, mercy and love of our God and Savior wash us with His Word, provide for us His new birth, and renew us by the fullest measure of His Spirit within us. He justifies us by His grace and makes us heirs with Jesus of His eternal Kingdom.

His greatest gift is that He is just and He justifies us, not by our own accomplishments but by His (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:4-7). Yet, people usually fail to thank Him for His blessings and take credit for the good things that happen to them.

We eventually get weary, burdened and burn out. We long for a time of rest from the rat-race of life. The wise person will yoke up with Christ, learn from Him and gain rest for their soul (Matthew 11:28-30).

We trust that Jesus knows exactly what we need and how to attain that. We quit doing things our way, and follow the direction of God's Spirit each moment of the day.

We cease from our fruitless labors and enter God's rest (Hebrews 4:10). We stop attempting to please God by the works of our flesh and realize that we can only prove our love to Him through obedience to His Word (John 14:15).

Prayer:

Father God, thank You that there is no longer condemnation for those of us who love You and are the called according to Your purpose rather than our own goals and desires. Thank You for Your life-giving Spirit who achieves in us what the law never could. Thank you for sending Jesus as God with us in human form to fulfill the requirements of the law and setting us free from the power and purpose of sin, the world and the flesh (Romans 8:1-8).

Remind us that in the flesh, we can never please You; but Your Spirit in us gives us Your holiness and Your life (Romans 8:9-11). Help us to depend on You for everything we need during the day. Teach us not to worry about anything in life, but to pray instead; and to trust You just like the birds of the air and the lilies in the field (Matthew 6:25-33).

Thought for the Day:

Trusting in Jesus helps us to realize that only He can rescue us from the tyranny of this life. - Romans 7:15-25