God Satisfies Our Soul

Our whole being finds fulfillment only in the everlasting arms of our Lord God. His love is better than anything that life on this earth provides (Psalm 63:3); and we cannot help but lift up our hands in praise to Him as we glorify Him with our every thought, word and deed.

Through His salvation, He satisfies our soul and makes us secure in this sin-filled world (Psalm 23:3-4; 63:1-5). Our spirit is no longer dead in sin, but dances through life, alive in Christ forevermore. We bathe in His love, rest in His peace and sing because of His joy in us, as He rejoices over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17).

Our fellowship with Him is in perfect and complete harmony and unity due to His mercy, love and grace (1 John 4:19). We walk in His light and enjoy fellowship with His Body now and throughout eternity (1 John 1:7).

Clinging to our pride and rebellion, our addictions and our insecurities only brings us trouble and devastation; but surrendering all to Jesus gives us the faith and security to thrive in this war-torn world.

When we reach out to Jesus, turn away from our sinful lifestyle and submit to His authority in our life, we find satisfaction and healing in His love. God heals our pain associated with all of our relationships, even those filled with disappointment and trauma. 

He helps us to humble our self and to reconcile with those in our life that caused us pain. We forgive one another and bless each other with God's encouragement and love.

God's perfect love is what our soul longs for and that which heals our broken heart and drenches us like a waterfall in this discouraging and broken society. We live as sojourners and pilgrims until He is ready to take us home with Him for eternity.

Prayer:

Father God, You created us so that our eyes are the windows of our soul. We often answer glibly when someone asks us how we are, because we know they do not really have time to hear our honest answer, nor are most of them concerned with how we really feel. Help us to look into each other's eyes and to see the true feelings emanating from them, to take time to really listen, and to show concern and ask how we may help to improve each other's lot in this life.

Remind us that we have to start by taking a searching inventory of our self in order to understand exactly how we do feel. What does our spirit need to grow in Your grace? How is our body and soul - our thoughts and feelings, which affect our choices? You are patient with us, and Your kindness is everlasting. You love us beyond words. You strengthen us and shower us with so many blessings that those who know us stand in awe of You (Psalm 86:15).

Thought for the Day:

Our success in this dark and pain-filled life comes from trusting in God alone to help us to live victoriously over the evils present all around us; as we call on Him to empower us, so that we can keep a daily, vigilant watch over our body, soul and spirit; this enables us to live serenely in His everlasting arms.

No Longer a Sinner - God's Seed in Us

In reality, nothing good comes from our flesh. It is only Christ in us who works in and through us to produce lasting fruit (Romans 7:18; Philippians 2:12-13). The roots of the Spirit ground us and the Vine provides for us.

As Born Again Believers, we are born of God and partakers of the divine nature of Christ (2 Peter 1:4). When Christ dwells in us, He gives us the power to conquer temptation and sin (1 Corinthians 10:13).

We do not continue in a lifestyle of sin, because His seed remains in us (1 John 3:9). His Spirit empowers us and makes us more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). We are conduits for His work through our life.

Sin no longer controls us because His Spirit dwells within us and conforms us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 6:18). Christ sets us free from the law of sin and death (John 8:36; Romans 8:1-2).

Therefore, we grieve the heart of God when we wallow in sin and give in to temptation and the flesh. We deny His power within us and we give Satan the attention that God deserves.

We waste our lives and fail to live up to God's best for us. When we take the wide road to destruction, we end up with little to show for a lifetime of living. We reap few rewards in heaven, because we rarely served Him with our life.

Yet, if we walk in His will each moment of the day, we accomplish His work in the earth and make a lasting contribution to His Kingdom. We reap rewards for each act of obedience and earn crowns that we can cast at Jesus' feet (Revelation 4:10-11).

We cast our crowns, because we realize that we do not deserve them. Everything we accomplish on the earth is the result of His Spirit's work in and through us, and we have no bragging rights (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for Your Spirit who calls to our spirit and empowers us to walk in Your will each day of our life (Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 2:12-13). Help us to walk in Your Spirit so we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:15-25). The more our carnality decreases, the more You encompass our life. We walk in increasing increments of spirituality, and sin no longer tempts us. We have no desire for this world's enticements.

You provide for our every need abundantly more than we even expect, and we give You all the praise and glory for every good thing in our life (James 1:17). We spend our days singing praises to You as we go about meeting only Your expectations in our life. As we listen to Your Spirit, You always work out everything for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).

Thought for the Day:

If we keep living a lifestyle of sin without conviction and repentance, this is proof that we are not born of God; we remain in the flesh and our spirit is still dead in sin; once we know God, His sanctifying power causes us to gradually lose our desire to keep on sinning. 

- Ephesians 2:1; 1 John 2:29, 3:6

No Longer a Sinner - Missing the Mark

When we sin, we miss the mark of perfection modeled by Jesus and His sinless life. As unbelievers we have no choice but to walk in sin, because Satan is our father and he is the father of lies (John 8:44).

However, once we come to Christ for forgiveness of our sins and for His redemption of our life as a sinner, we no longer live in habitual sin. We may miss the mark now and then and sin; but it is no longer our lifestyle.

If we continue to live in habitual sin, we are still dead in sin and do not have the Holy Spirit within us (Romans 8:9). We are not Born Again by the Spirit of God, but we continue to live as slaves of unrighteousness and we reap its destruction (Romans 6:15-23).

Maybe we were convicted and we called out to God for salvation; yet we were never converted. Salvation is a two-sided coin: The prayer of faith on one side, but the repentance of sin is on the other side (Mark 1:14-15).

If we are Born Again, we are embodied by God's Spirit and we are no longer a sinner. We are a Saint. At first this is only true positionally in our eternal standing with God, because we are still in need of sanctification in our soul.

As we pray without ceasing, allow God's Spirit to do His sanctifying work in our soul - our thoughts, choices and emotions - and walk according to the Spirit's direction for each moment of our day, we are literally free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

We grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ and our flesh decreases as He increases within us (2 Peter 3:18; John 3:30). He fills us through all of our being with all the fullness of God. We have the richest measure of His presence and we are a body wholly filled with God (Ephesians 3:16-19).

Christ is our whole life (Colossians 3:4), and we live to do His will with each moment of our day. We enjoy our times alone with God - even the silent moments when He is just enjoying our company. We walk in His truth and spread His peace every place we go.

We are amazed at the divine appointments that God sets up for us along the way. People are encouraged and blessed by the presence of Christ in us, and we are blessed to watch Him work in and through us.

Prayer:

Father God, let there be peace in the world, and let it begin with Your Saints. Remind us that we are free from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1-2). We no longer live a lifestyle of sin, although we do miss the mark of Your perfection once in a while.

As long as we humble our self, admit our failings and desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:12), we remain in Your Spirit and follow His guidance to live in Your will each moment of our day. Thank You for empowering us by Your Spirit to live as Your ambassadors while we remain on this earth.

Thought for the Day:

God wants to use us for His Kingdom: He may lead us to fill a physical need for someone in the name of Jesus; a tear-filled face gives us the opportunity to share the compassion of Christ; a blank stare or faraway look in someone's eye allows us to infuse His love and joy into a frustrating or perplexing situation - be ready, willing and able to serve in Jesus' name. - Matthew 10:41

Sinner or Saint

 

If Christ dwells in our Born Again spirit, our body and soul cannot live in a lifestyle of sin, because it grieves God's Spirit to be a part of anything remotely sinful.

What is a sin? Sin is missing the mark of God's perfect holiness. The main sin is that of unbelief (John 3:18). We condemn our self to hell by our unbelief. No one sin is more grievous to God, than unbelief (Romans 14:23).

The Bible gives us several lists of other particular sins, such as fornication, witchcraft, strife, envy, murder, alcoholism, homosexuality, backbiters, disobedient to parents, proud, unmerciful, covenant breakers, profane, whoremongers, liars, divorcing one's mate, thieves, foolish talk, jesting, covetousness and blasphemy to name a few (Galatians 5:19-21; Romans 1:26-32; 1 Timothy 1:9-10; Revelation 21:8; Matthew 19:18-19; Ephesians 5:3-7, 18; Mark 7:21-22; 2 Corinthians 12:20).

The Body of Christ will welcome most sinners into the ministry with carte blanche forgiveness, except someone who has been divorced. They act as if divorce is the unpardonable sin; even if the otherwise qualified man did not want the divorce.

Yet, we see that there are other characteristics which should exclude someone from the ministry. Consider an alcoholic, a murderer, a liar, a permissive parent, or a sex addict. These are all equal qualifications, and yet often ignored (1 Timothy 3:1-13).

The good news of the Gospel of Christ is that while we still lived in a lifestyle of sin, Jesus died for us all (Romans 5:8, 11). Jesus became sin for us all, so that we all could become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The only unpardonable sin is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31). All other sins are forgiven and covered by the blood of Jesus for everyone with the courage to call on His name to be saved.

Prayer:

Father God, You consider anger just as sinful as murder, and lust as hateful as fornication. There are no mortal and venial sins in Your eyes. One sin is as disgusting to You as another (Matthew 5:22, 28,32). Thank You for Your sanctifying work in our life, which sets us free from sin and death (Romans 8:2).

Remind us that if we say we are Born Again, and yet we sin with immunity and no negative side effects, we are deceiving our self (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8). A Born Again Believer may dabble in sin for a season, or carry a sin with us into our Born Again life, but we cannot tolerate sin for very long. This is because Your holy presence within us cannot dwell in a sinful environment.

Thought for the Day:

The sanctification process takes us through our season of unrighteous living, and changes us step by step to exhibit more Godliness than unrighteousness; we live as an example of a Godly Believer, full of love and spirituality.