Holy Living

Every day, God gives us the opportunity to stop sowing the destruction of sin into our garden of life. He provides new and nurturing experiences for us to use the pieces of our eternal weight of glory to honor Him.

We press on toward the goal of the high calling of God in our life (Philippians 3:14), until our journey ends. This is when He transforms us into the image of Christ as we breathe our last earthly breath and enter our celestial home in heaven (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Until then, we spend our days in holy living, worshipping our true and living King, and abiding according to Biblical and eternal priorities. This occurs regardless of our trials and circumstances.

We count everything as joy, even when we fall into various temptations, knowing that the trial of our faith produces patience; then patience has her perfect way with us, teaching us to "let go and let God" have His way in our life (James 1:4).

When we walk in the flesh, we tax our spiritual, emotional and mental energy, which effects our physical energy as well. We divide our energy between carnal and spiritual concerns.

God wants to hold the preeminent place in our life in order to insure our success as we enter into His rest (Hebrews 4:10). Then there will be no division in our soul and no stress on our physical well-being.

Happiness in this life requires a whole-hearted focus and commitment. We set our mind on the Kingdom of God and then He provides us with everything we need to experience fulfillment and success (Matthew 6:33).

Prayer:

Father God, Jesus gave His life at such a young age and died a cruel death in sacrifice upon the cross, so that I will never have to die the second death (Revelation 2:11; 20:6,14; 21:8). Because of You, my eternity is in Heaven’s glories rather than in hell’s torment.

You awake in me the desire to serve You all the days of my life. I rejoice in You, my God and my Savior. I enter Your presence with the confidence of a child, and I dwell in Your Holy Place forever (Hebrews 10:19-20).

Thought for the Day:

If we have an idol in our life - something we focus on more than God; or are overly concerned with "me, myself and I", we will miss the high calling of God's will and suffer the loss of fulfillment which only He can provide.

Forgiving Our Mistakes

The Bible makes a monumental case out of the fact that forgiveness is a fundamental exercise in our Christian walk. Jesus, Paul and many of the other authors note various aspect of forgiving our self and others (Matthew 6:14-15; Colossians 3:13).

Forgiveness is one of the hardest concepts to grasp and to obey God's directive. We want to hold grudges, thinking we are punishing the offending party; but we are actually only harming our self and our physical and spiritual health.

While balancing my checkbook at the end of the month, I clicked in two small numbers into the calculator and came out with an enormous number as the result.

Shocked, I sat there in disbelief. Then, I remembered that I forgot to clear the information, which I entered into the calculator earlier and this resulted in the confusion and misinformation.

This reminded me that we often carry with us, into our new life in Christ, the condemnation that accompanies our sinful lifestyle of the past. Yet, God forgot all of our sins when we repented and believed in Jesus as our Savior.

There is no longer any condemnation for them, because He cast our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). He remembers them no more (Hebrews 8:12).

Once we realize that God forgives us, it is easier for us to forgive our self, as well as those who offend us. We can delete the balance of our sins from our mind and heart.

God no longer remember them, so why should we? He freely gives us His forgiveness and unconditional love, which accompanies us for the rest of our life.

Prayer:

Father God, nothing takes You by surprise, because You know the end of time from the beginning. Every moment is present before You, because You are not hindered by time, space or matter. You live outside of the realm of earthly hindrances and restrictions. You are immortal and there are no limits to Your knowledge, power or goodness.

Thank You for loving us so completely, for coming to earth as Emanuel and for saving us from our self. You set our feet to dancing (Psalm 30:11), and You give us feet like a goat's feet to traverse the rocky heights of danger in this world (Psalm 18:33). We look forward to spending eternity with You when Your Kingdoms comes to the earth (Matthew 6:10). 

Thought for the Day:

God remembers our sins no more.

Meekness and Grace

God's Spirit slowly transforms our life in Christ from one stage of glory to the next until we have the mind, character and nature of Christ in us (Romans 1:1, 6:18).

We are no longer slaves to the negative attributes of our human personality, but we are free indeed (John 8:36). We grow in meekness and grace in order to live in total surrender to the loving hands of the Master Potter (Isaiah 64:8).

God's Spirit teaches us to draw near to God and to resist Satan's temptations, so that he has to flee from us (James 4:7). We no longer live as slaves to sin, dancing to the beat of Satan's tune.

We are free to live in Jesus' holiness and righteousness, which He exchanged with us for our sin (2 Corinthians 5:17). We no longer live in habitual sin (1 John 3:9), because Christ poured out His love for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8).

God reconciled us to Himself through Christ's sacrifice on Calvary's cross (Colossians 1:20). He molds us into a spotless Bride for His Son. We end up as a glorious Bride without any blemish or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27).

As we maintain our daily focus on Christ, He authors and completes our salvation in spirit, soul and eventually in body (Hebrews 12:2; James 1:4). We live in union with Christ and we purpose to further God's Kingdom in the earth (Luke 2:49).

Like Jesus, we can do nothing from our own strength, wisdom or resources. We need our Father, our Savior and their Spirit. We are one with them now and throughout eternity (John 5:19, 10:30).

Prayer:

Father God, Jesus has Your mind and through His presence within us, we share Your mind as well (1 Corinthians 2:16). Our union with You increases and deepens as we keep our mind on You (Isaiah 26:3). Help us to repent of our dependence on our human wisdom and understanding, which limits our usefulness in Your Kingdom.

We want to walk away from our humanity, including our goals and good works, and embrace Your divinity within us. Teach us to follow Your Spirit as He guides us through every step of our day until we learn to acknowledge You in all of our ways (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Thought for the Day:

We can learn to fellowship with the Trinity and to listen to God’s Spirit within us as we put on the mind of Christ and accomplish His will for each moment of our life.