Surrendering to God's Will

We can develop habits over time to create more joy in our life and to eliminate depression and melancholy. However, it takes a change of focus and total submission to God's Holy Spirit.

Many people live in the realm of "what ifs" and/or wanting what they do not have. They think that happiness will finally arrive when they accomplish their bucket list.

We allow circumstances to color our thoughts and feelings, which may diminish our joy. We wait for God to answer our prayers rather than to enjoy the life, which He already provided for us.

His peace and joy are available for us each moment of the day and do not depend on circumstances. It is possible to live in an economically depressed area with impoverished circumstances and still have total peace and joy.

There is no guarantee that we will live to see the next moment in time; so focusing on having possessions or certain people in our life will reduce our peace and joy.

Without surrendering our will to God's will each moment of the day, we hinder our effectiveness both in life and in our spiritual growth and ministry.

Once we repent of our sins and recognize Jesus as our only Savior and King, the very life of Christ saturates our entire body, soul and spirit. As His Spirit sanctifies us, we see more spiritual fruit and less of a draw from our flesh, Satan and the world.

The most critical exercise we can do as a baby Christian is to surrender our will to God's will. Even as older Christians, if we never surrendered, it is time to do so now.

When we totally surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over our life, we feel less and less tension and stress, and more and more of His rest, peace and joy.

Prayer:

Father God, we tend to regret the past and fear the future. We spend so much time focusing in these two directions that we waste the current moment. This moment in time is all that You guarantee us.

You forgave our past, and it is over and forgiven. We just have to remember to forgive our self too. Remind us that once we do surrender to You, Your Spirit begins replacing our negative personality traits with His spiritual fruit and You flood our spirit and soul with Your love.

Thought for the Day:

Our future is in God's capable hands; therefore, trusting God in the moment provides us with a stress-free life.

A Second Chance

 

When my second child went to school, I was so lonely that I went with her and took my younger son along with me. I served in her classroom as a parent volunteer, and the teacher was so grateful to get my help in her overly crowded classroom.

The next year, my youngest started school, and he was already used to it - had the same teacher and went to the same classroom. I was able to just keep on serving as a parent volunteer that second year too.

The next year, my baby went to first grade, so I volunteered as an art teacher for the local alternative school for miscreant teens. I did that for one year and the principle hired me without a degree as a teacher in math and history for the next three years.

I quit teaching these core subjects the next year and went back to volunteering as an art teacher...that was my passion and they had no money for an arts program. I was able to influence so many kids for Christ during those years.

My family also joined me in this ministry when we had the students over one or two each week for supper at our home. A few students without a family even lived with us from time to time for brief intervals.

God had a plan for this time as well. Several of the students were blown away by the unity and love in our family. They never experienced that, family dinners or joining hands and praying before the meal.

A few even accepted Christ during their visits in our home. One particular student stayed with us for a few weeks, then left our home and went to a rehab school to learn a trade. During his time there, they discovered that he had heart issues.

My husband happened to have an insurance exam in Little Rock at the same time that Anthony was hospitalized there for his heart. I went to spend the day with my former student while my husband took his test.

Anthony and I chatted, prayed, did a Bible study, played games and passed the time in companionship until he started having chest pains and his machines gave off loud alarms.

The hospital staff asked me to wait outside of the room, which was simply a glass enclosure in the middle of ICU. Anthony followed me with his eyes as I left the little glass room, and they never left my face - our eyes riveted on one another as the doctors and nurses gave him medical attention.

I stood out there crying and praying for this dear young man, even after the life left his body and the medical team tried shocking his heart, doing CPR and squeezing bags of air into him to fill his lungs with oxygen.

His eyes remained opened the whole time, and his face was still turned in my direction as he stared at me. So, I expected God to bring him back to life as I prayed and waited on Him to perform a miracle.

The miracle that day was that Anthony went to live with our God and Savior Jesus Christ. I remained on this side of glory, with my three children; but I was profoundly changed on that day.

I was the last person Anthony saw before God's angels came to escort him to heaven. I will never stop praising God for using me in this way to bring comfort to this dear boy who lived through so much pain and disappointment throughout his short 19 years of life.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for using us in Your way and timing in such a perfect manner in Your divine appointments. Keep us ever mindful that You have a multitude of mundane and miraculous tasks for us to perform for You throughout our lifetime.

You already planned them before we were ever born (Ephesians 2:10), and it is up to us to follow the leading of Your Holy Spirit to put us in the right place at the right time to do Your will for us. We cannot thank You enough for including us in Your plans for the lives of others and for using us to further Your Kingdom in the earth.

Thought for the Day:
No activity is random and frivolous and mundane when it is created for us by God to allow His Son, Jesus, to work through us and to use us for His ultimate glory.

No Longer a Sinner - Predestined to be Conformed

God predestined those He foreknew to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). He will present us to Himself as His glorious Bride, the Church without spot or wrinkle, glorious and blameless through Christ in us (Ephesians 5:27).

The process of conforming us to Christ's image is what most people shy away from in their journey of surrendering to God. We fear the pain of being molded or that God will send us to some unfavorable place on the earth to serve in His Kingdom.

At first, what we do not realize is that He is molding us into His grace by His mercy and love. If we completely submit to His ministry in our life, this is painless and even joyful (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Once we gain experience in the molding process, we stop fearing the unknown and embrace it with faith. We experience the glory of His transfiguration in us and are stunned by the splendor of His majesty (John 14:3, 17:24).

As the elect of God and the Body of Christ, we willingly surrender to Christ, our Head, in the process of election and sanctification. We gradually conform to the image of God, which Adam enjoyed in the Garden (Genesis 1:26-27, 5:3; 1 Corinthians 15:49).

He gives us His fruit and His gifts in order to take our place as healthy, viable members of His family. His spiritual life flows through our spirit and enables us to function in His calling for our life.

According to His eternal promises, He replaces our human nature with Christ's divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). He creates us as a new creature in Christ for good works (Ephesians 2:10) and gives us His power as His glorious Body (Philippians 3:21).

Prayer:

Father God, we look forward to seeing Christ as He is and being made in His likeness (1 John 3:2). Thank You for Your holy Word, which does not leave us clueless on this earth, but which reveals to us everything we need to see and know to live godly in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:12). Carry us through any suffering and persecution, and strengthen us in every tribulation, which we experience for Your righteousness sake (Matthew 5:10-12; John 15:18-27; Philippians 3:10).

When we suffer with Christ, we will also be gloried with Him in the day of our resurrection (Romans 8:17) and share in Your Kingdom as co-heirs of all that is Yours. Hasten the day of Your coming and take us to live with You in Your holy City of New Jerusalem.

Thought for the Day:
When Christ, who is our life, appears, we will also be revealed in all of His glory. - Colossians 3:4