God Shall Supply

There is no limit on the ways and means God will use to bless His children. We may go through trials in life, but there is a seed for a miracle in each one of them. They always have some good quality that blesses us in the end.

When the tax collectors threatened to put the widow’s sons into indentured service, she cried out to God for help. She had no idea how God would solve this problem, but she knew He is worthy of our trust and praise.

God sent the prophet Elisha to meet her need. After she followed his directive by collecting every available pot and jar she could find from all of her neighbors, the widow started pouring oil from her tiny oil jar as he directed.

The oil did not stop streaming out until the last jar miraculously filled to the very top. After selling the abundance of oil, the widow paid her bills and spared her sons from a life of slavery for someone else’s profit.

She also had oil for herself, the prophet and her family. What if she told the prophet she was too tired to gather all of those pots and jars? What if she decided not to bother her neighbors? What if she had quarreled with her neighbors and no one agreed to lend her a jar or a pot? She would have missed out on the blessings of God.

She may have considered the prophet a little crazy for telling her to do such a silly chore; but due to her obedience, she received a blessing and saw a miracle from God in the midst of her trial.

As we obey the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit and trust Him no matter how silly His directions sound, He will supply all of our needs according to His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19). God gives us the anointing of His Spirit to do all that He calls upon us to accomplish.

Prayer:

Father God, sometimes I feel too tired or weary to get out of my chair and obey Your Spirit. I receive the unction to obey when I realize that I would miss the benefits of Your supply and deny someone else the blessings that You have in store for them.

Give us the anointing of Your Spirit to do all that You call us to accomplish. Also give us the energy to rise up with wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31). Thank You that You care for us and already provided for every need we will ever have. Thank You for Your Spirit to lead us every moment of every day in the center of Your perfect will for us.

Thought for the Day:

God never promises to provide more than we need, but He does declare that He will supply all of our needs according to His glorious riches. - Matthew 6:33

Integration with God's Spirit

 

When we detach from the belief that we are only the sum of what we think and feel, we are able to integrate our true inner self with God's Spirit within us.

We see and forgive the causes of our faulty thinking and behavior and are healed. As we accept our feelings and idiosyncrasies without judgment, we can submit them to God's Spirit for sanctification.

We stop fighting our self and start growing in Christ. God's Spirit sets us free from the bondage of Satan's lies which controlled us for most of our life ( www.theophostic.com ).

We align our thinking with God's Word. Our days take on a hue of joy and peace unfamiliar to us in the past. The presence of God's Spirit within us helps us to see our faulty thinking and behavior without negative repercussions or condemnation (Romans 8:1).

We relax and trust in God's goodness and compassion. We pull the plug on the power which our negative feelings once held over our life. We learn to reject Satan's lies and to embrace God's Truth.

We no longer entertain them as real and important; and instead we view them as red flags which signal a deeper problem within.

Our realization, that our strong over-reaction to a person or experience comes from old wounds and unresolved conflicts, gives us more balance in our life and priorities.

We face our fears head-on and allow God's Spirit to diffuse them for us. We see the idols we erected in our life for what they are, and we cooperate as the Holy Spirit tears them down.

Patience does her perfecting work in us and things of this world no longer grip us with the former, inordinate, over-powering importance which the earthly and material issues used to hold in our life. We look forward to the miracles God plants in all of our trials.

Prayer:

Father God, we find joy in our tribulation (Romans 5:3), because of Your presence in them with us. You hold us in the safety of Your hand and shelter us under the shadow of Your wings (Psalm 139:10). We realize that the disappointments and wounds of our childhood hold no more power over our current moment, because You set us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

We forgive those who hurt and used us; and we look forward to a new chapter in our life, full of Your blessings and new possibilities. Teach us to walk in Your Spirit every moment of the day and to do the works which You created us to do before we were even born (Ephesians 2:10).

Thought for the Day:

As we face the grief of our past with a spiritual viewpoint, the intensity of it diminishes and we are freed from the power of negative emotions, which used to infect our life.

Living in God's Presence

 

I used to think that God wanted me to work for Him. I was under the impression that He desired for me to spend all of my time serving in the soup kitchen for the homeless, going to Bible studies, taking abandoned children into our home, helping to lead worship in my church, teaching adults how to read, witnessing to everyone I met and a myriad of other activities.

However, these very activities stole time away from my ability to actually live in the presence of God (1 Chronicles 28:9). Remember when Jesus went to the pool? He only healed one man (John 5:1-18).

Another time, when He walked through the crowd, only the woman who touched his garment was healed (Luke 8:43-48). Jesus did miracles and taught the crowds as He saw the Father working.

However, He spent more time in solitary places communing with our Father God (Matthew 6:9-13, 11:25-26, 14:23; Luke 6:12, 22:32, 22:41-44, 23:34; John 11:41-42, 12:27-28, 14:31, 17:1-26). He lived in the very center of God’s will.

We can learn a lesson from Jesus’ life. He listened to God, heard His direction and did only what the Father said and did (John 5:19, 5:30, 8:28, 12:49). God calls us to do this same thing.

We no longer rely on our human reasoning to direct our day. We seek the Lord and He directs our path (Proverbs 3:5-6). We walk through our day communing with our Father and following His Spirit’s direction even if it makes no human sense.

Sometimes, I actually argue with the Spirit’s leading, or discount it as a human thought, which just floated through my mind.

Maybe I am tired and I do not want to follow the Spirit’s leading. I have my own agenda for my day; so I decide to take a nap or go to the pool or play a game of Scrabble instead of obeying my Father’s will.

When I do, I quickly learn that I grieved the Holy Spirit and missed an opportunity to further the Kingdom of God.

At times, God will lead us to nap, because of what lies ahead in our evening, or He has a person at the pool or the park whom He wants us to talk to about Jesus.

The point is to walk in the Spirit, so that we do not reap the consequences of living in the flesh (Galatians 5:15-25), thwart God’s will for our life or quench God’s Holy Spirit. We will have more time to rest in His presence.

Prayer:

Father God, keep our thoughts centered on You as we learn to walk in Your ways. Help us to understand that You do not want us to work for You, but to do the works, which You created us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

Remind us that it is not by our works of righteousness, or our might and power, but by Your Spirit that we live, move and have our being in You (Titus 3:5-7; Zechariah 4:6; Acts 17: 28).

Thought for the Day:

If Jesus did not speak for Himself, do anything through His own effort or strength, or teach anything of His own devising, how can we do otherwise?         – John 12:49-50, 7:18, 5:19, 30, 14:31  

Struggling with Our Faith - Part 1

When we struggle with our faith in God, it does not happen because Jesus is inadequate evidence for our conviction. Jesus is actually the very foundation of our Christian faith. 

Other religions diminish His importance in human history and call Him a good teacher, but refuse to give Him the elevated status as Emmanuel – God with us in the flesh (1 John 2:23).

The facts surrounding His miracles are proof enough that He is who He claimed to be. However, when we add His resurrection from the dead and His appearing to people for 40 days before His ascension (Acts 1:3; Luke 24:50-53), we have to conclude that He is God.

Christianity recognizes Jesus in His rightful place for all time. Jesus existed before He was born as a baby on the earth (John 8:58). He is the physical manifestation of God in human form (John 14:9).

If we take Jesus’ words for who He was, we have to believe that He is God. He actually told people that He came from above and that He is not from this world (John 8:23, 17:16). He shared in our Father’s glory prior to his short human existence (John 6:62, 17:5).
 

Prayer:

Father God, teach us to discern the voice of Your Spirit within us, so we can avoid living according to the dictates of our flesh or the devil. We revel in both the glory and humility of Christ who abides within us (John 14:6). We want to follow His example and live in the center of Your will, rather than according to our human desires and impulses.

Thought for the Day:

Jesus existed as God prior to His advent on this earth; yet, He humbled Himself as a servant and a sacrifice for our sins. - Philippians 2:6-8

Confidence in Christ Alone

So many Christians still fall into the trap of attempting to gain their esteem through self-effort. We want to feel good about our self, because of the belittling, condescension and criticism we receive. Life positions us for this tendency by giving us praise for our successes, good behavior and accomplishments; and then rejecting or punishing us for our failings.

The good news is that, in Christ, our failings are not failures. They are simply lapses in judgment, over-reactions in a situation or misinformed decisions. The solution to this is to walk in God’s Spirit each moment of the day, with our focus on His direction and not on our human thoughts, plans and goals (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Walking in the Spirit requires thinking with the mind of Christ, rather than relying on our human observations (1 Corinthians 2:16; Galatians 5:15-25). God’s plan for us started before our birth and continues to our last breath (Psalm 139:13-14; Philippians 1:6; Ephesians 2:10). At salvation, we died to our human mind-set, and Christ is now our whole life (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3-4; 1 Corinthians 2:3-5).

Through God’s Spirit, we have the ability, confidence, love and self-discipline to live a successful life (2 Timothy 1:7; Proverbs 3:26; Psalm 138:8). Our self-esteem comes from Christ in us, and God’s unconditional love for us. Even during trials, our confidence in God and His promises remain steadfast and true (Hebrews 10:35-36; Matthew 6:34; James 1:12).

We boldly approach God’s throne to receive forgiveness and grace in our times of need (Hebrews 4:16). Christ and His Spirit within us strengthen us to walk in God’s will all the days of our life (Philippians 4:13; Acts 1:8). This gives us more confidence than anything we could ever accomplish through our own self-efforts.

Prayer:

Father God, no matter what we face during our lifetime, we have no need to fear, because we rely on Christ in us rather than our human capabilities (1 John 4:18). Even if the most horrendous issue ever known to mankind comes against us, we have confidence in Christ abiding within us (Psalm 27:3). You are with us no matter where we live, what surrounds us or what occurs in our life (Joshua 1:9). We have all of our confidence in You, rather than in our self, because we know that You work out even the negative issues of life for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).

Thought for the Day:

We find joy, even in the most trying difficulty; because when we pray with gratitude in our heart, surrender to God’s will and have faith in God’s faithfulness, He guards our heart and mind through Christ in the most miraculous ways. - Philippians 4:4-7