Emotional and Mental Health - Christ Triumphs over Evil

Rather than to allow our mental and emotional health to gain its influence from the world, the flesh or the devil, we can glean as we read from God's Word and adopt its Biblical principles and concepts as our own.

Writing verses on 3x5 cards and carrying them around with us enables us to focus on scripture while waiting at traffic lights, retail lines at the check-out, doctor's offices, school pick-up lanes to retrieve our children, etc.

Rather than to fume about wasted time, we constructively focus on the Word of God, which is life to our spirit and soul. As we set our mind on things above, we grow in our faith, hope and love, and we increase our intimacy with our Lord.

Our trials in life give us the perfect opportunity for God to prove His love and sustaining power to us, it draws us together as a couple, a family and as the Body of Christ, if we pray together for our needs.

We are all falsely accused, misunderstood, and people make incorrect assumptions about us and our motives. Yet, evil will not triumph over us, because Christ in us is greater than Satan and the people in this world (Ecclesiastes 3:17, 12:14).

God will right all the wrongs when our righteous King takes His throne to rule and reign for eternity. There will be no more tears or sorrow; no more emotional of mental distress; only peace and joy for eternity.

Prayer:
Father God, You give us respect in our city, when we support one another as Your Body, and when we walk in Your ways (Proverbs 31:23). Yet, at other times, people around us hate You, and then hate us because we love You (Psalm 31:11-13).

We do not need to please people or lead people to You; we simply need to share Your gospel with whomever will listen; allow Your Spirit to do a work in their heart; and then, let our light shine in such a way that our family, friends, associates and neighbors will see our good works and glorify You (Galatians 1:10; 1 Peter 2:12; Matthew 5:16).


Thought for the Day:
When we choose to walk in God's rest and peace, we are paving the way for difficult, evil people to encounter the Prince of Peace Himself, because He abides within us; so we can choose peace over worry and walk in serenity instead or unrest and anxiety.

Secret Intents and Motives

When we depend on someone else for our sense of value, we put our self into bondage to that person. Our motives, goals and opinions revolve around that person's whims.

People come and go in our life. They have unrealistic expectations of us, tire of us and dump us on the curb like a useless sack of trash.

However, Jesus never ever leaves us or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5). He died for us in spite of our self and our failings. He approves of us in Christ and fully accepts us with all of our idiosyncrasies (Hebrews 13:8).

We can also put our self into bondage to religion by attempting to earn God's love and acceptance. We drive our self endlessly to work harder and to do better to please Him.

The truth is that our "self" is already crucified with Christ (Colossians 3:3; Galatians 2:20). At Salvation, we are fully accepted in the Beloved of God (Ephesians 1:5-7). God's Spirit fills us to the brim and overflows on everyone around us.

We prove that we love Him by our obedience to His Word (John 14:15). We do not always keep each letter of the law all the time, but our motive in life is to walk in His ways (Galatians 3:24; Psalm 86:11-17).

God sees our whole heart - including our secret intents and motives (1 Samuel 16:7). He encourages us to keep our self unspotted by the world (James 1:26-27).

Jesus loved us even when we did not love Him (1 John 4:19). We feel secure in His love, because it is not dependent on whether we earn or deserve it. It is a free gift, which lasts forever (Romans 3:23, 6:23).

Prayer:

Father God, the world values human attributes like popularity, physical features, power, influence and financial abundance; but You reward faithfulness to Your Word. You discern our secret intents and motives and discipline or bless Your children according to the desires of our heart (Jeremiah 17:10).

Help us to shed the trappings of this world that we carry with us into our relationship with You. Purify our thoughts and teach us Your ways, so that we want only what You want and value only those things which bring You honor and glory forever and ever.

Thought for the Day:

We attempt to justify our motives and actions, but the Lord weighs them on His scales; as we consult the Lord, He will guide our steps and establish our plans in His will.

- Proverbs 16:2-3

Drenched with the Presence of God

 

God diagrammed the course of human existence before He ever brought the first couple to His perfect Garden. Their sin did not surprise Him, and He already planned for Jesus to pay our sin debt (Romans 7:21-25).

Through Christ, we are Born Again - a spiritual rebirth of our human spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, empowering us to walk in God's will every moment of our day.

We are not drawn to the darkness, because Christ in us is our spiritual light. Satan no longer holds us as powerless captives, weak-willed hostages or rebellious infidels.

Carnal feelings, earthly desires and worldly longings are things of the past. The war in our mind ceases, because God's Spirit in us wins battle after battle to renew our mind (Ephesians 4:23).

Once we accept Christ, we slowly get lost in the beauty of His holiness (Psalm 29:2). We exalt His name for His faithful love and grace toward us (Isaiah 25:1). Christ is our whole life (Colossians 3:4).

We think of nothing but Christ in our every waking moment. We follow His Spirit as He directs our steps in the very center of God's will (Proverbs 3:5-6).

God is our eternal dwelling place and we are His Holy Temple (Psalm 90:1-2; 1 Corinthians 3:16). We are completely absorbed in Him and He fills every fiber of our being.

We behold His beauty as we dwell in His house and we meditate in His Temple (Psalm 27:4). He gives us a reason to hope during the trials, which we experience throughout our day (Jeremiah 29:11). We are drenched with His very presence.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for setting us free from the law of sin and death by Your Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2). We have less stress and striving in our life since we completely surrendered to the work of Your Holy Spirit in our life. We love Your Kingdom and we look forward to inheriting Your promises in eternity.

Keep us ever faithful to Your Word and Your life within us. Write Your laws on our heart and fill us to the brim with Your Spirit (Hebrews 8:10; Ephesians 3:16-9). Transform our mind to the mind of Christ and give us an abundance of Your presence until we overflow to the brim with Your love, grace and complete unity with You (Romans 12:2; John 17:23).

Thought for the Day:

Sin no longer tempts us, disobedience disgusts us and rebellion no longer motivates our behavior, because we love God with our entire body, soul and spirit and we detest what He abhors.

Who We Are in Christ

 

The need to work toward a successful life in this world is a lie from Satan. Even after salvation, we often feel disappointment with life. We hope that certain people will act a certain way in order for us to feel secure. We can even disappoint our self! We tend to trust in our government, our parents, our mate, our children, our teachers or even our pastors. We can work for God and burn out, because we do not allow God to work through us by His Spirit.

 

When we work for God we receive no lasting power, peace or joy. There is no permanent fulfillment in planning our own life and asking God to bless it. When we choose to act separately from our Father, we easily fall into sin (1 John 1:8). It is only as we surrender to God’s Spirit each moment of our day, and follow His leadership each step of the way, that we find deep peace and joy. We walk in His Truth, just as He is in the truth (3 John 1:4).

 

God does not help us to perform works for Him. He lives His life in and through us. Jesus set us free from the law of sin and death; it holds no power over us, unless we choose to give in to it (1 John 2:1). However, when we sin, we have an advocate with our Father and He forgives us because He is just and faithful (1 John 8-9). The Father uses our spirit to search the motives of our soul and to form the nature of Christ in us (Proverbs 20:27).

 

Our old, carnal nature dies at salvation. We became a new creation, partakers of the divine nature of God through His promises, and we escape the lusts of the world (2 Corinthians 5:17; 2 Peter 1:4). They hold no more power over us. When we come to this place in our life, we step out of the realm of sin and the flesh, and we walk into the arms of God. We are eternally united with Christ as our brother and fellow heir (Ephesians 5:8).

 

As we trust in God’s faithfulness, nothing can separate us from His love, or snatch us out of His hand (Romans 8:35-39; John 10:27-29). If we seek His eternal promises, He will supply all of our earthly needs (Matthew 6:33). The banks can fail, we can lose money in the stock market, but by investing in God’s Kingdom, we shall always succeed (Matthew 6: 19-21).

 

Prayer:

Father God, You intended for our salvation to be more than Christ dying for us, but that He also lives in and through us (2 Peter 1:3). He lives in us by Your Spirit and He helps us to understand who we are, not as a human being, but as Your child (Galatians 2:20). Help us to live for Your purposes and not our own goals and dreams (Philippians 1:21). We look forward to Jesus returning again to bring us to Himself (Titus 2:12-13).

 

Thought for the Day:

Denying our self is essential to spiritual freedom.

 

The Benefits of the Race

 

Throughout our lifetime, God shows us who we really are (Galatians 6:3). We no longer excuse our failings and justify our motives. We recognize that even all of our accomplishments are filthy rags in His sight (Isaiah 64:6). We realize that we run a very real chance of standing before Him on the judgment day in shame and loss (1 John 2:28). Therefore, we confess that we are sinners and call out to Him for salvation. In exchange, He gives us all of His righteousness along with His Spirit, who takes up residence in our newly Born Again spirit (2 Corinthians 5:21; John 3:7). 

We never find true peace in life until we stop living for our self and live for God instead. We see His little love letters to us all throughout our day. We abide in His presence and rejoice in His provision and love for us. He strengthens us (2 Chronicles 16:9). His mercy and goodness keep us all the days of our life, and then we dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6). He deserves more from us than half-hearted devotion and praise (Romans 6:17). He wants us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). When we do, His praise is on our lips every moment of the day.

Paul teaches us not to center our contentment on the circumstances of our life, but on the peace that God’s Spirit provides from within us. Jesus experienced heart-rending loss and adverse trials; yet, He taught us to count our suffering as a gift of joy (James 1:2-8). The purpose of our life is not to amass worldly goods, but to honor our Father in Heaven, just like Jesus did. Though we make a living in the world, our vocation is actually our ministry to use for the glory of God.

Paul likens our life with the Lord to a race. Christianity calls for the same characteristics of training and commitment (Hebrews 12:1-3). Running a race takes devotion and dedication.  Some people stand on the sidelines in church and even in life. However, running the race is so much more exciting, and even has the possibility of receiving awards at the end. God never leaves us, but gives us the courage and strength to finish the race (Hebrews 13:5; 2 Timothy 4:7).

God’s love is described in dimensions. It has height and length, depth and width (Ephesians 3:18-20). God’s love is proportionate and all encompassing. It completely surrounds us, encasing us in His love. Nothing can ever separate us from His great love (Romans 8:31-39). What can we do for Him in return for His grace, mercy, joy, peace and love? Even if we are just eating and drinking, we do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). We can purpose in our heart to develop the deeper commitment of a life hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

Prayer:

Father God, intimate fellowship with You is available to every Believer. It requires time and energy from us, quietness and confidence, and commitment and adoration. If we spend all of our time in the world, and give You only our spare change and hurried moments as we fall asleep at night, we not only insult You, but we short-change our self as well. We may have to hit the bottom of the barrel, before we ever take the time to look up into Your glorious face and live our life in worship to You.

Thought for the Day:

The Battle is the Lord’s and our best chance of success is to follow His strategy and obey His direction. -  Joshua 6:1-18