Worldly Gain or Eternal Power

Money, fame, relationships, employment, ambition, pride, rebellion, reputation, worldly goods, houses, etc. are all parts of our carnality, which Believers continue to cling to in this world. 

God calls us to give up worldly gain for His eternal power. There really is no contest between the two! God also gives us the power to relinquish our will to His.

Where He sends us we will go, even if we do not want to go there; and we will not go where He does not send us, no matter how much we want to go. Jesus died for us, so that we can die in Him. 

Our new life belongs to Him, not to us. We wait before the Lord each new day to hear His will for each moment. We surrender each facet of our self to Him and He purges us and breaks sin's hold on us (Isaiah 6:5-7).

At salvation, God raises us up to sit in Heavenly places with Him. We are no longer concerned with earthly issues, but we seek first God's Kingdom (Ephesians 2:1-6).  

Our salvation is provided in justification and our self-life is crucified during sanctification. God fills us with His Spirit's joy and power, which is our strength to accomplish His works with our life (Ephesians 2:10).

As we give God's Spirit full reign in our spirit, soul and body, He takes up residence as His Temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). Without reservation, we surrender to God’s Spirit, and offer our soul’s submission without any reservation (Romans 12:1). 

He renews our mind with the mind of Christ, and our character is replaced with God’s nature, which is the fruit of His Spirit and the divine life of Christ in us (2 Peter 1:4; Galatians 5:22-23).

Prayer:

Father God, when You call us to Yourself, we lay our sinful nature and our natural talents at the Cross. Although it is hard to relinquish our life to You, we know You simply require a willing attitude. 

Christ slowly becomes our whole life (Colossians 3:2-4). We live, move and have our being only in Him (Acts 17:28). Your Spirit in us enables us to enter into Your Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19).

Thought for the Day:

We work out our own salvation, but it is God who gives us both the desire and the power to do this. - Philippians 2:12-13

The Power of Christ in Us

The Jewish culture looked for powerful signs to follow, and the Greek culture craved the latest tidbit of wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:21). When Christ came, He served as a stumbling block for both cultures. To those of us, who are called in Christ, however, Jesus is both the power and the wisdom of God for us (1 Corinthians 1:22-24). To know God personally is to relate to Him in the same way that a man “knows” his wife (Genesis 4:1). This is not an intellectual pursuit, but an intimate union.

Once we know the Lord, we enter into eternal life with Him (John 17:3). We labor with all the powerful energy of Christ working in us (Colossians 1:29). This is the same power, which manifested through Christ when God raised Jesus from the dead and seated Jesus at His right hand (Ephesians 1: 19-20). God does not look for excellence, eloquence and elegance in His people. He simply looks for a surrendered life. He does not need our natural talents. He gives us supernatural abilities.

God does not call those who want the credit, only those who humbly give Him the glory. He wants a submissive person, emptied of him/her self and filled with all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (1 Corinthians 15:10; Colossians 2:9). This takes a work of God’s Spirit in our life. For instance, when the soldiers came to take Jesus, Peter unsheathed his sword to defend Jesus to the death; however, just a few hours later, he denied Jesus three times, just like Jesus said he would (Mark 14:66-72).

Jesus knew Peter’s habit of depending on the flesh to fight his battles. That is why the transformation in Peter after Pentecost is so amazing to me! For the first time, he preached by the Spirit, unashamed of the gospel (Acts 2:14-36). Peter learned that it is not by our human talents or abilities through which we accomplish great works for God, but only by God’s Spirit can we ever make an impression on anyone for the Lord (Zechariah 4:6). We can learn from His example.

Prayer:

Father God, when I lay down to sleep, I remember all that You do for me. I cannot help but to worship You with all of my heart (Psalm 86:5). Remind me that You want all of the glory for what You accomplish through me. I surrender my flesh, which wants to take the credit for Your accomplishments through me, and I ask you to give me Your humility in its place. Do not cast me from Your presence, but create a clean heart in me, and renew me with a righteous spirit (Psalm 51:10-11). Unite me with You in the power of Christ in me (Colossians 3:3).

Thought for the Day:

As Born Again Believers, we intimately know the joy, which belongs to God's Saints, instead of the fleeting happiness provided by the world, the flesh and the devil.