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.

Loving Our Self

As a perfectionist codependent, I always put everyone else's needs above my own. As we all serve one another, we all get served. I read in the Bible that God wanted it this way.

However, it did not work that way in the first 45 years of my life. I did all the serving and others did all the taking with rare expressions of gratitude or encouragement for what I did.

I grew to resent the lack of reciprocation and my constant physical and emotional exhaustion. I felt like a hamster on its wheel, going round and round day after day and getting no place fast.

One day I realized that I was actually teaching people to expect me to do everything and not to respect me or my needs. I had a savior and martyr complex a mile wide and high.

The fact is, however, that I love to serve others. It is my main ministry in Christ's body. Thankfully, I started working for a recovering codependent at this same time and she spoke truth to me that set me free.

She said, "You are a person too, and you can minister to yourself and meet your needs in the same way you meet everyone else's needs." WOW! That gave me food for thought.

She reminded me of Jesus' words to love others as we love our self (Luke 10:27). I realized right away that I did not love myself in the same way that I loved others.

This opened up a whole new world for me. I went to the library and checked out books on how to be a nurturing parent. I learned to nurture myself and how to nurture others in a healthier manner.

Prayer:

Father God, so many times we take Your words at face value and skip over the minute details of the verse. We miss so much of the meat of Your Word because we do not take them in context with other verses in the Bible. We miss the whole picture, which You intend for us to see.

As we follow the leading of Your Spirit each moment of the day, we stop allowing the good things to become the enemy of the best things. We stop spinning our wheels by so much busyness and we live productive lives that bring us joy as we also give joy. We develop a closer relationship with You and people see our good works and give You the glory (Matthew 5:16).

Thought for the Day:

As we walk in the Spirit, we stop enabling others to be less than they can be by allowing them to do hard things for themselves and to learn to lean on God instead of on us, so they can live productive lives.

More Intimacy with God

As human beings we long for deep connections and we attempt to discover this link with other human beings, a career, a pet or a cause. We can try for a lifetime and find fulfillment in many ways, but we are still left unsatisfied and wanting more.

As a single person, our life is not deprived; and as a married person, our life is not automatically fulfilled. Our social, occupational, financial and marital status, nor the number of children or grandchildren in our life, cannot bring us true and abundant fulfillment.

Our greatest human need is to intimately connect to the family of God, because we are all one Body of Christ with each of us linked in as an integral part of the Body. When one member is not there, the whole Body suffers.

We start by forming a love bond with God, our Father, through the sacrifice of Jesus, our Brother, by the connection to them afforded to us by God's Holy Spirit through salvation (Matthew 22:37-40).

Following our own or Satan's plan for our life will leave us lifeless and depleted; but walking in the Spirit brings fullness of joy (John 10:10). Only God can grant us the premier and most fulfilling rewards in this life and the next.

God does not require that we make our self holy before experiencing this intimacy, which He makes available to us. However, we do grieve and quench His Spirit through disobedience to His Word (Ephesians 4:30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5:19).

The greatest gift of all is Christ in us in whom we find abundant life in spirit, soul and body. He wants no competition for our affections and is jealous of our time spent away from Him pursuing things of this world (Exodus 34:14).

God is always there within us (Hebrews 13:5), comforting us in our tears, nurturing us in our fears and insecurities, turning us from sin, loving us unconditionally and guiding us by His Spirit.

Prayer:

Father God, You speak to us in our soul when we read and meditate on Your Word; through Your Spirit in our spirit during prayer; and in our body, soul and spirit through the circumstances of our life (John 10:27-29; 1 Peter 5:6-8). Teach us to pay attention and to obey Your every prompting; so that we do not reap the destruction of disobedience (Romans 12:2).

Thank You for Your mercy and grace, which cover a multitude of our sins (1 Peter 4:8); and for not making us reap everything which we sow in disobedience. Only You can save and perfect us (Matthew 27:1-66; 1 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:1-3). We desire intimacy with You more than anything else this world has to offer; because only through Your presence in us do we find a truly fulfilling life.

Thought for the Day:

Being in intimate fellowship with other Believers helps us to develop more intimacy with our Father and His Son by His Spirit.