Living in the Depths of God's Love

When we experience the true depths of God’s love poured out on our life, it is a simple thing to share that love with others; not only in spiritual matters, but in physical matters as well. When you clean someone’s home, fix them a meal, repair their car, take their children for an afternoon so they can relax together, or any other practical help, this is as much an expression of God’s love as quoting a Bible verse to them.

This love does not come from a natural heart, which drives us like a slave to serve mankind. Instead, it is born from the heart of God and motives us by God’s Spirit to serve only where He calls us (John 14:15). Take Jesus’ life for an example. He walked past human need every day and only stopped to minister when He heard our Father direct Him to do so (John 5:1-18). The more time we spend listening to God’s Spirit, the more harmony we have with His will.

The more we live in harmony with God’s will, the more His love, rather than our carnal impulses, motivates our actions. We walk in peace and serve in His love rather than out of human compulsion for the need. We serve in deep abiding joy rather than obligation or obsession, and we fulfill the law of God each moment of the day (Galatians 6:2). We are no longer a human doer, but a spirit-filled follower of Jesus Christ.

Living in the love and will of God is the happiest place on earth. This existence brings us ultimate fulfillment and completion. We live our life through intimate union with Him and in the expression of His divine nature, which places in our soul the fruit of His Spirit who lives within us (Galatians 5:22-23). His love is the true inspiration of our soul – our thoughts, choices and emotions. Our will is in complete union with His will.

Prayer:
Father God, as we walk by the direction of Your Spirit, we do not fulfill the humanistic desires of our carnal flesh (Galatians 5:16, 25). Teach us to replace our self-centered life with a Christ-centered life by relinquishing our will, goals, desires and opinions to Yours, though the daily ministry of Your sanctification. Remind us to submit to Your growth process through the trials You bring into our life; so that our suffering will be replaced by the joy of experiencing Your presence in them. We love without reward, because our motivation is to live in union with Your will.

Thought for the Day:

There is no intimate union with God without a life lived in prayerful communication with Him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Problem with Problems

 

Many Christians are not happy. They are overloaded with their problems. They see no joy in life and they are overwhelmed with stress and trials. They rush off to work, rush through work and rush home after work, falling into an exhausted sleep each night, getting up way too early to care for the needs of their family and then starting the same behavior all over again. Like a hamster on a wheel, they frantically run; yet never get anywhere, accomplishing very little, and ending up in the hospital with physical and psychosomatic illnesses.

That is the problem with problems. They are inescapable. Our obsession with them keeps our eyes off Jesus. We often attempt to ignore our problems, denying their existence, minimizing their importance in our life or blaming them on everyone else. We falsely believe that if we had more money, a better mate or job, or fewer problems, then we would be happier. We try to get rid of them, but then new ones pop up! That is when we beg God to free us from them, or to solve them for us.

Jesus uses our trials to convert us into a new creation. His Spirit transforms us into His image day by day throughout our lifetime, using our trials and temptations to perfect us. He replaces our carnal nature with His  nature, which is the fruit of His Spirit. We receive eternal life from that first moment of Salvation; and we walk more fully in this eternal life as we come to know God, and Jesus Christ whom He sent (John 17:3). God’s Spirit within us enables us to experience pure joy in Jesus.

The Bible tells us that we can traverse trials of every kind with God’s joy. This is because when our faith is tested, we develop perseverance, which works maturity and perfection in us, so that we lack nothing (James 1:2-4). God uses these opportunities to fine-tune our faith and to draw us closer to His heart. He encourages us to enter into His rest and to depend on Him (Hebrews 4:10). He proves His love, power and authority to us by working out every negative circumstance for our good (Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Father God, when You put us to the test, we fail unless we cling to Your hand and walk through them with our focus on Your face (Isaiah 26:3). Your power and authority over the prince of the power of the air delivers us from anything Satan uses to discourage us or bring us down. When we attempt to escape one problem, we usually end up in the midst of several more. Teach us to trust in You and to walk in Your Spirit every moment of the day.

Thought for the Day:

Facing our problems with prayer allows us to see God in the midst of them.