Behind the Masks

Who are you behind the mask you wear? Do you wear your feelings on your shoulder for other people to see who you really are? Do you try to act one way when you really feel another?

Or have you learned that it does not matter what other people think about you? Are you free from the tyranny of their opinions? Do you let your insides out?

Our fears and insecurities often define who we really are inside. We may have a strong spirit, but a very wounded soul. We appear strong, yet are feeble within.

When people reject us for our weaknesses, we feel like worthless damaged goods, which increases our fears and insecurities and compounds our problems.

Some people will actually disdain our inner self, many simply tolerate us and others dwell with us with understanding. The good news is that Jesus died for our inner self too.

His Spirit is transforming our inner self into a new creation through one stage of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). He slowly peals away the bandages we apply to our wounds.

He exposes the raw emotion and anxiety and puts the salve of God's unconditional love on each one of them. The only opinion of us, which really matters is God's.

This revelation frees us from having to hide behind masks. Jesus encourages us to let our insides out and to receive His healing for our past and His strength for our future.

Prayer:

Father God, teach us not to value anyone else's opinion of us, but to gain our identity through Christ in us. We do not need to rely on any person, place, thing or accomplishment to feel good about our self. It is our personal relationship with You that makes us a child of the King.

Help us to make room for Jesus on the throne of our life where He belongs. He is our best friend and He actually sticks closer to us than any human being ever will (Proverbs 18:24). Your love is ours both now and throughout eternity and flows over us like a waterfall.

Thought for the Day:

Tolerance is not acceptance; only Jesus fully accepts us just the way we are, and then perfects us by His Spirit as He fills us with His joy and peace.

A Personal Relationship with God

God’s Spirit gives us liberty from bondage to the flesh, the world and Satan (Galatians 3:13-14; 2 Corinthians 3:17). There is no condemnation for sin, because we are now in Christ (Romans 8:1).

Christ became sin on our behalf and gave us His righteous standing with our Father God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Since God is in our corner, nothing which comes against us can succeed (Romans 8:31).

God gives us His peace and His Spirit who dwells within us (1 Corinthians 2:12, 14:33). We overcome every trial through Christ who abides within us (Romans 8:37).

We are never alone again, because the presence of Christ in us is evident in our thoughts, words and deeds. He never forsakes us or leaves us alone (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5)

We learn to be content with whatever God provides for us on a daily basis, knowing that if we need something, He will provide it in His own way and time (Philippians 4:11).

Jesus already overcame the world and the trials through which we live, and He encourages us from the inside out (John 16:33). Therefore, we can always abound in the work of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58; Ephesians 2:10).

Effective evangelism is motivated by the love of God. When we share the love of God, we and those we minister to are filled with God, because God is love (Ephesians 3:19; 1 John 4:8).

This empowers our testimony with the life of Christ, which makes people hungry for what we have (John 13:35). When our personal relationship with God is evident, people will want this same intimacy with Him.

Prayer:

Father God, regardless of the obstacles life uses to hinder us, You give us the character and ability to be mighty conquerors over them all. Thank You for leading us by Your Spirit and making us Your children and co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:14, 17).

You help us to understand what Your will is for our life and You empower us to walk in it (Ephesians 5:17). As we walk in Your Spirit, we look to You for the fulfillment of all of our needs (Philippians 4:19).

Thought for the Day:

As we rest in Jesus, our Living Water, we drift smoothly around every hindrance we face.

Living in the Will of God

Read: Proverbs 3:5-6

“In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”

- 1 Thessalonians 5:18

It is important to live our life in the will of God. Jesus said, “Those who do the will of my Father are my brothers, sisters and mother” (Mark 3: 33-35; Matthew 12:50). Therefore, not everyone who claims to be a Christian will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of God (Matthew 7:21). The prerequisite for living in the will of God is to have a personal relationship with Him (John 14:6; 1Timothy 2:4). The initial step of living in the will of God is to look to Jesus and believe that He is God who came in the flesh to give us eternal life (John 6:40). God desires that everyone will come to a saving knowledge of His Truth and to live with Him for eternity (1 Timothy 2:4).

As a Believer, we are gradually conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, in holiness and sanctification. We slowly receive the heart of God, the obedience of Christ and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:29; 1 Thessalonians 4: 2-4). It is exciting to know that the Holy Spirit intercedes for God’s children according to the will of God (Romans 8:27). Paul exhorts us to give ourselves first to the Lord and then to the will of God (2 Corinthians 8:5-6). Through the discipline of attending weekly Bible studies and having daily personal times in Bible reading and meditation, we see how Biblical characters learned to walk in the will of God.

Jesus is our supreme illustration of one who lived totally in the will of God. He also only acted and spoke as the Father directed Him (John 5:19). He walked in obedience all the way to Calvary’s cross (Hebrews 5:8). He gave us examples of times of undistracted and concentrated fervent prayer, which will open our ears to hear God’s direction for our day (Matthew 11:15). God wants us to pray with a grateful heart as we intercede and make requests for all people, especially for those in high governmental positions. This allows us to live peaceful, godly, dignified and quiet lives in every way (1 Timothy 2:1-3).

We can request that other Believers pray with us too for a particular decision or situation (Romans 15:30-33). There were many times when the Apostle Paul desired with all of his heart to go visit his fellow Believers, and he asked them to pray about it with him. God did not always open this door for him, however (Romans 1; 9-11). Paul often suffered for doing good deeds, because he obeyed the will of God (1 Peter 3:17), but this never deterred him from obedience. Paul even tells us to obey our employers and political leaders who have rule over us, because we are bondservants of Christ. Through this, we do the will of God and render service to God, even though we are obeying a person (Ephesians 6:5-7; 1 Peter 2:13-16).

As we live in the will of God we learn to discern whether some teaching we hear or read is Biblically based or derived from false doctrine (John 7:17). We have no desire to conform to the image of the carnal world, but to be transformed by renewing our mind until we live in the good, acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). God’s will for us is to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, to give thanks even in our negative circumstances as well as for us not to quench the movement of the Holy Spirit within us by doing evil deeds (1 Thessalonians 5 16-19).

 

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You only did what You saw our Father do (John 5:19). If You, being God, had to consult our Father in prayer, how can we do any less? You did not make a move outside of the will of God, and neither should we. Instead, we rush around life accomplishing our own will and heaping up for ourselves treasures on earth instead of in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). Teach us to do only Your will moment by moment throughout the day.

Thought for the Day:

If we abide in the will of God, we will live forever with Him in eternity.
- 1 John 2:17