Making a Profound Difference

 

God is the Potter, and we are the clay (Isaiah 64:8). We are the vessel that contains the liquid. Satan attempts to keep our focus on our innate beauty as a crafted container, or he draws our attention to the flaws and cracks.

However, these do not matter in the larger scheme of life. When we are thirsty, we do not admire the glass, we gulp the liquid in the glass.

We are not the focus in this relationship, but Christ IN us is the focus. We are simply clay jars, made from the dust of the earth; yet, as Born Again Believers, we contain the God of the universe (Colossians 1:27).

Although we are dying daily in our body and carnal nature, God's Spirit give us life (Romans 8:10). God fills us with His presence and Spirit to sanctify our soul and complete us in Christ (1 Corinthians 6:11; Colossians 2:10).

Realizing that we are dead and our life is hidden with Christ in God, we relinquish our goals and allow Christ to live through us (Colossians 3:3; Galatians 2:20).

Christ shines from our heart and radiates to the world around us in the same way in which the light from a bulb emits light in a dark room. We make a profound difference.

We are so united with Christ that His thoughts fill our mind, His wisdom directs our steps, His life flows through us like a river and His love radiates in us and from us (Philippians 2:5; James 1:5; John 7:38; Isaiah 58:11).

Prayer:

Father God, Your grace draws us to Jesus, keeps us pursuing holiness and finishes our perfection through sanctification (1 John 3:2). Jesus is our advocate with You (1 John 2:1), and the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us before You (Romans 8:26).

You each have your function as a person of the Trinity and You complete us within and without (Colossians 2:10). You direct our steps and use us for Your glory to advance Your Kingdom in the earth (Luke 17:21).

Thought for the Day:

Living in the center of God’s will is the happiest place on earth.

Every Thought Captive

We live in this world in our body with all of its carnal appetites; however, our true battle is not in our body. The battle is not earthly or human, but spiritual. The divine power of Christ in us is capable of destroying every fortress, which Satan builds in our soul with his lies. God’s Spirit in us is capable of destroying every assumption and haughty thought, which tries to replace our knowledge of God’s Truth (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).

This only happens when we take every thought captive and force it into obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). We cannot overcome Satan’s stranglehold in our mind with our carnal resources. His strongholds are catalogued in our subconscious mind through our lifetime of experiences (www.theophostic.com). Our thoughts control what we say and how we act. We need the divine power of Christ in us to set us free.

Do we speak unholy words and do carnal deeds, or is our behavior Christ-like and holy? Do we feel negative emotions fueled by the disappointments and discouragement in our life, or do we feel positive emotions emerging from the mind of Christ within us? Do we pursue God’s will for our life, or are we immersed in our own goals and aspirations?

Do we insist on our own way, treat God like a magic genie and retain the control over our life? God encourages us to ask for what we need (John 15:7), but only as His Words abide in us and we walk in His will. We are the servants, and Jesus is our Lord. We have no rights and privileges other than what He grants to us. He is the potter, and we are the clay (Isaiah 45:9).

As we center our thoughts on Him and His will, we start to think only about what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). God is the beginning and the end of our existence (Hebrews 12:2). We rejoice in Him, as He makes us complete in Him. We are comforted by His presence and we live in peace in His everlasting arms (2 Corinthians 13:11). 

Prayer:

Father God, You keep us in perfect peace as we focus our mind on You (Isaiah 26:3). Through Your power, You produce in us every good thought, word and deed, which pleases You. We trust in You implicitly, and we look to You for all of our needs. We give you all the glory both now and forever (Hebrews 13:21).

Thought for the Day:

God equips us with everything we need to do His will.

- Hebrews 13:21

Don't Swim, Just Float

 

A friend told me to stop swimming through life, and just float. She meant that God designed His life in us to propel us through life without any effort on our part. She meant that we relinquish our need to work for God and to please Him with our efforts. She also reminded me that dying to self is not an action on our part, but an acceptance of the fact that we are already dead and hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

This allows us not to fret about tomorrow, but to live each moment in the center of God’s will for us. We trust Him to give us the desire, to lead us, and to work through us in every situation (Philippians 2:12-13). We are the vessel for Him to use for His purposes. The pot never moves. It just rests in the Potter’s hand, willing to serve at the Potter’s will (Romans 9:20-21). We are God’s temple; His holy, resting place upon this earth (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

When we seek Him, we find Him, if we search for Him with our whole heart (Jeremiah 29:13). God does not honor half-hearted devotion. He laid down His life for us and wants nothing less from us. As we serve in His Kingdom, He supplies all of our needs (Matthew 6:33). As we trust in His promises, His divine nature replaces our carnal nature (2 Peter 1:4). Our self-life is dead, and Christ lives in and through us (Galatians 2:20).

To acquire salvation, we repent and surrender (1 Peter 1:15). To enter God’s rest, we cease from our human striving (Hebrews 4:10). To walk in the Spirit, we refrain from walking in the flesh (Galatians 5:16, 25). We are His gloves; and He is the hand fitting firmly within us. We cooperate as He uses our body, soul and spirit for His service. We rest in the Vine as He produces fruit through us as His branches (John 15:5).

We become partakers of His Divine Nature by fleeing from covetousness by His grace, peace and freedom. We exercise our faith, which helps us to develop virtue, excellence, perseverance and knowledge, which lead to patience, endurance and godliness and Christian love. These qualities increasingly abound in us to keep us from idle unfruitfulness (2 Peter 1:2-9). We live by the faith of the Son of God in us (Galatians 2:20).

Prayer:

Father God, You inspire and direct our thoughts, words and actions by Your Spirit within us. We enter into Your rest by ceasing from our own efforts, and we allow Christ to walk, talk and act through us. This is more than Him using us, but Him actually working through us to accomplish Your will in the earth around us. We freely receive from Him. Please, use our body, soul and spirit to freely give to those in need around us (Matthew 10:8).

Thought for the Day:

We can do all things only when Christ lives within us. – Philippians 4:13