Split Personality

 

If we live life with one foot on the dock, and the other foot in the boat, we will end up getting dunked, once the boat moves from the dock for any reason. The slightest turmoil in the water will cause us to lose our balance.

God says that lukewarm people - those who live with their feet in two separate places at once - make Him sick to His stomach! He would rather that we live up to our convictions and either follow Him wholeheartedly or not at all.

To live any other way is hypocritical and smears the name of Christ in front of the world. Even unbelievers know how Christians are supposed to act, and they lose respect for us and for God if we are hypocrites with a split personality.

God prefers that we live in total surrender to His will and way. He knows that Biblical principles allow us to reap only good things in life. If we have a mixture of both secular and Biblical ideals in our world view, we end up reaping the negative consequences from the corruption we sow.

God wants us to follow Him completely, and to give Him His rightful place in our life. At the center of complete surrender we realize that we no longer live for our self, but Christ lives in and through us (Galatians 2:20).

Our obedience proves that we actually know God (1 John 2:3). He circumcises our heart, cutting away the flesh from our life, so we can live in harmony with His Spirit and one another (Romans 2:29).

We walk in the fruit of the Spirit by the power of the Spirit, and Christ's divine life replaces our carnality and worldliness (2 Peter 1:4).

Sanctification has various fluctuating tempos in our life. Sometimes, the process is fast; at other times, painfully slow. It is constant, however; and God gives us His patience and fortitude to press on through this cleansing process until our personality and goals reflect and are focused on Christ alone (Colossians 3:3-4).

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for making us a new creation by Your Spirit - with the mind and divinity of Christ abiding in us. Keep us in union with Your Spirit and hold us close to You as You use us to further Your Kingdom in the earth (Galatians 5:15-25).

Our spirituality is not complete until You give us our glorified, immortal body when we see Jesus. We need You every hour, every moment of our life. Teach us not to speak with words of carnal, mortal wisdom, but to utter only the Words taught to us by Your Spirit and full of Your glory (Philippians 3:10-12; 1 Corinthians 2:13).

Thought for the Day:

Our goal in life is to bring God glory through our every thought, word and deed, living in the fullness of His Spirit by the power of His resurrection; a surrendered life of one who is born of the Spirit and will never perish. - Peter 1:3-4

Manifestation of God

Most of humanity does not know Jesus as the Christ, nor do they care at all about Godly principles. Hypocrisy in the lives of so called Christians exacerbates this problem.

If unbelievers see no distinction in their daily walk with that of a professing Believer, this disillusions them. They want nothing to do with Christ or with us.

We have a problem with our connection to the Vine (John 15:5). We may even have a false hope of Heaven, because we never truly repented or made Jesus the Lord of our life.

If, however, we are grafted into the Vine, their reason for rejecting His truth may be that we are hiding His light within us and they cannot see it (Matthew 5:15-16).

Once we surrender our identity over to the Ruler of the universe, God makes a huge difference in our habits, language, personality and interests.

When we fully submit to God for Him to use as He pleases (Isaiah 29:16), our life takes on the character of Christ. This is when people see us as authentic Christians. We are a manifestation of God on the earth.

We have God’s peace in trouble, His perseverance in trials, His love for our persecutors and His joy during periods of grief.

They see us exhibiting patience in trying times, using self-control when others give in to debauchery, displaying meekness rather than having a haughty attitude, relating to others with kindness and basing our life and decisions on faith in our faithful God.

We lay down our preferences and care about the needs of others over our own agenda, without compromising who we are in Christ.

Others see truth and reality in our lives. We are capable of this behavior, not because we are exemplary human beings, but because of God's Holy Spirit within us (Galatians 5:16:25).

This is when other people want for themselves what we have within us.

Prayer:

Father God, Jesus prayed that no one would snatch us out of Your hand. You are greater than all, and we are perfectly safe in Your everlasting arms (John 10:28-29). Fill us completely full of Your Spirit and keep us as the apple of Your eye (Ephesians 3:16-19; Psalm 17:8).

Draw us close to You and never let us go. Your unfailing love is our priceless treasure and we run to the refuge of the shadow of Your wings (Psalm 36:7). When we draw near to You, and resist Satan's efforts to sidetrack us, he has to flee from Your presence within us.

Thought for the Day:

The Holy Spirit is our source of power; and we can ask Him to manifest Himself in and through us all the days of our life; so that others see Christ in us.

Filled with God's Spirit - Part 2

 

Once we surrender possession of our life to God's Holy Spirit, our total motivation in life changes. We are directed each moment of the day to walk in the center of God's Will. The still, small voice within us whispers our marching orders (Isaiah 30:20-21). The Spirit permeates our life and dictates our thoughts, words and deeds (Romans 8:14).

If what we hear contradicts the Word of God, we never act on it (John 16:8-11). Satan is an angel of light and His whole purpose in life is to deceive. He will give us promptings that will lead us to a ruined life. God's Word is our measuring rod to gauge what we hear (John 16:12-15). God's Spirit will never oppose His Word.

The power of God's Spirit within us allows us to make wise choices for our life, to live by Godly principles and stewardship, to have a word for the weary in due season (Isaiah 50:4) and to witness to people in every situation, which God provides for us (Acts 1:8). Through God's Spirit we have a new song in our heart (Psalm 96:1).

We speak to one another in spiritual songs, giving continual thanks to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19-21). God's Spirit teaches us God's ways, conforms us to the image of Christ's divine nature and keeps us on a solid footing on the rocky road of life (Romans 8:29; Psalm 27:11; 2 Peter 1:4). God's Spirit is our guarantee and assurance that God abides in us (1 John 4:13; Romans 8:16).

Prayer:

Father God, if we follow the vain idols, which this world offers to us, our heart will faint away and we will end up in desolation. Only You give us Your eternal life and salvation (Jonah 2:7-9). Teach us to continually walk by Your Spirit (Galatians 5:15-25). Help us to hear Your Spirit and to walk in Your statutes (1 Kings 8:61), and to memorize Your Word and to hide it in our heart, so that we will never sin against You (Psalm 119:11; Acts 20:22-23).

Thought for the Day:

God's Spirit will teach us God's ways, so that we can have faith in His faithfulness, and walk through life with our focus on the glory of His name. - Psalm 86:11

Judging Righteous Judgment

God is the lawgiver and the only qualified judge over any other being. God calls us to rightly discern whether a person’s behavior is righteous or not, but we do not place any judgment upon the person (John 7:24). We continue to love them regardless of their behavior, knowing that God will work in their lives.

God does not want us speak evil of one another (James 4:11), but to edify each other. He wants us to share His grace with everyone we meet. In this way we do not grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:29-30). Gossip only adds fuel to the fire of slander spreading rampant through the church. However, where there is no wood (contention), the fire (gossip) goes out (Proverbs 26:20-21).

God uses the same judgment toward us that we use toward others. If we do not forgive, He cannot forgive us (Matthew 6:14). He reminds us that the faults we see in others are actually magnified in our own life. If we condemn them, we are actually hypocrites. God wants us to deal with our own problems rather than to worry about others (Matthew 7:1-5). 

We will all stand before God in judgment one day, and give an account for our self and no one else. Then, He will reward us for our deeds. All authentic Believers will join Him in heaven, but unbelievers already condemned themselves to eternal torment in hell (John 3:18). This can be remedied, however...by turning away from sin and toward God.

In the end, believers and unbelievers alike will bow our knee to King Jesus (Romans 14:11). Therefore, let us not judge one another, but resolve our issues so we do not cause anyone to fall away from serving God (Romans 14:10-13). As we use patience toward each other and don’t grumble, we establish our own heart toward God, and we are ready for His coming (James 5:8-9).

Prayer:

Father God, teach us the balance between those who are spiritual restoring those who are deceived by sin (Galatians 6:1), and judging one another. Help us to pay attention to our own behavior, and to make sure we are walking according to Your principles. We certainly should have discernment and not join our brethren when their behavior is obviously sinful or anti-Biblical, but we do not want to judge them either. We simply love them unconditionally and wait on You to show them Your truth.

Thought for the Day:
Behold how good and pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity. – Psalm 133:1

Formula For Success

Read: Matthew 25:40-45

“Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." - Luke 6:38

In today’s society many people want to know, “What’s in it for me?” Their carnal desires fuel their actions to attain anything that will provide them with the best possible advantage. They constantly seek an angle that gives them an edge over the next guy. Then they stab one another in the back to get ahead.

God gave us a much simpler formula for success. Rather than to amass the treasures of this world, He suggests that we give them away! He promises that if we do, we will receive with the same measure for which we give to others who have legitimate needs (Luke 6:38). If we use a teaspoon to measure our giving, we will reap a teaspoon of rewards. If we use a ton, we will reap a ton of blessings. We cannot fail when we live according to God’s principles.

Hospitality is part of God’s plan for our success. He is not asking us to rescue people who are lazy or to enable those who live in a habitual state of irresponsibility and unreliability. However, He does promise to greet us as blessed children and to give us the inheritance of His Kingdom if we treat others as if He is the one in need.

He calls us to feed the hungry, to provide for those without material possessions, to give a drink to the thirsty, to visit the sick and imprisoned, and to take care of strangers because we may be entertaining and angel without even knowing it (Matthew 25:40-45; Hebrews 12:2).

Jesus exhorts us to invite others to dinner without concern for their social status (1 Corinthians 12:23). He says that as we give hospitality to others, we are doing it for Him. He reminds us that the reason we receive this world’s goods is in order to be good stewards over them and to share them with others (1 Peter 4:10).

1 Kings 17:12-16 contains one of my favorite Bible lessons. The widow goes to the prophet for help and he asks her to bake him some bread with her remaining supplies. Rather than stingily hoarding her meager commodities, she liberally uses them all up to provide for the Lord’s prophet. In return, “she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry.” As we liberally give from whatever God gives to us, we too find everything necessary to meet all of our needs.

Compassion is the next tool in God’s plan for our success. The language of love always triumphs over greed. Jesus exemplifies what it means to show compassion. Repeatedly the gospels record that “He was moved with compassion.” Jesus’ compassion eventually led Him to His dreadful death by a Roman crucifixion.

God knows our frail humanity and views our weaknesses with compassion (Psalm 145:8-9). Peter exhorts us in his epistle to have compassion for one another, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but blessing others so that we may inherit a blessing (1 Peter 3:8-10).

Prayer:

Father God, as we show hospitality and compassion to others, You promise to shower us with material and spiritual blessings. You exhort us to use the abundance You give to us as faithful stewards. You also give us strength of character to help us to make our place in the world a better place in which to live. Your most important gift to us is the gospel story of salvation through Jesus Christ. You desire that we share this gift with everyone You bring our way, so that You can revitalize every life that hears and believes Your gospel message.

Thought for the Day:

We reap what we sow. – Galatians 6:7-9