The Benefits of the Christian Life

 

Our relationship with God in the spiritual realm is more vital to our life here on earth than any other person, place or thing. Yet, we often focus more on pursuing the world, and we suffer in body, soul and spirit.

Repenting of our sins and trusting in Jesus to save us, opens the door for this intimacy with the supreme Ruler of the universe. Then devoting our thoughts, words and actions to Him maintains our union.

Any rivaling carnal thoughts, words and deeds suck the spiritual life right out of us. Satan attempts to keep us earth bound or pushes us to be religious rather than spiritual.

Yet, Jesus made it clear that our goal in life centers on loving God with our entire heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). Then, we function in our ministry for Him by sharing His love with our mate and children, as well as our parents and siblings.

We serve them as God's Spirit directs our steps. We meet their needs in Jesus' name. Slowly, we branch out to our church family, workmates and acquaintances, neighbors and strangers as the Spirit directs us.

All the while we guard against substituting good activities, which side track us from God's will for us. The best activities are those which are spirit led and directed (Proverbs 3:5-6). Then we never get too busy to worship, praise and pray.

In God's plan for our life, every piece fits snugly together like the pieces of a puzzle. We may not readily see God's purpose for trials or opportunities, and we end up feeling frustrated, angry or hurt.

However, if we walk in the Spirit, we begin seeing spiritual fruit from our labors. We learn lessons, overcome desires to sin, fall in love with Jesus more every day and watch God use us to further His Kingdom on the earth.

We gradually realize that we are dead to the old nature and that Christ is now our whole life (Colossians 3:3-4). We give God complete control of our life, even through the severest of trials and persecution.

We trust in His goodness, even though life often wearies us and fills us with fear and insecurities. God continually pours out on us His magnificent love and lavishly showers us with the fulfillment of His precious promises.

He gives us everything we need to live a life of contentment and holiness, which costs us nothing, because He already paid the price for everything on Calvary's cross (John 3:16-18).

Prayer:

Father God, help us to follow in Jesus' footsteps and to become obedient to Your Spirit each day (Philippians 2:8). Draw us ever closer to Your heart, so that we daily increase our devotion, grow in our faith, understand Your mysteries and live a life of trust in and worship of You.

We release our heart into Your care; trust You to work out everything for our ultimate good, even if we never understand the why; come to You to reveal to us the source of our negative emotions; and realize that You give us a Kingdom focus which guarantees us that eternal life starts at salvation.

Thought for the Day:

If we feel unloved by the world around us, we can always look within and experience the amazing love of a God who took the form of a human being and suffered and died in our place, in order to give us His eternal life.

Natural and Spiritual Mind

 

 

The natural mind cannot comprehend spiritual truth with the intellect. Without the Holy Spirit of God resident within our spirit, God's truth seems foolish (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Without the Spirit of God, we pick and choose what we want to believe from the Bible, if anything at all. We attend church services to feel good and make friends. We may even find a place of service in the church and community.

Our inner being needs strengthening by God's Spirit, so that we can receive Christ in our spirit (Ephesians 3:16). If anyone is willing to trade pride and rebellion for humility and submission to God's Spirit we can experience salvation (Matthew 5:5).

Then God fills us through our entire being with all of His fullness and gives us the richest portion of His presence, so we become a body completely filled with all of God Himself (Ephesians 3:17-19).

As we are quiet before the Lord, He inspires us (Psalm 46:10). Christ abides within us by His Spirit, influencing our thoughts, words and deeds; helping us to fulfill God's pre-ordained purpose for our life (Ephesians 2:10).

We stop stressing over life, or attempting to find God's will, or to make a living and to amass worldly goods. We enter God's rest, and He floods us with His peace and joy regardless of life's circumstances.

God directs each moment of our day and provides for our every need (Proverbs 3:5-6). We are the only Bible some people will ever see, so let us live life in God's fullness and righteousness.

We exemplify to them God's reality, love and peace, which transcends all human understanding. We are the branch on the Vine, bearing fruit used by a lost and dying world to nourish their souls and strengthen their spirit, so that they too can believe (Ephesians 3:16; Galatians 5:22-23).

Prayer:

Father God, we realize that all of You dwells in every Believer at the moment of salvation; but Your Word teaches us that we can increase the intimacy of our union with You (Psalm 42:1-2; Zephaniah 3:17; John 14:21).

Remind us to pursue You rather than worldly gain, and to taste and see just how good You really are (Psalm 34:8; Hebrews 6:5). Your Word is sweeter than fresh honey to our mouth (Psalm 119:103). We delight in You always and rejoice in Your presence in us through every trial and tribulation we ever experience in this sin cursed world (Philippians 4:4; Psalm 37:4; Matthew 28:10).

Thought for the Day:

At the coming of Christ, the whole earth will be filled with His glory, just as the waters now cover the earth. 

- Isaiah 11:9; Jeremiah 31:34

Many thanks to Matt Milligan for the use of his photo.

God's Deliverance

When we seek the Lord, He delivers us from all of our fears. Regardless of our circumstances, when we praise God in them, He will deliver us from them. 

As we bless the Lord at all times, His praises are continually in our heart, mind and words. We magnify Him as we worship His name together as His Body.

God helps us out of all of our troubles. His mighty angels camp out around us to deliver us from harm. When we look to the Lord for our help, we release our fears and worries and the relief shows on our face and in our body language. 

When we trust in Him, we are continually blessed. As we boast in the Lord, everyone else who serves Him will also rejoice right along with us.

When we revere the Lord, we lack for nothing that we need. God's eyes are upon us as we live for Him. He always hears our cries for His help, and He delivers us from all of our difficulties. 

We are content with God's will for our life. We run from evil and keep our tongue from speaking evil. We seek peace and pursue a lifestyle that provides us with tranquility.

When we feel remorse for our sins and are brokenhearted over the fact that we grieved the Lord, He draws near to us. Through all of our trials, He is there to carry us out of them all. 

Our soul continually rejoices in God our Savior. This is our pathway to enter God's rest (Hebrews 4:10). We do not depend on human reasoning and observations, but on the leading of God's Spirit.

Prayer:

Father God, throughout our lifetime, we develop attitudes and opinions, which affect our choices. They are birthed from the input we receive into our life from others, from experiences and from our observations. 

You want us to exchange those attitudes and opinions for Your Truth (Philippians 2:5, 3:15). Thank You for giving us Your Spirit to transform the carnal appetites of our soul by renewing our mind into the mind of Christ (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23).

Thought for the Day:

God's Spirit delivers us from the hindrance of pride, which keeps us from knowing God. He captures our defiant attitudes and opinions and teaches us to obey Christ. 
- 2 Corinthians 10:5