Shopping Spree

 

Once every quarter, we take the trek to the area Walmart, and I put everything on the shelves into my buggy; or so it seems! I load up on items from the meat, dairy, fresh veggie and frozen veggie aisle.  

As the cart gets fuller, our bank balance gets smaller; and when I get home, I have hours of work ahead of me. I pre-cook and then freeze all of the meats and veggies in order to preserve their freshness.

This also allows me to have simple, quick meals for the months ahead, and to save space in the freezer. Today, I have been cooking and freezing since 4PM, and it is after 10PM; but I am only three quarters of the way finished with this process.

I wonder, at times, why I put myself through this. However, I enjoy the fruit of my labor on the hectic work days, when I can serve a fully home-cooked meal in minutes instead of hours.

Our Christian walk is very much like this shopping and cooking spree. When we come to Christ as a baby Christian, we have no resources to provide for our needs.

We are extremely hungry for God, as well as to learn about Him and His principles; therefore, we go to every church service, read every book and listen to every radio and TV preacher we can find.

We stockpile this spiritual food in our newly reborn spirit, all neatly categorized and shelved in all the right places. Then, in years to come, we have a storehouse of spiritual food and reinforcement to see us through the roughest trials life has planned for us.

Prayer:

Father God, there is nothing more fulfilling than fellowshipping with You around Your table. We thank You for Your generous provision for us in body, soul and spirit, throughout our lifetime. We give You all the praise and glory for the peace and joy we enjoy in Your presence, regardless of life’s trials.

Remind us to continue to gather Your spiritual food, regardless of how often we read through the Bible or how many verses we committed to memory. Every day with You is “sweeter than the day before” (Robert Claire Loveless).

Thought for the Day:

If you are going through a trial, and feeling famished for the presence of God, remember the first principles you learned when He came in to dine with you that very first time. 

– Revelation 3:20

Compromise with the World

 

Secular society has no idea of the advantages God gives us when we live our life dedicated to Him (1 Corinthians 2:14). The only way they have of seeing Christ is when He is consistently manifested through our life (John 14:19). If we claim the name of Christ and live in compromise with the world, we actually cast a shadow over authentic Christianity. It is only when the walking dead see an uncompromising difference in us that they see the reality of a life in Christ. They come to a crossroads where they will either accept Christ, or reject Him yet again as they continue to walk in the darkness of Satan’s defeat.

The spiritual life is far richer than the carnal life (Romans 8:6-11). We maintain our spiritual life in Christ as we fellowship with Him in prayer, in His Word and in His suffering. We walk in His faith through prayer, we learn His character through His Word and we come to know Him intimately through His suffering. He is the biographer and the fulfiller of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Our whole life is based on our trust in Him (Romans 1:17). He is our confidence, our expectancy and our fulfillment (2 Corinthians 3:4).

Through Christ, we are reborn by the Spirit of God and have everlasting life through faith in God’s faithfulness (John 3:8, 17:3). The Spiritual life not only drenches our spirit with the indwelling Spirit of God, it also infiltrates our soul – our mind, will and emotions - through sanctification. Whoever is born of the flesh is flesh, but whomever is born of the Spirit of God is Spirit (John 3:6). Christ is our very life and He works in us through His indwelling Spirit (Colossians 3:4).

The mind controlled by the Spirit of God is full of life and peace (Romans 8:6). The emotions controlled by the Spirit of God mirror His spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). The choices controlled by the Spirit of God come from justice and holiness and reap righteousness (Proverbs 14:27). We shall never thirst, because His river of living water flows through us and out into the world around us (John 7:38). The soul possessed by the Spirit of God blossoms as a rose in the desert (Isaiah 35:1).

We, who are born of God, partake in the divine nature of God through Christ who dwells within us (2 Peter 1:4). We possess the fullest measure of Christ within us (Colossians 2:9; Ephesians 3:19). Since Jesus lives within us, we can face tomorrow with hope in our heart and joy in our soul (Jeremiah 29:11). He helps us never to compromise with the world. We will never experience the second death; because at salvation, we moved instantaneously from the earthly realm into the heavenly one.

Prayer:

Father God, while we live on this earth, You will cover us with Your feathers and under Your wings we trust that nothing will come against us that can ever irreversibly harm us. You are our shield to protect us from Satan’s arrows that fly by day; and his plagues, which come in the night; and his destructiveness, which comes at noon. Even if thousands fall all around us, we shall still stand because Your protection hold us up in Your hand (Psalm 91). Remind us that a spiritual mind is much more precious to You and to us than a fleshly one.

Thought for the Day:

A carnal mind is worse than a body containing a spirit, which dead in sin, because it limits God’s divine power from working in and through us.

 

A New Life is Possible

We are born with a body and a soul – our mind, will and emotions. On the other hand, our spirit – our connection to God – is dead in Adam’s sin (Romans 5:12). We grow up searching for some way to revive that dead spirit. We try money, clothes, shoes, cars, homes, education, thrills, immorality, success, beauty spas, cruises, relationships, and knowing all the right people. They only serve to frustrate us, however, because there is no reality in them.

Many try the intellectual route by improving their mind through pursuing philosophy and all of the education channels available. Some pursue physical excellence with martial arts, diet and rigorous exercise routines. Others dabble in spiritual pursuits such as Eastern religions, Satanism, the occult, witchcraft, sorcery or New Age ideologies. We still ache deep inside, however, because our spirit is dead (Ephesians 2:1). This is when we realize that we need a Savior.

There is only one truly fulfilling and lasting source of salvation, however, and that is Jesus Christ. The first rung on the ladder to spiritual maturity is to recognize that Jesus became what we are, so that we might become what He is. Jesus became sin, so that we may have His righteousness. By faith in Jesus Christ, we actually become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). When God looks at us, He does not see a struggling human being, but a glorified saint. Our spirit is reborn and we find peace and fulfillment that were never possible through any other venue.

Faith is the promise of the things we hope for and the evidence of things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1). We surrender our old, carnal nature to God and He creates in us a whole new person (Ephesians 4:24). We exchange our sin nature for the righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 5:8). We unite with Christ in His death and arise to live a whole new life in Him (Romans 6:6,11). God conforms us to the image of His Son by sanctifying our soul a little more each day (Romans 8:29).

When we walk away from sin in all of its forms, we pursue holiness and Godliness instead (Romans 6:2-4). Christ removes all of the condemnation we accumulated over our years of sin (Romans 8:1). He frees us from our sin nature as we choose to live as a bondservant to God now and throughout eternity (Romans 6:22). We no longer reap the consequences of sin, but enjoy the benefits of abundant, eternal life in this world and also in the next (John 10:10).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, by You all things were made (Colossians 1:16; John 1:3; Col 1:17; 2 Corinthians 5:17). In You, our life is made complete (Colossian 1:28, 2:10). As we surrender to Your will for our life and walk in Your truth by the guidance of Your Holy Spirit moment by moment throughout the day, we have everything we need to live a fulfilled life now as well as in eternity. We thank You for the abundance You provide for us in this life, as well as in the next.

Thought for the Day:

Living a committed life of faith and trust in Jesus Christ results in fulfillment in every area of life.