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.

The Loving Hand of God

 

 

Children often fault their parents for disciplining them. A child may consider his/her parents as cruel and vindictive, when they are merely teaching them self-discipline. We feel this way towards God sometimes too. We gripe and complain because He does not jump at our commands and give us the whims of our heart. Much of the discipline we receive from God is simply due to our self-centeredness. Our character defects hinder our ability to love Him and His ability to use us for His Kingdom.

Our egocentricity impedes our relationship with God. We love our self more than we love God or anyone else. The only escape for us from this troubling scenario is to humble our self under the mighty hand of God. As we submit to His discipline, He will lift us out of the quicksand of our spiritual desolation (James 4:10). He smoothes our jagged edges and fills our hollow heart with the fruit of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Our standards and focus gradually change as we mature in Christ and draw closer to God (James 1:4).

We soon learn the joy of living in the center of God’s will. His peace fills our life and we experience fewer times of tribulation and struggle. We see Him working out His purpose in our life and in the world around us. When life throws us a curve ball, the Holy Spirit is right there to catch it and to guide us around the bases of life to a home run. We mount up on wings as eagles and soar above the carnal, earthly realm of life (Isaiah 40:31). He satisfies us with every good and perfect gift and gives us what we need to do His will with our life (James 1:17).

During the good times, we forget that God is the one who provides us with the ability to gain health, wealth and success in this life. We tend to take credit for our accomplishments, to neglect His Word and to cease from living in constant prayer (Deuteronomy 8:10-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18). Our pride overcomes any humility that God worked into our life, and we live from our own resources until they start to fail us once again (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). Then we are right back at the foot of the cross, ready to take that steep climb to victory all over again.

When we come to realize that God is with us, even in the valleys of life (Psalm 23:4), we can trust our life to His faithfulness. We live as a beacon of hope to the drowning world all around us. We lead them to safety on the Rock of Christ (Psalm 61:2). We introduce them to the truths of God’s Word and we welcome them into our fellowship of Believers. The key to success in life is to seek the Lord for His direction, to trust in Him with our whole heart, not to depend upon our human wisdom and to follow His Spirit’s direction every moment of the day (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Prayer:

Father God, we humble our self under Your mighty hand, and You lift us up in Your perfect timing (1 Peter 5:6). Our heart hopes in You, as You raise us up with Your right hand in which we find eternal pleasures (Psalm 63:8, 16:11). We seek asylum in Your loving right hand (Psalm 17:7). When our heart is overwhelmed, we cry to You for help. You lead us to safety of the Rock of Christ (Psalm 61:2). You lift Your loving hand to help the afflicted (Psalm 10:12). You deliver us from our enemies (Psalm 138:7; Exodus 15:6). Thank You for sending Jesus, the radiance of Your splendor and the precise image of Your nature who sits at Your right hand, to uphold the universe by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3)

Thought for the Day:

God is the Lord of our valleys, but He is also the Lord of our mountaintops.
– Psalm 23

Leaning on God's Everlasting Arms

Read: Psalm 34:17-20

“Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.’”

– John 14:1

When we sink to our ultimate lowest in life, we fear that no one has the capacity to reach out and help us. We believe that our situation is so overwhelming that even God is not powerful enough to sustain us. We fear that at any moment we will be snuffed out like the flame on a candle. The truth of God’s Word portrays a very different scenario.  Even in our worst circumstances, God is right there waiting for us to call upon Him (John 14:14; Jeremiah 33:3). He covers us with His feathers, and under His wings we find safety (Psalm 91:4). He shrouds us in a blanket of the Holy Spirit, which brings us hope (Romans 15:13).

We can pour out our heart to Him with honest questions and pleas, and He will answer us (John 14:14; Jeremiah 33:3). God is constantly ready to provide His help, wisdom, comfort, love, understanding and everlasting presence, as we trust in Him (Psalm 32:10). We can always lean on God’s everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:27). They wrap protectively around us, supporting us and girding us with His strength (Psalm 46:1). He is only a prayer away. God’s love cascades over our heart like a waterfall (John 3:16-18).

God truly desires to have a relationship with us (1 John 3:1-3). He longs to fellowship with us, and to be involved in every area of our life. He wants us to completely surrender our will to His and for us to allow Him to provide us with our daily needs (2 Corinthians 3:5). There is a purpose, ordained by God for our life. He wants us to stop relying on our own wisdom and to trust in His instead (Proverbs 3:5-6). Our Savior paid the price for our relationship with God by His death on the cross (Romans 6:23). The least we can do is to believe that He wants what is best for us.

God is waiting for us to ask, so we may receive what He has in store for us. He wants our joy to be full (John 16:24). He gives us His peace that defies description and is often incomprehensible when we consider the ordeal we are living through at the moment. Our heart does not need to be troubled and we do not need to be afraid, as long as His everlasting arms are cradling us in the midst of His protection and provision (Philippians 4:7; John 14:27).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I believe that You give us Your grace to help us through even the most difficult times. I will stand on Your promises even when I cannot see or feel Your presence in my life. Lord, my life is a result of Your love, mercy and grace. Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). My life has a specific purpose in Your will. Help me to live out that purpose. I need Your daily help and provision. I need to know and experience Your love and comfort in my life each and every day.

Thought for the Day:

Salvation is not earned, but given; eternal life is a free gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 6:23

Walking in the Fullness of Christ

Read: 2 Timothy 1:9-10

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:7

Jesus established a new covenant with the world by His blood, offering forgiveness and salvation to anyone who would approach Him in faith (Matthew 26:28). He gave His body as the ultimate sacrifice, and did away with the need to sacrifice animals for our sins. The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world offered a perfect sacrifice to atone for sins for anyone who will choose to repent and believe (Revelation 13:8; 1 Peter 1:20; 1 John 2:2). Having neutralized the spiritual powers and authorities through His death, He made a public display of them, defeating them forever by the cross (Colossians 2:15).

As a divine metal smith, God removes the dross in our life through His refining fire, and He gives us a new life (Proverbs 27:21; 2 Corinthians 5:17). We are given the fullness of Christ, which makes us complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). Our Heavenly Father gave us His grace before the beginning of time, and is now revealed to us through Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 1:9-10). Through His grace we have the privilege of confidently approaching God’s throne at any time of need (Hebrew 4:16). Because of His grace, we are entrusted with the secret things of God, so that we can prove our faithfulness in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone we come in contact with (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).

The more time and intimacy we invest in our relationship with God, the closer we come to being conformed to the image of Christ. He uses our trials to instruct us, mold us and to develop the perseverance of our faith (James 1:3). He constructs a pliable heart of flesh out of our hardened heart of stone (Romans 2:29; Ezekiel 36:26). God fashions us into a replica of His Son (Romans 8:29). Then He puts His desires in our heart as we delight our self in Him (Psalm 37:4). The rewards we receive from following God’s desires for our life far outweigh any fulfillment we receive from pursuing our own carnal, earthly desires.

We do well to adopt Jesus’ attitude in life. His sole desire was to only do the work that would glorify His Father (John 17:4). As Job did, we can delight in the Almighty and lift up our face to God (Job 22:26). When anxiety overwhelms us, God’s consolation brings joy to our soul (Psalm 94:19). Out of our love for Him we walk in His ways, even when we feel incapable of fulfilling His calling on our life (Ephesians 2:10). Our Sovereign Lord gives us everything we need to perform the ministry, which He calls us to do (1 Corinthians 4:7).

We gain an understanding of God’s Word through daily reading and weekly Bible study. Worshipping with fellow Believers gives us accountability and strengthens our walk. Our faithfulness goes beyond our beliefs into our walk and our works. If we say one thing and do another, we are no better than the Pharisees, whom Jesus referred to as hypocrites (Matthew 23:27) The hypocrite’s eternal destination is full of weeping and great pain (Matthew 24:51). On the other hand, Jesus promises to share Paradise with authentic Believers for all of eternity (Luke 23:43).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, God in all of His fullness is pleased to live in You. Through You, God reconciled us to Himself along with all things whether here on earth or in heaven. He made peace through Your blood, which You shed for all of us on the cross (Colossians 1:19-20). Even though we have not seen You, we love You and believe in You. You fill us with an inexpressible and glorious joy (1 Peter 1:8). Thank You for allowing us to experience Your love, although it is too great to fully comprehend. Thank You for making us complete in You, with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God (Ephesians 3:19).

Thought for the Day:

According to the riches of God’s glory, He strengthens us through His Spirit with power in our inner man. - Ephesians 3:16