Freedom from Fearing this Life

God knew us before He formed us in our mother's womb. He knew when we would rise and sleep, where we would live and what type of home we would live in while we sojourned on this earth.

Some of us are rich, some poor; some tall, others short; one may be meek and another bold; some tend toward goodness and others folly; yet, all of us have His calling on our life (Proverbs 19:3; Ephesians 4:1-16).

 ​​

Our only task is to live in submission to His will for each moment of our day. We accept His call to salvation and He accomplishes His desires in and through us as His Spirit sanctifies our flesh and our soul - our thoughts, choices and emotions.

He infuses our weaknesses with His strength, and we realize our startling need for Him. This need overwhelms us more than our fear of this life, and drives us deeper under the shadow of His wings.

God's Spirit transforms our character into the nature of Christ who abides within us through ever-increasing stages of divine glory (2 Peter 1:4). We relinquish our idols, addictions, desire and activities in submission to His will.

Our heart is totally transfixed on Him. He is our whole life (Colossians 3:4). We want nothing more than to please Him with our thoughts, words and deeds. He consumes our heart with His love and fills our mind with His wisdom.

We focus on Christ alone and relinquish the issues of this life to His care. Nothing worries us any longer as we place our full trust in Him (1 Peter 5:7). This reduces our stress levels and brings health to our body and soul.

We also sanctify Christ as the Lord of our life and we live to further His Kingdom in the earth, which dispels our fears and insecurities (1 Peter 3:13-14). Our faith increases as He proves to us His faithfulness.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for leading us to repentance and forgiving our sins (1 John 1:9). We cast all of our sorrows and cares on Your capable shoulders (Isaiah 53:4). With our heart set on things above, we no longer sorrow as those who have no hope; we even rejoice in our tribulation (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; James 1:2).

You turn our sorrow into dancing and return to us the years which the canker worm destroys (Psalm 30:11-12; Joel 2:25). We deepen our commitment to You and find fulfillment in our involvement in Your calling and cause. You are our greatest friend, husband and brother (Proverbs 18:24; Isaiah 54:5). Help us to realize that You are our refuge, and the fear of this world need not control our life.

Thought for the Day:

God is able to destroy both body and soul in hell; yet, we fear man more than we fear God. - Matthew 10:28

Loving Others as Our Self

Jesus made a point of telling us to love others as we love our self. Most of us despise our self, have grudges and disappointments and unforgiveness toward our self. We do not love our self at all (Mark 12:30-31).

Therefore, how can we truly love anyone else? We compare our self to worldly standards and find our self lacking. We listen to significant others in our life and adopt their opinion of us, even if it is negative.

We try all of our life to earn the unconditional love, respect, worth and affirmation we so desperately need. We sell our self short and give up on our self. We feel useless, hopeless, helpless and unlovable.

We are not powerful enough, rich enough, adorable enough, smart enough, talented enough, or attractive enough; we are not enough. We see our self through the eyes of others and we feel disappointed and ashamed.

However, God wants us to see our self through His eyes - as a person He cares about so much that He gave His life for us. He wants us to love our self as He loves us, and then to love others as we love our self.

We can start by accepting our self as He accepts us, just the way we are. We can make better, healthier, wiser and more nurturing choices. We can speak only kind, loving words to and about our self and others.

We can take care of our body, soul and spirit. We can accept our feelings and seek God to find resolutions for our negative feelings and unresolved conflicts. We can judge our self only through the eyes of God, not the eyes of the world.

We can stop using addictions, people, vocation and talents to make us feel better about our self. We can stop abandoning our self and taking our self and others for granted. We can stay in touch with who we are, what we need and how God is leading us all throughout our day.

Prayer:

Father God, enlighten the eyes of our understanding to see our self as You see us: as Your adopted children, co-heirs with Christ of Your entire Kingdom. Remind us to pay attention to our physical, emotional, spiritual and mental needs and to seek You on how to fulfill them.

Help us to accept our feelings and circumstances, even the negative ones, as Your tool in our life to bring us closer to total surrender to Your will and to keep us from depending on our human resources and understanding. Give us Your peace and joy as our strength. Remind us that without You we are nothing; but with You, all things are possible if we simply believe (John 15:5; Mark 9:23).

Thought for the Day:

Take the time throughout the day for a personal physical, mental, emotional and spiritual inventory; meet your needs or ask God to meet them; and then give yourself time to renew Your strength in the Lord and to rise up on wings like eagles. - Isaiah 40:31

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

God's Fullness - His Love

God has a rich storehouse of glory, which He provides to strengthen and protect us with His mighty power (Philippians 4:19). He does this in our soul and spirit, by the Holy Spirit and Christ who dwell in us.

God helps us to plant our roots firmly in His love by His dealings in our life. He teaches us to comprehend the firm foundation, which He gives us for our faith in the fullness of His love (2 Timothy 2:19).

The richness of God's love is actually multi-dimensional. It is so grand that it has width, length, height and depth. He surrounds us in His love and allows us to experience its riches practically.

God's love exceeds our human understanding and fills us through every part of our being with His whole Being (Ephesians 2:16-20, Amplified Bible). The more submitted we are to His Spirit, the more we feel God's love cascading like a waterfall over our body, soul and spirit.

Our hope in God is never disappointed, and we never feel shame for our faith in His faithfulness, because He pours out His love into our heart and life (Romans 5:5).

As we wait for the manifestation of Christ, His mercy, His perseverance and endurance in our life, God's love keeps us (Jude 1:21; 2 Thessalonians 3:5). God's love is perfected in us as His Spirit enables us to keep His commandments (Philippians 2:12-13; 1 John 2:5).

The love of God empowers us with mercy and compassion for God's Body and for the whole world around us (1 John 3:17). The steadfast love and faithfulness of the Lord never fail to watch over us (Psalm 61:7).

Prayer:

Father God, we miss out on the riches You already provided for us, because we are too busy with our own plans for our life to concern our self with Your will for us. Remind us that You created us for Your pleasure, not for our own (Ephesians 2:10).

Help us to experience the fullness of Your love, so that we can share it with the world around us, which is full of desperate people who are dying for a lack of Your presence in their life (Psalm 52:8).

Thought for the Day:

God proved His love for us by coming as a man and dying in our place; and there is nothing in this earthly world or in the spiritual world, which shall ever separate His Saints from His love. - Romans 8:31-39