A Surrendered Life

 

Once we are Born Again, we are one Spirit with Christ who dwells within us (1 Corinthians 6:17). He strengthens us to continually overcome the sinful desires and evil spirits that threaten and tempt our flesh (1 John 5:4; 2 Corinthians 2:14; Romans 8:37).

Every time Satan finds something to use to tempt us to sin, it is an idol in our life. These remaining secret unconfessed and unsurrendered sins still dwell in us, which the Spirit has not yet brought to our attention.

We brought those idols with us from our old life and they are still causing issues now in our new life (Genesis 31:34; 2 Corinthians 5:17). God calls us to willing lay down these secret sins as His Spirit draws them to our attention.

He will complete the work He started in our soul, just as He did in our spirit and will also do with our future immortal body (Philippians 1:6). Daily, He carries out His work of perfection until there is no longer any entrenched sin in our body or soul.

We simply enter Christ’s rest each moment of our day and submit to His Spirit’s mercy, grace and direction (Colossians 1:27, 2:2). As we walk in the Spirit moment by moment, we will never fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:15-25).

Then, God’s Spirit and the divinity of Christ within us renovate our thoughts, choices and emotions from carnal ones to those, which are spiritually minded (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23).

Prayer:

Father God, without You in our life we are hopeless and undone (John 15:5). We thank You for giving us Your Spirit to perfect us day by day. We thank You for Jesus’ life and character that overcomes unrighteousness within us and presents us as a spotless Bride (2 Corinthians 4:7).

As we mature spiritually and enjoy a deeper and more intimate relationship with You, we will more clearly see Your purpose in our life. We learn to rejoice during trials and times of difficulty, because we know that patience is having her perfect work in us and seasons of great victory follow seasons of spiritual battle.

Thought for the Day:

Rather than box with the winds of adversity, we embrace them; the Bible has current answers for us regardless of the questions that plague our mind, if we will only take the time to search them out.

A Seed for a Miracle

 


The trials of life are inevitable. Tribulation even comes to those who walk uprightly before the Lord (Matthew 5:45). Paul learned two secrets through the things, which he suffered.

First, he learned to be content whether he had plenty or when he had nothing, when he lived in comfort or when he suffered deprivation, and when he saw the fruit of his ministry or when he simply planted or watered (Philippians 4:11-12; 1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

Secondly, he learned to count every trial and tribulation as a joyous event (James 1:2-18). I never understood this insane view of suffering; until the day that I suffered the dissolution of my family.

This was by far the worst thing that could ever happen to me. I can bear physical pain and death, but I was inconsolable from the magnitude of my emotional loss when I was literally cut out of my family circle.

God previously tried through numerous trials to teach me to surrender all to Him, to enter His place of rest and to have faith in His faithfulness (Proverbs 3:5-6; Hebrews 4:10-11).

Yet, through every trail I struggled, often in vain, to use my own human resources to remedy the situation. However, this time there was no repairing the rupture of my family unit through divorce.

This is when I learned the Serenity Prayer. I had no recourse but to hand this devastating trial completely to God to do with as He saw fit. What I learned from this situation changed my life.

Now when I experience a trial, I view it as a sidewalk. If I focus on the details of the journey, I experience fear and insecurity. If I remember that there is a seed for a miracle in every trial, I feel only hope and anticipation.

I look toward the end the trial with the eyes of faith (Hebrews 11:1), expecting to see a miracle just up ahead. I keep my mind focused on God's Kingdom and His will for me in this trial.

I serve at the pleasure of our King Jesus. If He allows a loss or trial or tribulation in my life, it is for His glory and my good (John 9:3; Romans 8:28). I can count on Him, because He is always faithful (1 Corinthians 1:9).

God uses us in times of trial to share the Gospel with someone; to live through this storm as an example of Christ's peace within us; and for God to form His character, the fruit of His Spirit, and Christ's divine nature in us through the things, which we suffer (Galatians 5:22-23; 2 Peter 1:4; Ephesians 2:10).

I count trials as joyful experiences now, as I focus on the eternal consequences and not the temporal aspects of each one. I look forward to the ultimate miracle, which this trial shall birth in my life.

Prayer:

Father God, trials also taught me that as I continually live in Your presence and walk by Your Spirit, I will experience far fewer trials, than if You have to resort to trials to gain my attention.

Satan also uses circumstances to batter us with temptations and trials all throughout our life; but we thank You that Christ in us is greater than the god of this world (Job 2:3; 1 John 4:4). Remind us that Jesus already won the victory for us over every negative aspect of life (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Thought for the Day:

Trust your life to God's capable hands.

The Secret of a Fulfilled Life

 

The secret of living a fulfilled life is surrender. Surrendering every thought, goal, ambition and desire to Jesus Christ brings total peace and joy regardless of our circumstances. The only way to successfully and sanely survive at work, or with an unloving spouse, with rebellious children, with handicaps and with the grief of loss is to live in submission to God’s will. He gives us the grace and mercy to endure the hardships accompanying these negative issues of life. Then, once He uses them to bring about His purpose in us and in the world around us, He resolves these issues for us.

As we live in daily submission to the will of God and to the leading of His Spirit, we tread the troubled waters surrounding us without drowning in them (Luke 9:23). The price of contentment is a daily surrender of our dreams and aspirations, as well as acceptance of God’s will and purpose for our life (1 Corinthians 15:31). We live in the realization that our humanity is already dead and our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). Our old sinful nature died and Christ raised us to walk in a completely new life (Romans 6:4).

As we change our self-centered focus in life to a Christ-centered focus, the present circumstances lose their power over us. Our spirit is reborn and our soul – our mind, choices and emotions – is transformed through the work of God’s Holy Spirit within us (Romans 12:2). We lay our selfish needs for self-gratification, self-pity, self-absorption and self-centeredness on the altar of God. Trials are no longer a burdensome cross to bear. The lure of sin grows dimmer by the day. The battle with temptation in this world dissipates until it is non-existent.

Most of humanity still lives in a narrow minded reality. They cannot see the fullness of life in Christ, because their eyes are blinded (John 12:40). They seek immediate pleasure regardless of the consequences. They consider the brevity of life and decide this is all they get (James 4:14). They seek the most satisfaction by living in the extremes of degrading sin. Conversely, authentic Believers live in submission to the Spirit of God moment by moment throughout the day. When we accept Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, we embark on the journey of the Christian life with our faith and hope centered in Jesus.

God transforms every aspect of our life for us. He gives us new eyes to see the world with multifaceted vision now, rather than in one-dimension. Trials no longer devastate us, because we view them as new adventures in Christ. We stand back and watch for the salvation of our God in them, as we walk through them with His complete peace and joy (James 1:2-4). Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35-37). We live by the leading of God’s Holy Spirit and have constant victory through Christ (Galatians 5:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:57; 2 Corinthians 2:14).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that the overwhelming issues of life, which we see, are temporary and they will pass away. The reality of life is in the unseen aspects of life, which we cannot see, but which we can experience once our spirit is Born Again (2 Corinthians 4:18). Help us to progress through life’s trials sustained by Your joy (Nehemiah 8:10). Give us Your peace, which transcends all human reasoning (Philippians 4:7). Allow us to focus on the victory, which You already gave us, rather than on the battle at hand. Give us true triumphs as we follow the leading of Your Spirit moment by moment throughout the day.

Thought for the Day:
We not only have hope in Christ for this life, but also for eternity as well. - 1 Corinthians 15:19

Overcoming Stress

 

If we ignore the signs of stress, we end up with:

·cognitive problems such as lapses in memory and concentration, worry or poor judgment;

·emotional indications such as moodiness, agitation, isolation and depression;

·physical issues such as aches, pains, bowel issues, chest pain, frequent colds and sexual dysfunction;

·behavioral symptoms such as loss of appetite, sleeplessness, procrastination, addictions and nervous habits.

When I was 40 years old, my former husband divorced me. I thank God that He used a potentially crippling event in my life to teach me valuable spiritual lessons that improved every area of my life. I worked four jobs at one time in order to pay my bills and to start a savings for those unexpected issues in life that demand payment. After keeping up this schedule for over a year, I almost killed myself! I got sicker than I have ever been in my whole life before or since that time. I was trusting in myself to provide for my needs, rather than to trust God to continue to meet them.

Past and current circumstances not only affect our health, but also our emotional, mental, behavioral and spiritual equilibrium. The unexpected situations in our life expose our deepest fears. When our workplace, home life or community involvement start developing into a pressure-packed existence, and the demands on our life prove unrealistic, this calls for prayer to submit them to the Lord. God calls us to live a life totally surrendered to Him and led by His Spirit, rather than one driven by the expectations of people or events in our life.

The opposite of surrender is control. We try with all of our might to hang on, to fix it, to change it, to manage it or to try to make it better. Trying to maintain control of life is impossible, frustrating and ineffective. We attempt, by the sheer power of our will, to hold everything together. We think we have to handle our problems on our own. Controlling usually produces the opposite effect of what we want. Our dependency on anything other than God: addictions, people, places, jobs, things, animals, etc. - puts us into bondage to them. Only God’s love and Spirit produce true liberty.

God’s Spirit will lead us through our day at work, home, community, church and at play as long as we take the time to seek His will. God wants us to let go of trying to control everything, and to admit that we are powerless and we need His power in our life. This is the first step toward healing. God pleads with us to LET GOD BE GOD in our life. When we surrender to God, He always works out everything, even the negative things, for our good (Romans 8:28). We cannot change people or all of our circumstances, but God can.

Surrender is the doorway to freedom. It is a state of brokenness, of total dependence upon God, of receiving God’s forgiveness and of having a personal, daily relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition to surrender, God calls us to believe that His power truly can overcome any person or circumstance in our life. God wants us to completely surrender our will to His and to be vulnerable before Him. This is called “dying to self”.

This concept does not mean that we diminish our God given identity, personality, needs or giftedness. It simply means allowing God to replace our old, carnal, sinful nature with His holy, compassionate, spiritual nature. We allow God to call the shots and to direct us according to His will instead of living according to our own goals, plans and ambitions. Job tells us that if we submit to God and live at peace in Him, He brings prosperity to us in every area of life (Job 22:21).

Prayer:

Father God, you told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Then he decided that from then on that he would boast all the more gladly about his weaknesses, so that Christ’s power would grow stronger in him. That is why, for Christ’s sake, he started to delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. He discovered the secret of the Christian life: When we are weak, then we are strong (2 Corinthians 12: 9-10). Thank You for being our one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Thought for the Day:

If Jesus is on the throne of our life, and we live in full surrender to Him every moment of every day, we live and walk in true Serenity.