Yielding to God's Holy Spirit

 

Christians today are far from the Biblical norm of what we should be. We have no concept of what life is like when it is controlled and guided by God’s Spirit. We take too active a role in our life and we make our own plans instead of checking with God about His plans for us (Ephesians 2:10). We get our self stuck up a tree or circling the same mountain in life and then we get discouraged and grow weary.

We end up grieving God’s Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) by our thoughts, words and deeds. We dishonor God’s name by walking with one foot in the world and one foot in the Spirit. We walk with diminished spiritual power because we focus more on the fleshly concerns in our life than on the spiritual and eternal.

We have so much self-confidence, self-centeredness, self-reliance and self-sufficiency that there is no room for God. We are like the foolish Galatians (Galatians 3:1-3) attempting to please God by our human efforts. This type of lifestyle comes from the flesh and the flesh stinks in the nostrils of God (Acts 8:22-24). God’s power is available to every Born Again Believer...it is yours.

His Spirit wants to sanctify us and enable us to walk in God’s will every moment of every day. God continually eliminates our human strength, confounds our human wisdom and limits our human abilities in every area of life until we get tired of trying to live life apart from Him. We end up in complete shame and emptiness, lost and undone.

If we call on God’s mercy and grace, He cleanses us from all unrighteousness and helps us to walk in newness of life (1 John 1:9). This is when the blessings of God start to fall If you find yourself failing or discouraged or overwhelmed in life, you can be sure you are out of God’s will. Stop and pray. Center yourself in the mind of Christ and ask God for His direction. Then, yield to God’s Holy Spirit.

Prayer:

Father God, show us the futility of living life from our own wisdom and strength. Remind us to seek You first before we do anything, make any plans or set any goals. Allow us to see Your hand in every area of our life, to feel Your love overflowing in our heart, to have Your strength to accomplish everything that You calls us to do and to yield to Your Spirit each moment of the day.

Thought for the Day:

When God calls us to perform some function in His will, we find our self in the happiest place on earth.

 

The Express Image

 

 

Our life can bring God glory or shame. God calls us as instruments for His righteousness (Romans 6:4-11). Jesus was the express image of the Father (Hebrews 1:3). Through Christ in us, because of our union with Him, we also become God’s express image in the earth (1 Corinthians 6:17). As branches grafted into the Vine of Christ, the life of the Vine flows through each one of us (John 15:1-17). The fruit of His Spirit provides us with God’s divine character (Galatians 5:22-23).

God is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control and faith; and by the fruit of His Spirit we manifest these same character traits. We are His temple and His Body, fitly joined together to demonstrate His life in the earth (1 Corinthians 3:17; Ephesians 4:16). With the life of Christ in us, He enables us to walk in the Spirit and to please God in all that we say and do (Galatians 5:16, 25; 2 Corinthians 5:9).

We seek God and His Christ with all of our strength; we continually seek His presence night and day (Psalm 105:4). We love Him with all of our heart - our soul: our mind, will and emotions, and with our physical strength (Mark 12:30). As His life flows in and through our life, we grow in the knowledge and wisdom of God. His glorious might strengthens us for every good work, and we bear much fruit for His Kingdom (Colossians 1:10; John 15:5-8).

God teaches us His ways, and we walk in His paths. We settle into His presence and walk in His will by His name forever (Micah 4:2,5). In everything, we give thanks to our God, our Father, and Jesus Christ, whom He sent (1 Thessalonians 5:18). As we draw near to God, He draws near to us (James 4:8). We end up hungering and thirsting for nothing but His presence and righteousness in our life, and He fills us with Himself (Matthew 5:6).

Prayer:

Father God, we totally surrender to Your life within us. We seek after no other purpose than Yours for our life. You will not leave us, and we will not turn back from following after You. Where You show us to go, we will go. Where You lead us to stay, we will stay. We will serve Your people, for they are our people as well (Ruth 1:16). We desire only to do Your will; therefore, place Your desires in our heart (Psalm 37:4). We rest from our works (Hebrews 4:10). We only want to do Your works, which You prepared for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

Thought for the Day:

We do not have to step aside to allow God to work, because He works in us and through us, using our unique identity in Him for His purposes.