Fellowship with the Trinity

 

Prior to salvation, we lived as slaves to sin and pawns in Satan’s plan (Romans 7). Even after salvation, our sins of omission and commission built a wall between us and our fellowship with the Trinity.

No matter how slowly or how high the wall goes up – we feel a separation and distance from our Lord and Savior (Romans 1:18). Our prayers hit the ceiling, our joy ebbs and our peace is overwhelmed by stress and negative emotions.

Without righteousness, there can be no lasting peace and joy. We are separated from God due to our rebellion and unbelief (Romans 14:17). We grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), and we are in danger of condemning our self to eternity in hell (John 3:18).

This severance of our union with Christ bitters our soul. Then, resentment becomes the adhesive, which we use to cement the stones of willful sin in place.

As the wall thickens and rises, fears riddle our soul. We gradually grow more anxious and hopeless. Eventually, some people even feel animosity toward God and rail against Him.

We hurl accusations at Him and slander His name to anyone who will listen. We end up punishing our self by removing our self from the protection and provision of our Heavenly Father.

This is so unnecessary.

If we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of our eye, the lust of our flesh and our pride in our life (1 John 2:16). We will walk in perfect harmony with the Trinity and enjoy constant fellowship with the Trinity every moment of our day (Galatians 5:15-25; Proverbs 3:5-6).

Prayer:

Father God, Your eyes are always on Your children. You love us with an everlasting love, and You rejoice over us with singing. You are faithful, and we can put all of our hope and trust in You. You never change and You are with us now and even at the end of our life. You give us treasure in dark times and riches when we come to You in our time of need.

You are our Father, our God, and You give us Your mercy and grace in all of our trials and afflictions. We are comforted by Your presence in our life, even in times of trouble. You comfort the downcast when we keep our eyes focused on You. Thank you for being with us and revealing Your presence and peace to us as You give us Your joy.

Thought for the Day:

We make our refuge in God, because He will never leave us destitute; we have no need to fear, because He will help us and hold us in the palm of His hand. - Hebrews 13:5; Isaiah 49:16

God's Peace

God gives us the choice to use our life to either serve Him, self or Satan (John 3:16-18). We human beings search for peace all of our life, usually exploring all the wrong places, until we find Christ. When God's Spirit reveals the reality of Christ to us, we turn from the dark life of separation from God to the spiritual walk of light and life (Romans 8:9).

There are two types of spiritual peace. One is peace with God, and the other is the peace of God. Both of these transcend any earthly peace we experience. They are true and present within us, regardless of our outer circumstances. God's peace blesses us in every area of our life.

Peace with God comes when we surrender our life to Christ and trust Him to save us from our sins. He leads us in His daily will for us as we reject the influence of the world, the flesh and Satan (1 Thessalonians 1:9; John 3:16-17; Ephesians 2:10). God wraps us in His wisdom and strength. As children of God, we receive all the benefits of adoption into God's Kingdom through our unity with Jesus, God's Son and Heir (Acts 26:18).

The peace of God is a fruit of His Spirit, which we receive at salvation. It manifests in us as we rely on His Spirit instead of our human strength and accomplishments. We allow the peace of God to rule in our heart and to affect our body, soul and spirit (Colossians 3:15). We live by the faith of God's Son, who dwells in us by His Spirit, and we trust Him to work out everything in our life for our good (Galatians 2:20; Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Father God, we can never receive more of You than we have at Salvation, because You move into our spirit with all the attributes and power of the Trinity. However, we can enjoy more intimacy with You in correlation to how much time we spend with You each day. The more of our flesh, which we surrender to the Cross of Christ, the more of Your fullness we experience (Ephesians 3:19). We can never control life, but You always work things out for our good (Romans 8:28). In the midst of the storms of life, Your peace keeps us calm within and gives us wisdom for every situation, which we face (John 14:27).

Thought for the Day:

As His Word dwells within us, God's peace, which defies human comprehension, guards and rules in our soul - our mind, choices and emotions. - Colossians 3:16; Philippians 4:7

Our Heavenly Daddy

Living as a friend of God is so peaceful and satisfying (John 15:15). No matter what our lot in life, we are fulfilled, because the God of the universe loves us (John 3:16, 15:14). We are God's adopted children and He loves us so much that He did not spare His only begotten Son, but freely gave Him as the perfect sacrifice for our sins (Romans 8:32). We are co-heirs with Christ of the entire Kingdom of God.

If we strive each day to obtain the things of this world for our self and our family, we waste our time. A fire or an act of nature could destroy everything we worked so hard to attain. We were born with no earthly goods and we will die without them too. However, we can never lose Godliness and contentment, which are our two greatest assets for living a fulfilled life (1 Timothy 6:6-8; 1 Thessalonians 5:18).

God accepts us just the way we are and He has a perfect plan for our life (Ephesians 2:9-10). All condemnation and shame come from Satan's lies (Romans 8:1, 34). God will convict us of sin or discipline us when we stray from the straight and narrow path; but this is to protect us from the ravages of sin and the separation from His holiness, which sin causes (Matt 7:13-14; Romans chapters 5-8).

A daily quiet time with God allows us to immerse our spirit and soul in His Word. His promises comfort us, His prophecies inform us and His dealings in the lives of Biblical Saints encourage us. God's Words give us wisdom for living and fortitude to face life's trials. Godly contentment prevents life's stresses from killing us. Our Heavenly Daddy wants to pour His love, joy and peace over us like a waterfall.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You that we do not have to earn Your love or keep a list of do's and don'ts in order to please You. Give us a fresh filling of Your Spirit each day, so we can walk in Your Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of our flesh (Galatians 5:15-25). Draw us ever closer to Your loving heart and remind us to be still, so that we can experience You as our protective and generous Heavenly Daddy (Psalm 46:10). We give You praise, glory and honor for the multitude of blessings You pour out on us each and every day.

Thought for the Day:

Jesus willingly gave His life, so that we can be the friends and adopted children of our Heavenly Daddy. - Galatians 3:26

Are Our Habits Helpful?

 

The habits we develop throughout life control our thoughts, choices and behavior. Some of them cause us to sow to the wind, and then we reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7). Others prevent us from trusting in God, since we think that we can serve Him in our own strength. Habits should not control our life. That's the job of God's Spirit.

God will reveal the habits in our life, which are idols, and give us the power to lay them down at His feet (Philippians 2:12-13). We relinquish our habits and follow the leading of God's Spirit each moment of our day. As we submit to God, we can resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7). We are no longer drawn to sin and bad habits, which destroy our life.

After Jesus rose from the dead, He "lead captivity captive" (Ephesians 4:8; Luke 16:19-31). He freed the Old Testament Saints from separation from God and led them into the heavenly realm (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27-30). Jesus is now our Advocate (1 John 2:1). He frees His New Testament Saints from Satan's deception and sin's temptation. He enables us to relinquish our habits good and bad.

We do not depend on good habits to accomplish God's will for our life. We live in the Spirit and we walk in the Spirit as we further God's Kingdom while we live on this earth (Galatians 5:16-25). We follow God's presence rather than human effort and habits. When God's Spirit abides within us, we are His children; and where He leads us, we will follow.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us to meditate on Your Word, to listen to Your voice and to walk in Your precepts. We no longer need habits when we have the powerful and active Spirit of God to shape our thoughts, words and deeds. Thank You for involving Yourself in every area of our life and for providing for all of our needs with Your glorious riches (Philippians 4:19). Show us where we fall short of Your glory and help us to walk only in Your ways (Romans 3:23; Deuteronomy 5:33). 

Thought for the Day:

When Satan takes our circumstances out of our hands, then we can cling closer to God. When we relinquish our problems to His care, He is better able to provide for us through them. - 1 Peter 5:7

The Eternal Marriage

 

One of the great mysteries of the Bible is the connection between Jesus and the Church in a marriage. A husband is exhorted to love his wife in the same manner that Christ loves the Church (Ephesians 5:25). Jesus literally laid down His life for the Church. How many husbands actually do that for their wife? Many of them get frustrated with their wife’s idiosyncrasies and opt out of the marriage?

There is not a problem in a person or a marriage that cannot be resolved with intentional counseling and mutual submission. Except in life or death situations, no reason is good enough to justify divorcing one’s mate. It is a lazy, superficial, self-centered person who files for divorce. They are unwilling to work at becoming one flesh. A time of separation and a forgiving heart will help to iron out even the worst marital issues.

Reserving nothing for Himself, Jesus gave His life for His Bride before we even knew or loved Him. His love is unconditional, regardless of our behavior, attitude or expressions. He will never, ever leave or forsake us for any reason or in any way (Hebrews 13:5). Spouses are to follow suite and care for one another’s physical, emotional, mental, financial and spiritual needs despite the reception we receive from our mate.

The husband honors the wife as the weaker vessel, and he protects her from the pain and confusion of the world (1 Peter 3:7). He listens to her and cares about what she cares about. The wife respects and encourages her husband. She keeps his home and cares for his children. She supports him even when she disagrees with the direction he is going. Although she does have the option to separate for a time if she feels threatened in any way.

There is no man or woman alive who does not grab his/her toe when it is stubbed, or jerk away from something hot or cringe from a hand raised in anger. We are to protect one another in the same way that we love and protect our self (Ephesians 5:28-33). We care about each other’s needs, often anticipating them before the desire is even expressed. God will help us to work out every negative issue in our marriage, if we totally surrender our will to His.

Prayer:

Father God, You give us a perfect example of loving a flawed mate. Israel failed You over and over; and yet, You continually loved her and honored Your commitment to her. Remind us to feel each other’s pain and confusion as if they were our own and never to break our marriage vows to one another, even when we do not like one another very much!

Thought for the Day:

There is no one that loves us better, or cares for our welfare more than Jesus Christ, our Kinsman Redeemer. – Leviticus 25:25; Ruth 1-4

We've Got It Backwards

 

As human beings, we get the values of life and death backwards. We will sacrifice the quality of our life for the quantity of life. We often live years past our optimal health and spend more money than we have to suffer endless procedures and live off dozens of expensive medications. Yet, what is the Biblical view of life and death?

Paul said, “For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).” In other words, He was happy to serve the Lord on this earth for as long as it pleased the Lord for him to do so; but once his usefulness was over, he was ready, willing and able to go home to be with the Lord. That was where his hope and rest lay. That is where we all gain the eternal rest from our labors.

The wise Solomon recognized that the day of our death is better than the day of our birth (Ecclesiastes 7:1); yet we humans rejoice at a new birth and cry at a funeral. Of course, the tears at the funeral are more for our self than the deceased, because of our separation from our loved one; but if we realize that, in Christ, we will live in eternity with that same loved one, then we do not sorrow as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:12-18).

We toil all of our life to gain the things of this world, and then turn around and leave them all behind to people who do not value them as we did. They usually donate everything we worked so hard to attain to some charity resale shop to be sold at a fraction of what we paid for them. What is the sense in that? Why do we put so much stock in this world’s goods?

A home, transportation, food and necessary apparel with a hobby or two thrown in are enough for anyone. Yet, so many slave to have the best that money can buy. The entire focus of their life is to get that one more thing. Yet, nothing ever really satisfies their soul. Only a life dedicated to the service of God for His glory pays the real dividends that we are looking for in this life and in the next.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us to store up our treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust can destroy them (Matthew 6:19-24). Help us to use the wealth You give to us on this earth to help to lighten the load of those less fortunate than we are and also to help to further Your gospel to the far reaches of the earth.

Thought for the Day:

It is the simple pleasures of life that really mean so much and cost so little.