Integration with God's Spirit

 

When we detach from the belief that we are only the sum of what we think and feel, we are able to integrate our true inner self with God's Spirit within us.

We see and forgive the causes of our faulty thinking and behavior and are healed. As we accept our feelings and idiosyncrasies without judgment, we can submit them to God's Spirit for sanctification.

We stop fighting our self and start growing in Christ. God's Spirit sets us free from the bondage of Satan's lies which controlled us for most of our life ( www.theophostic.com ).

We align our thinking with God's Word. Our days take on a hue of joy and peace unfamiliar to us in the past. The presence of God's Spirit within us helps us to see our faulty thinking and behavior without negative repercussions or condemnation (Romans 8:1).

We relax and trust in God's goodness and compassion. We pull the plug on the power which our negative feelings once held over our life. We learn to reject Satan's lies and to embrace God's Truth.

We no longer entertain them as real and important; and instead we view them as red flags which signal a deeper problem within.

Our realization, that our strong over-reaction to a person or experience comes from old wounds and unresolved conflicts, gives us more balance in our life and priorities.

We face our fears head-on and allow God's Spirit to diffuse them for us. We see the idols we erected in our life for what they are, and we cooperate as the Holy Spirit tears them down.

Patience does her perfecting work in us and things of this world no longer grip us with the former, inordinate, over-powering importance which the earthly and material issues used to hold in our life. We look forward to the miracles God plants in all of our trials.

Prayer:

Father God, we find joy in our tribulation (Romans 5:3), because of Your presence in them with us. You hold us in the safety of Your hand and shelter us under the shadow of Your wings (Psalm 139:10). We realize that the disappointments and wounds of our childhood hold no more power over our current moment, because You set us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

We forgive those who hurt and used us; and we look forward to a new chapter in our life, full of Your blessings and new possibilities. Teach us to walk in Your Spirit every moment of the day and to do the works which You created us to do before we were even born (Ephesians 2:10).

Thought for the Day:

As we face the grief of our past with a spiritual viewpoint, the intensity of it diminishes and we are freed from the power of negative emotions, which used to infect our life.

Our Refuge in the Storm

As we enter adulthood, we attempt to provide security and stability for our self and our family through our vocation, savings account, two jobs, marrying someone who is already rich, etc.

Yet, we often find that our choices oppress our life and cause us more trouble than they help (Psalm 9:9, 52:7). In this world of sorrows and trials, we need an anchor for our soul, a stronghold where we can take refuge (Psalm 18:2).

Once we realize that the Lord is our light in the darkness, and our only real salvation, we release our fear of the unknown and humbly go to Him as our defense (Psalm 27:1).

He gives us His strength to traverse any trouble we encounter (Psalm 37:39). Even when we allow the stress of our trouble to disconnect us from Him, He is still there waiting for us to turn back in Him (Psalm 43:2; Hebrews 13:5).

The Lord is strong enough to tremble the whole earth with His voice; yet He is a gentle refuge for those who trust in Him (Joel 3:16; Psalm 62:2). The Lord lives forever and is the Rock of our salvation (2 Samuel 22:47; Psalm 18:46).

He desires that we meditate on Him and His goodness day and night, and that our thoughts, words and actions line up with His Word (Psalm 19:14). This proves our love for Him.

To those who stand against God, He is a stumbling stone, a snare and trap for their wayward feet; but to His Saints, He is our sanctuary who offers us safety and shelter from any trouble we experience in life (Isaiah 8:14).

Prayer:

Father God, we cry out to You in our adversity, knowing that You are our only Rock and our Refuge (Psalm 89:26). We cling to Christ as our cornerstone, who gives us stability and order in our life (Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 28:16). The world rejects You, but we stand firmly on the solid footing You provide for our life in every circumstance (Matthew 21:42).

You are our precious Savior and we put our faith and trust in You (1 Peter 2:6-7). You are a great mountain and You fill the whole earth with Your power and majesty (Daniel 2:35). You spoke through age-old prophets and then confirmed their words as they came to pass, even over centuries of time (Daniel 2:44-45). This builds our faith in Your faithfulness and we know that we can trust in You.

Thought for the Day:

We humbly pursue our Living Stone by faith and do not attempt to earn His love or salvation by our works; so He rewards us with inner peace and joy, which transcend our earthly existence. - Romans 9:32-33; 1 Peter 2:4-8

Divine Protection and Provision

 

The Lord is our strength, as well as our light and our salvation; and this fact removes all anxiety from our life. Even when wicked people and circumstances impose evil on us to harm us, they falter and fail. We walk in contentment through it all (Psalm 27:1-4).

God hears our prayers for His help, and quickly comes to our aid (Psalm 18:6). As we dwell continually in His presence, His goodness and mercy protect us all the days of our life (Psalm 23:6).

Rather than living our own way, we walk in His holiness, delight in His presence, honor His precepts and enjoy worshiping with His Saints. His favor rests on us, and He establishes our ministry for His glory (Psalm 90:17; Isaiah 58:13).

He parts the heavens, soars on wings of the wind, hurls thunder and lightning to scatter our enemies, reaches down from His lofty place and holds us in the palm of His hand (Psalm 18:1-9; John 10:28-29).

He protects us when disaster threatens to overwhelm us, places us in wide open spaces and rescues us from all of our affliction, because He delights in us (Psalm 18:10-19).

We intimately experience the power, protection and provision of His name.  He gives His angels charge over us to keep us in all of our ways. They carry us in their hands, so that we do not even stub our toe on life's rocky places.

If we focus our love upon Him, He delivers us (Psalm 91:11-12). There is nothing too hard for Him (Luke 18:27). He makes the impossible aspects of life achievable, as we dwell in His presence (Matthew 19:26).

Prayer:

Father God, Your presence in our life allows us to leap high walls, arms us with strength, trains us for spiritual warfare, lights our way, makes us nimble in traversing the pitfalls in life, stoops down to make us great and sets us safely on Your high places (Psalm 18:29-46).

You made the heavens and the earth by Your outstretched arms, nothing is too hard for You to accomplish in order to equip us to do Your will (Jeremiah 32:17). If we depend on You, You give us Your wisdom and reveal to us the great and mighty things You have in store for us (Jeremiah 33:3). We abide in You and take refuge under the shelter of Your wings (Psalm 61:4).

Thought for the Day:

Seek the Lord while He may still be found; call on Him while He is still near; for the great and terrible day of the Lord is at hand. - Isaiah 55:6; Joel 2:3; Malachi 4:5

Source of Our Confidence

How often do we worry our self sick over some issue in our life? We fret and plot and plan, trying to come up with a way to prevent some real or imagined impending doom.

Jesus advises that we take no thought for tomorrow (Luke 12:22). He tells us to ask, seek and knock, and He will provide our needs (Matthew 7:6-9).

He reminds us to pray in the Spirit as we make our requests to Him (Ephesians 6:28). Effectual prayers are persevering and bathed in gratitude for all that God already did for us (Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).

We are confident that He not only started His work in our life, but He will also finish it (Philippians 1:6). We live a surrendered life for the praise of His glory, and He sanctifies us in stages (Ephesians 1:12; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

We are not occupied with this world and the desires of our flesh. Instead, we dwell in the Temple of our God and enter His presence through the outer court of Salvation, and minister to Him in the Holy Place (Psalm 135:2; Revelation 3:12).

However, there is one step further in our intimacy with God. We encounter the glorious presence of God in the Holy of Holies (Hebrews 9:3). Everything pertaining to life in this world is absent from this cherished place of abiding.

We dwell in this holy chamber, within our spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). We never leave God's presence as we walk in the Spirit and do only those works, which God calls us to perform (Ephesians 2:10).

Prayer:

Father God, although we have lost yesterday, never to get it back again, You have not lost it, because You are not limited by time as we are. We look forward to all of our tomorrows as we walk in Your Spirit and put aside the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:15-25). 

We trust in Your faithfulness to work out all things for our good (Romans 8:28). Our most meaningful and intimate times of worship will not be the dark days of trial and tribulation; but our times of loving fellowship with You alone, in the Holy of Holies within us. 

Once we surrender our life to You, You keep our heart from breaking and we never feel lonely or abandoned again, regardless of whatever experiences we encounter in this temporal life.

Thought for the Day:

We want nothing more from life than to dwell in the shelter of the Most High, and to rest under the shadow of the Almighty. - Psalm 91:1