A Higher Level of Spirituality

Jesus is our personal Savior, sitting on the throne of our soul (Hebrews 12:2). We are in Him and He is in us, and we are both one with our Heavenly Father (John 12:21). All things are from Jesus, through Jesus and for Jesus; so no matter where we are or what we are doing, He is our all in all (Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:17). He is everything to us and He works through us in every activity He calls on us to perform. We never want to live for one second outside of His presence.

The goal of Christianity is to abide in a contemplative existence by continually focusing our soul – our thoughts, choices and emotions – on Jesus, the object of our affections. We no longer value things from the world or the flesh (Galatians 5:24), and our soul is totally focused on God and His Will for each moment of our life. It starts in a place of physical and mental stillness and then proceeds throughout the rest of the day with His peace permeating each moment of our day.

When we first start to enter this reflective state, we are distracted by a myriad of details, which demand our immediate attention. It is so hard to fight Satan’s attempts to sidetrack us. However, with persistence, we enter into God’s presence and we never want to leave. We find a higher level of spirituality with intimate love, gentle peace and confident direction, which no other process in life ever afforded us. We abide in union with Christ in pure serenity and rest.


We see God as the source and cause of everything pertaining to our life. Each trial is an adventure in Him, which He promises to work out for our good. Each sickness is an opportunity to share the gospel of Christ with those in the doctor’s office. Each loss is an occasion to learn to live without; so that when God restores our wealth, we can share with others who live in need. With each person we meet and every place we go, we seek God’s perspective and will.


Prayer:

Father God, You are the great teacher of our soul. You remove the dross in our life until we are as fine silver and You see Your reflection within us. You give us wisdom, which is skill for living. You give us Your mercy and grace both in our life and to share with others. We walk with confidence in Your faithfulness and we do not even dread the inevitable trials of life on this earth. We surrender our life to You and thank You for controlling every part of it for our ultimate good.

Thought for the Day:

God harmonizes our life with His grand purpose, and He causes us to fulfill the works He prepared for us before we were even born.

– Ephesians 2:10

Draw Me Close to You

As we trust in God alone, He establishes our path and provides us with the resources we need to walk in His victory. Were He leads, we follow. We keep our spirit in tune with Christ in us, and our soul – our mind, choices and emotions – led by His Spirit (Romans 13:14). We submit to God, resist the devil and he must flee from us (James 4:7). Even if Satan uses pain and suffering to sidetrack us, we firmly stand on the faith of the Son of God who loves us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20). We rest, as God restores or replaces everything that Satan tried to steal from us.

We find our rest in Christ during every time of trouble. As we abide in Him, He is our portion forever (Psalm 73:26). We learn from Him as we draw closer to Him. Once the current, negative circumstance is over, we find our roots clinging more firmly to Him. Even during prosperity, He remains the center of our focus and the joy of our soul. We walk by faith in God’s faithfulness, and He joys over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). The abundance and gentleness of His love is more real to us with each passing day.

The power and the draw of the world, the flesh and the devil decreases as we are transformed into the likeness of Christ by the Spirit of God (2 Corinthians 3:18). Our rebellion, self-centeredness and love for this world diminish as we abide in Him and He abides in us (John 15:4). As we partake in His holiness, our union with Him deepens, His comfort fills our soul and His joy is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). As God’s Spirit removes the carnality in our flesh, He fills us instead with His fruit, which is the nature of God (Galatians 5:22-23).

His compassion in us allows us to comfort othes with the same comfort He provides for us (2 Corinthians 1:3). His love fills our soul and our cup runs over with agape love for our everyone we meet (Psalm 23:5). We lose our self in Him and care more for His Kingdom and righteousness than we do for the pursuits of this world. When we see adversity approaching, we hide under the shelter of His wings and we abide in Him moment by moment (Psalm 91:1). This pruning results in more fruitfulness in our life, all for His glory (John 15:5,8).

Prayer:

Father God, daily we come closer to the point of finding our satisfaction totally in You and our heart in deeper harmony with Your purpose for our life. We enter times of aloneness to become all-one with You. We find our comfort in You, rather than in any person, place or thing. You are our all sufficiency (2 Corinthians 12:9). We bear the fruit of Your Spirit to edify and nourish Your Body and all those in our world that You bring our way.

Thought for the Day:

Jesus is the tree of life and we are His branches.