Union with Christ - The Second Adam

 

The Trinity comes to abide in us once we repent of our sin and surrender our life to God. The more we die to our flesh, the more room we have for the fullness of God in us to fill our soul - our thoughts, choices and emotions (Ephesians 3:19).

When God's Spirit rebirths our spirit from the death of sin, we are spiritually alive in complete union with God. What the "first Adam" lost for us, the "last Adam" - Jesus Christ - regained for us (1 Corinthians 15:45).

God created us to enjoy fellowship with Him; but sin, Adam's and ours, keeps us separated from this union. However, Jesus' death and resurrection gave us the opportunity to repent and to believe in His work for us on Calvary's cross.

We may or may not have this world's goods, but we learn to live in contentment with the power of Christ's redemption and His resurrection life filling us to the brim (Philippians 4:12; John 11:25-26).

Since Jesus experienced the wrath of God over the sins of the whole world - past, present and future (Isaiah 53:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:21), we never die again. Though our body will go to the grave, our soul and spirit live on with Christ for eternity (1 John 5:12).

God longs to restore this intimacy with His creation and calls us all to repentance (Acts 13:39; John 3:15-18). He fills us with His presence and His Spirit; and no matter what happens in our body or our mind, we find our joy and fulfillment only in Him.

God makes us a new creation, and our life changes for the better from that moment on (2 Corinthians 5:17). He is the center of our identity. As we walk in His Spirit, everything we think, say and do comes from Him (Galatians 5:15-25).

Prayer:

Father God, I will both lie down in peace and sleep because You alone make me to dwell in safety. I pray for the persecuted church, for all of the Saints, for the abused and for the babies and children in this world who lack nurturing and care. Lord, give them the comfort of Your love, peace and joy in spite of their earthly circumstances.

Help us to recognize the little blessings, which You give to us all day long, to prove to us that You care for us even now. I thank You for Your daily mercy and grace, and for Your ever-present help for us in every time of need (Psalm 4:8).

Thought for the Day:

God puts the mind of Christ within us and we focus on the spiritual, eternal aspects of our union with Him, rather than the foolish and confounding aspects of life on this earth. 

- 1 Corinthians 1:27-28

Freedom from Fearing this Life

God knew us before He formed us in our mother's womb. He knew when we would rise and sleep, where we would live and what type of home we would live in while we sojourned on this earth.

Some of us are rich, some poor; some tall, others short; one may be meek and another bold; some tend toward goodness and others folly; yet, all of us have His calling on our life (Proverbs 19:3; Ephesians 4:1-16).

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Our only task is to live in submission to His will for each moment of our day. We accept His call to salvation and He accomplishes His desires in and through us as His Spirit sanctifies our flesh and our soul - our thoughts, choices and emotions.

He infuses our weaknesses with His strength, and we realize our startling need for Him. This need overwhelms us more than our fear of this life, and drives us deeper under the shadow of His wings.

God's Spirit transforms our character into the nature of Christ who abides within us through ever-increasing stages of divine glory (2 Peter 1:4). We relinquish our idols, addictions, desire and activities in submission to His will.

Our heart is totally transfixed on Him. He is our whole life (Colossians 3:4). We want nothing more than to please Him with our thoughts, words and deeds. He consumes our heart with His love and fills our mind with His wisdom.

We focus on Christ alone and relinquish the issues of this life to His care. Nothing worries us any longer as we place our full trust in Him (1 Peter 5:7). This reduces our stress levels and brings health to our body and soul.

We also sanctify Christ as the Lord of our life and we live to further His Kingdom in the earth, which dispels our fears and insecurities (1 Peter 3:13-14). Our faith increases as He proves to us His faithfulness.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for leading us to repentance and forgiving our sins (1 John 1:9). We cast all of our sorrows and cares on Your capable shoulders (Isaiah 53:4). With our heart set on things above, we no longer sorrow as those who have no hope; we even rejoice in our tribulation (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; James 1:2).

You turn our sorrow into dancing and return to us the years which the canker worm destroys (Psalm 30:11-12; Joel 2:25). We deepen our commitment to You and find fulfillment in our involvement in Your calling and cause. You are our greatest friend, husband and brother (Proverbs 18:24; Isaiah 54:5). Help us to realize that You are our refuge, and the fear of this world need not control our life.

Thought for the Day:

God is able to destroy both body and soul in hell; yet, we fear man more than we fear God. - Matthew 10:28

The Color of Noise

Scientists discovered that there are “colors of noise” in our world. They are separated by their spectral density over different frequencies of sound. (http://www.wired.co.uk/article/colours-of-noise)

It starts with White noise, which has equal amount of energy in all frequency bands. Then it proceeds through the spectrum of colors to Black noise, which refers to silence with occasional spikes of sound.

Every band of White noise has equal energy per cycle and is completely flat. It is synonymous with white light. It has the ability to cut through the background noises and promote sleep; yet it can also produce percussive noises such as cymbals and drums.

Black noise is White noise that is silent, and can be defined as pure silence or negative noise.

Green noise is mid-point of the White-Black noise spectrum. It is the background noises in the world in which we live. It is averaged over a long length of time in several outdoor sites around our world.

Pink noise has equal bands that get proportionately wider. It is the same as our human hearing and has the same energy as the octave above and below it. It is useful in testing amplifiers and loudspeakers, radiation output and DNA sequences.

Red/Brown noise (Brownian noise) sounds like a low roar and is used in climatology to describe regime shifts.

Blue noise is at the other end of the spectrum from Brownian noise. Our retinal cells are arranged in Blue noise patterns and they provide good visual resolution. Violet noise increases per octave over the frequency range and can mask high frequencies, which helps many tinnitus sufferers.

Grey noise helps when noise occurs in both high and low frequencies, but very little in the range of normal human hearing. It is useful in studying hearing difficulties and differences from the normal range of human hearing.

Orange noise has a few bands eliminated entirely and reveals sound that is off key and out of tune, because it is not exact musical notes.

In a world where even light makes noise, we are called upon to adjust our “headphones” to hear only the voice of God. We block out all of the fleshly, worldly and satanic static in the chaos of life swirling all around us.

We rise above the dissonance of our concerns and we enter a new realm of the peace and joy, being led only by the Spirit of God. The full power of Christ's divine nature infuses the body, soul and spirit of each authentic Believer (John 8:12).

 

Prayer:

Father God, awaken our sleepy soul and raise us from spiritual apathy and death. Remind us that Christ lives as a light within us, showing us the way You would have us to walk in this world. Help us to pay attention to how we live, so that we use Your wisdom in all that we say and do.

Remind us to make the most of the time You give us and not to foolishly use it for our own selfish gains. Teach us to block out all the "colors of noise" bombarding us, and how to give You our direct attention through each moment of our life.

Thought for the Day:

Let us live life in full awareness of the immense potential available to us though our union with Christ; every negative circumstance, which life throws at us, can be overcome by faith in God through Christ within us.