Love Letters

 

Our life is God’s love letter to the world. He uses us to communicate to our friends, relatives, associates and neighbors that He cares about them (2 Corinthians 3:3).

If we do not take the time to reach out to these significant people in our life, we deprive them of the love of God through us.

We may even shut up the Kingdom of Heaven to them and their blood will be on our hands (Ezekiel 3:18-20). It is important that we at least plant a seed of God's love in everyone we meet.

It is easy to do this. We can give them our church bulletin and invite them to join us the next week. Offering them a ride to the grocery store or to church is another easy way.

We can hand them a tract with spiritual truth that they may otherwise never know. Starting a spiritual book club or Bible study in our neighborhood is another great way to reach out.

There are retired women and men in our church who would gladly teach such a study if we ask them; or there are great study guides in the Christian bookstore to use as a text.

We can bake a cake for a bereaved family, give a homemade card to a sick neighbor, or baby sit for a young couple to have a date night.

The possibilities are endless, if we listen to God's Spirit and follow His directives. God equips us to walk in His will through Christ in us (Hebrews 13:20).

With Christ living within us, we experience rest for our soul (Matthew 11:29). We stop striving to perform for God, because Christ works through us (Psalm 46:10; Matthew 6:28-33).

This eternal rest is only available if we take our focus in life off the temporal aspects of our existence and place it squarely on eternal matters instead (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Prayer:

Father God, You gave us Your eternal life, which no one can take from us (John 10:28). We are joined to You, and we are beneficiaries of Your divine nature (1 Corinthians 6:17; 2 Peter 1:4). We have constant fellowship with You, the Son and the Spirit (1 John 1:3, 9; Phil 2:1).

You placed us in Christ Jesus and we are seated in heavenly places in Him (1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 2:6). You provide every spiritual blessing for us in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). Help us to share Your love with those You put into our life. We want to give You all the honor and glory for everything we think, say and do each moment of the day.

Thought for the Day:

The love and integrity of the testimony of our life for God may be the difference in someone believing in or rejecting Jesus as their Savior.

A Place of Rest for Our Soul

In the Old Testament, Believers worshipped in temples of stone and mortar. Their contact with God was from the first few books of our Bible. It is different today. We have 66 books of God’s Word to encourage and instruct us. God dwells within us in a personal, intimate relationship, not in temples made with human hands (Romans 10:9).

We are God’s “living stones”, and Jesus is the chief cornerstone on which we are centered (1 Peter 2:4-6). As God’s Temple, we have a deepening understanding of the reality of what it means for Christ to abide in us (Colossians 1:27). This truth changes our outlook on life and affects our body, soul and spirit. We enter God’s rest forever (Hebrews 4:9-10).

God rested after He created the universe. Jesus rested after carrying the burden of our sin to the cross. Now, we can rest from serving God from compulsion and serve Him from a place of love instead. The doorway to this rest is through total surrender to God’s will and to Christ in us, which is our hope of living in glory now and in eternity.

Our humanity is dead and we are a new creation with Christ living in and through us (Galatians 2:20). We decrease daily, so that He can increase (John 3:30). We cease from our human striving and follow God’s Spirit through every moment of every day (Galatians 5:16-25). However, our ultimate rest will be when we leave this sin-cursed world behind and live instead in the presence of God in glory (2 Corinthians 5:8).

Until then, we dwell in Christ as Christ abides in us. We die to sin with Christ and He raises us to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). Living by the faith of the Son of God, we enjoy His love and redemption (Ephesians 5:2). He directs our paths, as we seek Him in everything we think, say and do (Proverbs 3:5-6). The peace of God rules in our hearts, dispelling all of our doubt and fears (Colossians 3:15; Philippians 4:7).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us not to strive in life, but to submit our will to Yours each and every day. Help us to accomplish the works, which You prepared for us to do before we were ever born (Ephesians 2:10). Bring people our way to whom we can share Your love and give us the boldness to proclaim Your truth to them.

Thought for the Day:

Yoke up with Jesus and find rest for your soul. – Matthew 11:29

A Vapor on a Cold Morning

Our soul is the battleground where Satan tries to trick us into believing His lies. The appetites and desires of our body influence the thoughts, choices and emotions of our soul. The Bible calls our soul our inner man or hidden man. The sanctification process of holiness and perfection takes place in our soul. God’s Spirit sanctifies our thoughts, choices and emotions, and God’s peace gives our soul rest (Psalm 62:5).

In this world, we suffer all types of tribulation in our body and soul. God uses suffering to test our faith, which is worth more than gold. He refines our faith by the fires of trials, because He proves Himself worthy of our faith through each one we experience. He works out all the issues of our trials for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28). This life is filled with praise, glory and honor when Jesus returns for His Bride (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Whatever is within our heart will come out of our soul through suffering, whether good or evil (Matthew 12:34-35). God uses the fire of these trials to perfect us and to build up our faith. God enables us to live by faith in His faithfulness through every negative incident life drags us through. God strengthens our heart and our faith by the trials we overcome through Christ who dwells within us (Romans 12:3).

At times, the trials we experience seems to go on and on forever. However, in the grand scheme of things, they flee like a vapor of breath on a cold morning (1 Peter 5:10; James 4:14). God sees to it that we come out of this wilderness of testing more mature and complete in Christ within us (James 1:4; Colossians 2:10). Our soul is refined and brings forth only good treasure (Matthew 12:35).

Jesus recommended that we speak to the mountain of trials in our life and command them into the sea. We not only talk to our Father about our issues, but we also speak to the issues and command them to resolve in Jesus’ name and by the power of His blood. The words of our mouth bring forth death or life into our world (Proverbs 18:21). When we keep our speech wholesome and pure, we prosper (Philippians 4:8).

Prayer:
Father God, when our words are positive and full of faith in Your faithfulness, then we can flourish in this life, regardless of our trials. We can even speak to demons and they will obey us by Your Spirit and Your Word. However, when the demons flee and the negative circumstances change, we need to build up our most holy faith (Jude 1:20); otherwise, the demons and negative thoughts will return much more deceptively and powerfully than before we commanded them to go in Jesus’ name (Matthew 12:43-45).

Thought for the Day:
Seek the Lord, and His strength, seek His face forevermore; and those same demonic thoughts and desires will never return again. – 1 Chronicles 16:11

 

A Soul's Rest

 

True life begins when we surrender our life to God. Even Jesus cried out from His soul for God to save Him from the hour of His crucifixion (John 12:27). Yet, it is a good thing for us that He surrendered to God’s will. When we surrender to God, sin is disgusting to us (2 Peter 2:8). We are foreigners and exiles in this world. At the top of our priority list, is seeking God’s Kingdom. He provides for all of our needs (Matthew 6:33). Our soul revels in its rest, because the Lord is always good to us (Psalm 116:7).

If we hide sin in our heart, God cannot hear our prayers; but if we live in His righteousness, He pays attention to our prayers. He satisfies our longing and He fills our hungry soul. To authentic Born Again Believers, His loving kindness is better than anything this world has to offer. He will not turn away from us or withhold His love from us. He will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). We praise Him with our lips for as long as we live (Psalm 63:2-5, 107:9).

Paul encourages us to keep our whole spirit, soul and body blameless until the return of Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Jesus teaches us to love God with all of our mind, choices, emotions and strength (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37; Luke 10:27). When Mary found out she would give birth to Jesus, our Savior, her soul glorified the Lord (Luke 1:46). As we walk in God’s will for our life, we also live a life of praise to His name. We cease from our own labors, and our soul enters God’s rest (Hebrews 4:10).

Many spend their lifetime working for their self and then for God, but blessed are those who learn to cease from our labors and enter God’s Sabbath rest. God gave us this example when He rested from His works after His monumental feat of creation (Genesis 2:2-3). We keep each day holy for Him (Exodus 20:8-11). His presence goes with us and insures that we rest in Him (Exodus 33:14). Even if our flesh and our heart falter, God strengthens our heart, because He is our portion for eternity (Psalm 73:26).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that life on this earth is not an end in itself, but merely an opportunity to choose eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our soul is capable of becoming distressed and discouraged (Psalm 42:5). Yet, our soul praises You, who are the only One who can truly encourage our soul (Psalm 42:6 & 11; 3:1, 104:1). Our soul finds rest in You, because You are always good to us (Psalm 62:1-2). Help us to live our whole live, in every endeavor You lead us to accomplish, to the praise and the glory of Your name (Psalm 103:22; Ephesians 2:10).

Thought for the Day:

The soul that finds its rest in God matures to the point of abstaining from sinful desires, because they no longer appeal to us in any way. - 1 Peter 2:11

Rest for Our Soul

 

The presence of God in our life is a wondrous gift that trumps any other blessing we could ever receive. God promises to be with us even until the end of this age. This age is called the Time of the Gentiles, or the Church Age. It began when Christ established the church while He lived on this earth. During this age, God calls us to seek His Kingdom before, as well as more than we seek the distractions of the world, the flesh and the devil (Matthew 6:24). God requires total dedication and surrender (Luke 14:26).

This does not negate the fact that we have a family, job, church and hobbies to participate in; but we do it all through the direction of God’s Spirit and for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). We follow the leading of God’s Spirit through the noise and hectic pace of our life. He brings order from the chaos and peace in the confusion. He replaces our stress with His rest, if we will only surrender every facet of our life to Him. The first step in entering God’s rest is to spend time with Him (Mark 12:30).

Confusion drowns out the voice of God and causes us to feel frustrated, angry and to experience other negative emotions. However, walking in His presence moment by moment through the duties of our day, brings contentment and peace. God helps us to prioritze our time and activities. Every soul needs “down” time for our soul – our mind, will and emotions - to catch up, to chill out and to recover from the trauma of life. We need time for our spirit to center into Christ’s life within us (Psalm 46:10).

We do not have to be afraid of not measuring up, or of not getting all of our required work done or meeting all of the needs of all of the people who depend on us. If we live one moment at a time, Christ within us directs us to do what pleases Him. Like Mary, we can make the best choice for our day, and sit at Jesus feet within us, no matter where we are or what we are doing (Luke 10:42). As we praise Him and follow His Spirit, He will allow us to excell, to finish what is required of us and to meet the needs of all the people He wants us to minister to.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, when You see our agitation rising inside, prompt us to discover the source of the negative emotions and to seek Your wisdom on how to deal with it. Nothing and no one can come against us to overpower us,  because You live within us. Remind us to be still and to acknowledge that You are Lord over our life. Exhort us to rest in You while You work out the issues, which are distracting us from living in Your peace and rest. We trust You with our whole life, because we have faith in Your faithfulness.

Thought for the Day:

We still have hectic activities swirling all around us; however, as we walk in the Spirit, God gives us a quiet refuge, supernatural strength and His constant help in any difficulty we experience.