A Reflection of God's Glory

 

God is always waiting with open arms to embrace us at any moment in which we care to cast our self on Him. He inhabits eternity and uses all of His power and authority to meet the needs of our body, soul and spirit.

As we walk as a fragrant gift in surrender to God’s will, we savor the sweet love, which Christ gives to us (Ephesians 5:1-2). He is our strong tower and our everlasting Father. Even if we fall, we are never utterly cast down, because He sustains us in His hand (Psalm 37:24; Song of Solomon 8:3).

God made a new covenant with us; different than the one He made with those who lived during the Old Testament times. He created this new covenant in Christ; and it gives us all of the rights and privileges of His spirit-filled, adopted heirs.

God's Spirit transforms us through the experiences we have each day. He teaches us through our participation in life to trust God, because of His faithfulness to us. As the Holy Spirit directs us, we learn to lay our life down for God as Christ did.

We learn of Jesus' character and divine nature through His inspired Words in the Bible (2 Peter 1:4). We read about Saints of old who actually experienced face-to-face encounters with Him. We learn to trust Him with our life, because they did (Exodus 24:15-17).

He satiates us through all of our being with all of His fullness and we grow in our intimacy with Him on a daily basis (Ephesians 3:16-19, Amplified Bible). Our love relationship deepens as we focus on Him and totally surrender every aspect of our life to Him.

Prayer:

Father God, Jesus was in Your very form and equal to You even while He existed in this earthly realm (Philippians 2:6). This same glory abides within each Believer due to Christ abiding in us (Colossians 1:15). In Christ there is no fading of Your glory as was Moses' experience after his time with You on the mountain (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Remind us that our words and behavior are also a reflection to the world of Your character. If we walk in the flesh, we tarnish Your name and cause people to speak evil of You. Lead us in paths of righteousness for Your name's sake (Psalm 23:3). Help us to reflect Your glory so they will see Your power and majesty and come to believe in You as we do.

Thought for the Day:

God fellowshipped with man in the Garden of Eden during the cool of the day, from the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies, and now through Jesus as He dwells in the spirit of every authentic Believer. - Genesis 3:8; Exodus 2:21-22, 33:11

The Secret of Living in Contentment

 

Jesus encouraged us to have joy in tribulation, because He already experienced every issue we will ever face. He lives within us, so He inspires us to change our focus about life (John 16:33; Hebrews 2:18, 4:15).

Paul and James experienced more trials in their lifetime than we ever will, and they gave us the same advice to rejoice in our tribulation (Romans 5:3, 12:12; James 1:2). In fact, Paul also told us to rejoice always (Philippians 4:4).

The secret of learning to be content is to realize that this earth is not our home (Philippians 4:12). With an eternal perspective, we realize who we are in Christ and we stop worrying about earthly pursuits and dreams.

An eternal perspective allows us to have joy in adverse circumstances (2 Corinthians 4:16-17), because issues on this earth have less significance to us than those pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

We trust in the Lord with our whole heart, holding nothing back, not trusting in our self or any fleshly advantage, submitting everything to God and embracing His will as our own (Proverbs 3:5-6).

If we wait patiently for the Lord, we shall not be moved, even in times of great stress or persecution. Christ is our solid rock on which we stand, our strong tower from the enemies, which come against us (Psalm 40:1-2, 61:3).

When someone offends or harasses one of God's children, He takes it personally just as if the person was afflicting Him with our pain (Acts 9:5-6). He is our refuge and strength in any sign of trouble (Psalm 46:1).

We quietly rest in His care, knowing that He always delivers us through all of our afflictions (Psalm 23:4, 34:19). Even when He disciplines us for our sinful behavior, we can rejoice that He loves us as His children (Hebrews 12:3-6).

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for teaching us to have an eternal perspective on life. We want to learn to be content as Paul did and to walk in Your nurture and admonition (Ephesians 6:4). Keep us ever faithful to Your Kingdom's work and remind us that if we fail to witness to the ones You put in our path, their blood is on our hands (Ezekiel 3:19-20).

Help us to see that all we actually need to be content is food and shelter (1 Timothy 6:8). Teach us that the pursuit of this world's goods never satisfies; yet, when Godliness is accompanied by contentment, we reap many rewards (Ecclesiastes 5:10; 1 Timothy 6:6).

Thought for the Day:

When we are joyful and content, our attitude shows on our face; but when we focus on our tribulation, the weight of it will break our spirit. - Proverbs 15:13

Our Strong Tower

As an infant, most of us are properly cared for by our parents; although, more often in these days in which we live, children are no longer cherished and nurtured.

Regardless of our upbringing, however, life rarely pulls its punches. It deals out a lifetime of hard knocks, abuse, neglect and disappointments.

We learn to keep more to our self, in order to give people and circumstances fewer chances to hurt us. We want to stay safe from a world, which often frightens us.

We continue to reach out to other people, and to help them in any way we can; but suspicion taints the way we view people and opportunities, which come our way.

We are programmed to believe that the good times will never last, because they never did in the past. We stop looking forward to things; and we never believe promises, because they rarely if ever happen.

We miss opportunities, which we would enjoy, because we are afraid to trust the leading of God's Spirit. We stay home rather than to take risks to meet new people and to share God's love with them.

We learn to build walls to hide behind in an attempt to protect our self. However, these very walls only serve to keep us restrained in the confinement of our own making.

We try to escape these walls through addictions, the wrong friends and mate, busyness, hobbies, projects and over-achieving in areas, which do not really matter.

We imprison our true self behind those walls, which were meant to keep us safe. We can never live a full life as long as we continue to hinder our whole body, soul and spirit from living free in Christ (Galatians 5:1). 

Prayer:

Father God, we wall up our heart, because vulnerability makes us susceptible to victimization and neglect. You advise us to guard our heart from sin, but not from other people. You actually expose us to disappointment in this life to show us the magnitude of Your continual love and nurture for us. 

Remind us that when we are the weakest and the most vulnerable, then You are the strongest and closest to us in order to fight on our behalf (2 Corinthians 12:9-11; Exodus 14:14; Deuteronomy 3:22).

Therefore, we can entrust our body, soul and spirit to You and Your protection and care (Psalm 55:22; 1 Peter 5:7). We can run into the safety of Your everlasting arms (Isaiah 41:10).

Thought for the Day:

We fear vulnerability; therefore, we hide our true self behind walls of our own making; but God protects us from our enemies and is a strong tower into which we can run and be safe. - Psalm 18:2, 10