Covenant with Christ

God made many covenants with the Old Testament Saints, which He keeps even to this day. Then He sent Jesus to make a new covenant with those born after the Messiah's birth (Matthew 26:28).

Anyone humble enough to receive Him receives eternal life in return (John 3:16-17). He replaces our human, uncircumcised heart of stone with His heart of flesh and makes us a new creation in Christ (Romans 2:29; Ezekiel 36:26; 2 Corinthians 5:17).  

This new life in Christ enables us to mature spiritually and allows God's Spirit to conform us the image of Jesus, the Christ (Romans 8:29). The Spirit spurs us to desire more of God and a more intimate union with the Trinity within us.

He gives us the desires of our heart - not the carnal aspects which we covet from this world, but He puts His desires in our heart to replace our carnal, fleshly ones - which would not make us happy anyway (Psalm 37:4).

He does not fulfill our lusts for better health, a bigger home, sportier luxury car, lucrative job and a Hollywood model for a mate, which do not fulfill us when we get them. He gives us what we need to succeed in His calling for our life.

Existing only to do the will of our Father, Jesus lived in contentment, even through the crucifixion and death on the cross. He kept His focused on the prize of glory ahead of Him (Hebrews 12:2). 

Jesus gave us this example of how to live our own life. He glorified God with His life and completed the work which God gave Him to do during His lifetime on earth (John 17:4). We can do this too.

We delight in the Lord each moment of our day, content with His provision and wanting nothing more than to serve Him in any way He chooses. We rejoice as we see Him transforming us into the image of Christ and readily relinquish the earthly ties which hold us back from following hard after Him (Psalm 63:8).

Prayer:

Father God, circumcise our heart of the excess flesh which surrounds us, and set us free to serve You with abandon and dedication. Allow us to find our fulfillment, not in the things of this world, but in service to You each moment of our day. Our true joy comes from living in the center of Your will.

You did not create us to be happy in this world, but to live holy lives - consecrated to You in the same degree of covenant promise that You give to us. When we do, we find a joy that is deeper than the fleeting happiness we obtain from worldly prizes, and we live in eternal peace which starts the moment we surrender our life to Your love.

Thought for the Day:

Living in the center of God's will is very satisfying and brings us a more lasting joy than we can receive from anything this world has to offer.

WHO LOVES YOU - Part 2 - The Love of the Son

God proved His love for us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might live eternally through Him. Jesus loves you more than a pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45).

This is true, authentic love: we did not earn or deserve God’s love, but He loved us first and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 1:9, 4:19).

Jesus left all that was His, relinquished his kingly status, forsook the glories of heaven; and for 33 whole years, He lived on this sin-cursed earth.

Then, at the peak of His manhood, He purchased us back from Satan for the Father by suffering the horrendous death on Calvary’s Cross.

Jesus gave His life so that we could live as God's adopted children, joint heirs with Him to receive all that the Father owns. We will dwell in God's Kingdom and enjoy fellowship with the Trinity now and for eternity.

We begin each day by sitting at His feet and learning from Him: talking to Him, listening to Him, reading His Word, meditating on what we read, praising Him and waiting on Him.

He stills the chaos in our body and soul - our thoughts, choices and emotions. We remain in His presence until we feel His Spirit directing our next step (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Jesus empowers us throughout our day and night. He never, ever leaves us for any reason or circumstance (Hebrews 13:5). He meets life's demands on us by using our body and soul to accomplish His will in and through us.

Prayer:

Father God, You give us the gift of new life each and every day. Just waking up is proof that You love us. We often take for granted things like air to breathe and eyes to see; but each of these miracles is evidence to us that You love us.

Remind us to appreciate You and not to take You for granted. All through the day, You send people, events and natural wonders to bless us. We want to live in Your divine will through the divine opportunities You provide for us.

Thought for the Day:

Trying to find a fulfilling relationship with another human being is close to impossible, and only the rare interdependent couple ever succeed; however, every human being can find fulfillment in the love of God and in Jesus Christ whom He sent. - John 6:29

Consulting the Lord

Joshua took over the leadership of Israel from Moses. He followed in Moses’ footsteps and sought God's direction for each decision he made and every action he took. He had no confidence in his own ability and He generally relied on God’s counsel. 

God promised to give Joshua every part of the land where he set his feet. God also declared that no army would stand against him (Joshua 1:3,5). Therefore, with a few successful battles to his credit, Joshua’s fame traveled throughout Canaan (Joshua 6:27).

This caused his heart to swell with pride, and He got overly confident. He started believing the praise awarded to him, rather than giving credit to the Lord. The unconventional warfare God told Joshua to use at Jericho (Joshua 6:20) puffed up his confidence. Therefore, at the next battle, in the tiny town of Ai, Joshua did not bother to consult the Lord.

He relied on his own wisdom instead. He sent up an army of about three thousand men, expecting to hear of their anticipated victory. However, God taught Joshua a lesson through this and allowed the few men of Ai to defeat Joshua’s army (Joshua 7:3-4). 

God humbled Joshua, and he ended up embarrassed and dejected. It happened again when the Gibeonite ambassadors tricked Joshua by their deceptive words (Joshua 9:14-22). Joshua foolishly believed he could handle these decisions without the Lord’s direction. 

We do this too. We forget to pray and to seek God's counsel when salesmen pressure us, friends and family manipulate us and those in authority over us demand things from us. True success in life only comes when we seek advice from the Lord before making a decision, and follow His advice even if it is not popular or seems not to make sense. Hindsight proves that God is right.

Prayer:

Father God, as Your children, we will need to make some important decisions throughout our lifetime. We have the choice of following a humanistic plan of action or of seeking Your divine direction. Remind us to trust in You with all of our heart and not to lean on our own understanding. 

Help us not to be wise in our own eyes, but to consult You (Proverbs 3:5-7). That way we will not be anxious about anything, but we will pray about everything and present our requests to You (Philippians 4:6). When we lack wisdom, we can ask You, because You give it generously to all without finding fault (James 1:5).

Thought for the Day:

Consult the Lord in whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

- Proverbs 16:3

Our Futile Self-Life

In our finite existence, we experience many areas of life, which are so painful and almost impossible to survive. However, with God, all things are possible (Luke 18:27). So, when God dwells in us, we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37), and we can accomplish whatever He calls us to do (Ephesians 2:10). Outside of His anointing, we are powerless and our efforts are futile (John 15:5). We reap no lasting value from all of our earnest, but frantic works for God.

In truth, God does not expect us to succeed apart from Him. As Paul declares, we often concede to sin when we actually want to walk in holiness. We cannot even achieve many of the spiritual goals we set for our self (Romans 7:15-24). There is no shame in this. The shame comes when we persist in living for God from our own self-efforts. We continually fall short, and we live in disgrace and depression because of our failures.


Our attitudes influence our body, soul and spirit. Criticism, gossip, self-pity, depression, anger and bitterness all strongly impact our soul, which in turn affects our body and spirit. Once we realize the futility of attempting holiness on our own, we can sigh in relief and stop disparaging and demeaning our character or someone else’s failings (Proverbs 15:4, 18:21). Living a holy life is impossible for us, but more than possible for Christ in us (Colossians 1:27).


Our part is to guard our body, soul and spirit and to live in surrender to God’s will (Proverbs 4:23; Proverbs 3:5-6). As we meditate on God’s precepts and guard what we focus on, we will mirror His Word and delight in His Truth (Psalm 119:15-16). We are all lost and undone on our own, but Christ is victorious in and through us. When we come to the end of our self-efforts and completely surrender to God’s Spirit and Lordship, then God can actually use us for His glory.


Prayer:

Father God, we know that Your power is manifest only in our helplessness. As we daily surrender to Your will, You conquer our self-life and fleshly carnality. We are in Your care and You live out Your will in our surrendered life. We are strengthened by Your might in our inner core (Ephesians 3:14-21). Holiness and consecration bring revival in us and in Your church, so help us to deepen our union with You in all things.

Thought for the Day:

It is only as we realize our utter human hopelessness, and depend entirely on God, that He can use us for His glory.

 

 

Split Rails

Read: 2 Corinthians 10: 5-6

“A double minded person is unstable in all of his ways.” – James 1:8

As I watched a movie, a teenage boy walked with his feet straddling the width of the railroad tracks with one foot on each of the metal rails. He almost lost his balance more than once. He could have walked on the ties between the rails and had an easier time of it. His stuttering gait appeared uncomfortable. His progress was slow and his whole body jarred with each strained step. He looked very uncomfortable; yet, he would not abandon his chosen way of walking.

Watching his struggle, I realized that we too try to walk in two parallel worlds that never intersect. We attempt to place one foot in the secular world and the other in God’s. We struggle to keep our balance in this precarious, awkward toddle and often we lose our footing and fall. The Bible describes three types of minds: the naturally-minded, the single-minded and the double-minded. We all exhibit one or more of these during our lifetime with the Lord.

The natural mind is totally focused on life’s issues. We attempt to control our environment in order to maintain a certain level of safety and equilibrium. We fail miserably most of the time, but we continue in this futile attempt nonetheless. The cure for the natural mind is salvation. Once we come to Christ, we have a whole new vocabulary, mindset and method of behavior. We walk with singleness of purpose and seek the Lord with our whole heart. Single-minded people have a life centered on God. We consult God for every decision and action we take. We give all the glory and honor to God when we succeed.

A double-minded person is divided in his/her interests and devotion. We exhibit indecisiveness, hesitancy, hypocrisy and indifference in their mindset, actions and devotion toward God. According to scholars, another description for this way of life is “twice-souled”. Our mind, will and emotions are divided. We pay lip service to God, but walk contrary to His ways. We give God one hour a week on Sunday morning and feel like we are living a righteous life.

As a double minded person we soon find instability creeping into every area of our life. We cannot serve two masters at the same time (Matthew 6:24). The resulting pressure and confusion keep us in stress, unhappiness and discontentment. Our thoughts control our passions, which influence our choices. Then our lives become the product of our choices

If we allow Satan, the world or the flesh to control our thoughts, then our passion and our loyalty to God will vacillate, because the devotion of our heart is divided. The satanic battle for our soul is waged in the mind. He tries every trick in his book to discourage us from following hard after the Lord (Psalm 63:8). When we follow our carnal thoughts and feelings instead of the Spirit direction, then we stray from the straight and narrow path. Everyone who is drawn away by his/her own passionate desires is enticed and then captured by sin (James 1:14-15).

Most human beings also tend to develop doubts when God does not respond to our prayers as we imagine that He will. Uncertainty and indecision creep into our communication with God, which affect our relationship with Him. This leads to confusion and we allow our thoughts to control our emotions and eventually our emotions drive our actions. When we say different things to different people about the same thing, we live in constant confusion. Sin separates us from God (Romans 3:23) by digging a deep chasm between our Savior and us.

2 Corinthians 10: 5-6 tells us how to remedy this situation. If we take our wayward thoughts captive, we can prevent doubts and inconsistencies from taking over our soul. If we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight, whatever we ask according to His will, we shall receive from Him (1 John 3:22). When we finally choose to seek God’s business first, He adds everything to our life that we will ever need (Matthew 6:33). This singular focus brings a deep peace and a lasting joy that insures us a steady and even walk throughout life.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, allow Your Spirit and life to flow through my soul. Inspire and direct my thoughts, emotions and choices. Keep my heart from double-mindedness, which blocks the flow of Your Spirit and encourages me to seek first my own desires rather than Your Kingdom. Draw me close to You and make me spiritually hungry and thirsty, so that I follow hard after You throughout all the days of my life.

Thought for the Day:

Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth at the same time…you might trip over your own words.