No longer a Sinner - Our Great High Priest

The devil, the flesh and the world are in the constant business of tempting us to sin. These three sources of temptation play on our human needs and desires, which are given to us by God.

They seek to pervert our needs and to tempt us into gross immorality. However, Christ in us enables us to withstand any temptation by giving us a way to escape it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Thankfully, we have Jesus, our great High Priest, who can empathize with our humanity. He lived on this earth and was tempted, suffered and died with circumstances similar to, but much worse than ours (Hebrews 4:15).

The initial sinful thought, which enters our mind, is not sin. It is merely a temptation to sin. Satan whispers the destructive idea in our mind, and we have a choice to entertain or to dismiss that thought.

Temptation influences us when pride and rebellion lurk in our heart and cause us to rely on our self, and draw us away from having faith in God's faithfulness to provide for us.

The sins, which easily lure us away from holiness, are strongholds in our life. These expose us to demonic attachments, which hold us in bondage. Also the abuse we receive in life will encourage us to believe Satan's lies.

We are freed from spiritual strongholds by confessing them as sin, surrendering our life to Christ and obeying His Word in our every thought, word and deed, trusting in His Spirit's direction for our life.

Christ promises to fulfill all of our needs according to His glorious riches. We do not have to trust anyone or anything else to provide for us (Philippians 4:19).

Prayer:

Father God, Jesus was tempted to meet His own needs, but He used Your Word to put Satan in his place (Matthew 4:1-11). Help us to hide Your Word in our heart, so that we do not sin against You (Psalm 119:11).

Remind us that we are crucified with Christ; and now we live in Him and by His faith (Galatians 2:20). Thank You for accepting us into Your family (Ephesians 2:19) and filling us with all of Your fullness (Ephesians 3:16-19).

Thought for the Day:

Our great High Priest increases in us as we decrease in our dependence on our self and others and trust only in Him.

- John 3:30

The Body of Christ

 

It is so good and pleasant for the Body of Christ to dwell together in unity (Psalm 133:1). Our love for Jesus and for one another is a testimony to the world that He really does dwell within us (John 13:35).

At the same time, we are also citizens of Heaven (Philippians 3:20). Our great High Priest is our King as well. He gave His life to allow us unlimited access to our Father’s throne (Hebrews 4:16).

The bond of Christ’s love for us and in us brings unity to all of us in His Body no matter where we live or how old we are (1 Corinthians 1:10). We stand together in our faith by one Spirit. We think, act and believe as one Body (Philippians 1:27, 2:2).

As the Spirit sanctifies each one of us, we learn to conduct our self as an example of the gospel of Christ. We prefer one another above our self (Romans 12:10) and we search the scriptures together to come to a similar understanding of His Word (Acts 17:11).

When one member of Christ’s Body suffers, we all suffer; and when one rejoices, we all rejoice (1 Corinthians 12:26). As authentic Believers, we are individually and corporately an exact representation of Christ (Colossians 1:15).

We all share the same vision to live Godly, and the same purpose to save souls. Every tongue, tribe and nation will all spend eternity with one another in His presence (Titus 3:5-7).

The Spirit unifies us with the Father through Christ (John 17:21-22). We share in the unity of the triune God; and we live as an example to the world of a God of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control and faith (Galatians 5:22-23; John 17:21).

Prayer:

Father God, help us as Your Body to put on the mind of Christ, to speak the words given to us by Your Holy Spirit and to follow Your will for each moment of our day. Remind us to glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character gives us hope.

Hope prevents us from experiencing shame, because Your love has been poured out into our hearts through Your Holy Spirit (Romans 5:1-5). Your purpose for our life is to be conformed to the image of Your Son (Romans 8:29). Restore our relationships within Your Body and unite us as a testimony of Your life and love within us.

Thought for the Day:
We walk with Christ each day and learn to trust Him and love Him through every circumstance, both the good experiences and the trials.

Healing from Abusive Behavior - Part 2

Victims of abuse may turn into abusers in order to erase the shame, fears and insecurities, which plague them. They neglect those whom they should cherish, and they allow negative emotions to control our life and theirs.

We may use anger as a means to protect our self from further abuse, but this sends mixed messages. People never know when we will patiently suffer as a martyr or blow up like a volcano at the least provocation.

We may not be able to trust people, but we can trust God. Rather than acting with bombastic and combative behavior, we find our strength and confidence in Christ's quiet resolve within us.

Then we set boundaries, and firmly but quietly caution people not to cross the line (Isaiah 30:15). They may test our boundaries; but if we consistently remind them, they will soon learn to respect us.

The older we get, the more we tell our self that the abuse happened a long time ago and we should get over it. Yet the shameful effects of the violation and the loss of our innocence and sense of trust can last a lifetime.

We may even find our self questioning if the abuse actually happened. We live in denial and convince our self that our abuser is a revered person who could never do anything that horrific.

When a trigger reminds us of the situation, it is because our soul is crying out for validation and comfort. Our true inner self is desperately attempting to gain our attention and to make us take the abuse seriously enough to stop it or to simply acknowledge it.

Snippets of words, body language, the shape of certain plants, an over-reaction that we cannot explain, bizarre behavior that has no basis in reality are all ways that our soul uses to force us to face and validate the incident(s).

Journaling will enable us to get in touch with the episode(s) and tell our story of abuse without having to make it public knowledge. Journaling validates our feelings, nurtures our wounded soul and is extremely healing.

Prayer:

Father God, You collect all of our tears in Your bottle and avenge every one of them (Psalm 56:8). Even if we feel that we somehow caused or deserved the abuse, You wash away our shame and replace it with the righteousness of Christ (Isaiah 61:7).

Remind us that forgiving our perpetrator actually helps us to heal by taking them off our "hook" and placing them firmly on Your hook. You are much better at rendering vengeance than we are (Romans 12:19; Deuteronomy 32:35). Thank You for healing us from our past and giving us a bright future full of Your love and acceptance (Jeremiah 29:11).

Thought for the Day:

Loss of innocence means that a person who was supposed to protect, nurture and cherish us actually abused us and stole from us what rightfully belongs to us alone.

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