A Place of Repentance

 

Once we hear the gospel of Christ, a deliberate rejection of God’s path of righteousness will lead to our earthly sorrow and eternal ruin. God is sovereign and He will not be mocked (Acts 4:24). We see no value in the spiritual side of life, but live only for physical and emotional pleasures.

We focus on gratifying the body and we seek to find a soul mate with which to spend our life. We end up switching partners endlessly because no one meets our expectations. We show contempt for the abundance of God’s kindness, patience and tolerance of us, when we do not realize that God’s kindness is intended to bring us to this place of repentance (Romans 2:4).

However, if we come to realize that we are wrong and we cannot save our self. We enter God’s throne room and we repair our relationship with God through godly sorrow and contrition; we reap eternal life and earthly joys, which know no bounds. God provides all of our needs according to His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19).

He is our soul mate and He sticks closer to us than a brother (Proverbs 17:17, 18:24). He does not consider us his servants, but His friends (John 15:15). He fills our hearts with His love to overflowing and we share His love with everyone He brings our way. The fruit of His Spirit replaces the negative attributes in our soul, and we live in peace and freedom.

God blesses us abundantly, so that we have whatever we need at all times (2 Corinthians 9:8). This allows us to be faithful in the work of His Kingdom. The peace of God, which defies explanation, protects us emotionally and mentally, because Christ lives within us (Philippians 4:7).

Prayer:

Father God, with Your love within us and surrounding us we can come to a place of repentance and enjoy the bounty of Your blessings. Even when negative aspects of life try to overwhelm us, You are there to pull us up. You may not deliver us from the trial, but You give us the Rock of Christ to stand upon to weather every storm. There is nothing this earth can do to separate us from Your love.

Thought for the Day:

As we rely on the direction of God’s Spirit, we live a peaceful and abundant life.

The Door to Freedom

 

It almost takes a lifetime for human beings to come to the realization that God is always right. Starting with the fact that there really is nothing good about our humanity (Romans 7:18, 8:7). Our personality and talents from God are so much more winsome and creative than those we develop through our training and natural abilities. If we look to our self or to this world for life, liberty and happiness, we are miserably disappointed.

Our flesh is despicable to God. That is why Christ died in our place (Romans 4:25; 2 Corinthians 11:18). Nothing less than absolute annihilation of our flesh will aid us in coming into perfect union with Christ in us. This is not our responsibility, however. We simply surrender to the Holy Spirit who perfects us by replacing our carnality with His fruit. Sometimes, it takes more than one trial to completely eradicate our flesh in one certain area.

Therefore, it may take a lifetime for Him to replace our carnality with each one of His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). Through His death, Jesus gave us eternal life, which begins the moment we believe in Him and commit to walk away from our sins (John 3:16-18). It is only through our union with God that we attain eternal freedom and joy (Galatians 5:1; Psalm 27:5-7). We no longer hunger and thirst for what this world has to offer. We only want more of God (Matthew 5:6).

Seeking God with our whole heart is the only way we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). If we go without food for days, we are no longer hungry; and we will die a slow death. The same thing happens in the spiritual life. When we lose our hunger for God, we die spiritually as well. Fellowshipping with other Saints who also hunger for God will help to fill our hungry soul and spirit (Psalm 107:9).

When we comprehend the freedom, which is ours through Christ, who is our whole life, we realize that our humanity is already dead, because we are actually hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3-4). Then, we cease from our human striving and stress and enter into His rest (Hebrews 4:10). Absolute surrender to God’s will for our individual life (Ephesians 2:8-10) is our only door to freedom.

Prayer:

Father God, You gave Jesus the power to save us to the most extreme measure of perfection (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 5:6-9). We are crucified with Him; and we can only successfully navigate the life, which we now live on this earth, by the power of Christ in us, who loves us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20). Therefore, we voluntarily lay down our life and take up Your life by Your Spirit in us (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Thought for the Day:

Jesus is the only door to the throne room of God. – John 10:9