Rest in the Lord

We are driven in today's society to have, to achieve, to acquire and to work toward prizes, which turn out to be nothing more than an empty box or trivial pursuits that never satisfy us.

Yet, for some reason, we continue to seek after that illusive prize that will make us truly happy and fulfilled. We look for the mate that will complete us, and the vocation, house and car which will give us status.

We buy a bigger television, more electronic toys, more lights to hang for Christmas than our neighbor did last year; and yet, they leave us flat-lining and they put our soul in the "hospital".

Our soul continually cries out for rest, peace and lasting joy and fulfillment. We do not really want to respond to the drive to earn more in order to buy more; but we cannot seem to help our self.

Like the Israelites, our disobedience and prideful, rebellious heart prevent us from entering God's rest (Hebrews 3:11). We live our whole life and fall short of entering His rest (Hebrews 4:1).

God gives us a clue during His days of creation by resting on the seventh day after six full nights and days of speaking the cosmos into existence. He calls us to join Him in that rest, so that He can restore our soul (Psalm 23:2-3).

If we respond, we will enjoy true riches for the rest of our life, because we will prosper even as our soul prospers (3 John 1:2). As we believe God, we receive all that He provides for us, and we have the faith to enter into His promised rest.

Prayer:

Father God, help us to cease from striving to enter your rest through the power of our flesh in a futile exercise to attain holiness (Romans 7-8; Galatians 3:1-3). Remind us to enter Your rest and to allow Your Spirit to work in us to attain that Godly life You offer (Romans 8:10-17).

Through Your Word, we clearly see that as we abide in You, and allow Your Spirit  to do His transforming work in our nature and character, we will see Your fruitfulness in our life (John 15:1-14; Galatians 5:22-23). Give us the faith of Your dear Son, Jesus, to enter into Your rest now and forever (Hebrews 4:2; Genesis 2:2)

Thought for the Day:

Once we finally recognize our insufficiency to accomplish the works in our own strength, which God pre-ordained for us to do, we surrender our life in whole-hearted obedience to Christ and enter into His rest. 

- Ephesians 2:10: Hebrews 4:1-10

A Better Way

As we age, events occur in our life, which influence our belief system. Maybe our parents, a school experience, siblings, neighbors, a stranger, or a combination of any or all of these factors imposed some harm on us or failed to protect us in some way.

We develop a warped perception of life caused by these painful events. Most of us adopt coping skills based on what we perceived as fact, because of these experiences.

Those without coping skills develop neuroses, which we think will protect us from what we fear the most. These anxieties, obsessions, compulsions, indecisiveness and social and interpersonal maladjustments are driven by fear and insecurity.

These perceived notions of life cause us to breathe in shallow breaths, to fear change, to act suspiciously of new people and situations, and to stay in the background; yet, we may also come out fighting when backed into a corner.

Many counselors believe that an effectual method to overcome a neurosis is to daily recite affirmations and to use human will power to change our behavioral patterns.

However, there is a better way to face the grief of the past or the challenges of our future. Only through prayer will a person truly experience freedom from the memories, which drive neurosis in our life.

As we seek God’s will for every moment of our day, He will set us free from having to face life alone (Ephesians 2:10; Proverbs 3:5-6). He is our Champion, who never abandons us (Hebrews 13:5).

Prayer:

Father God, life is so hard. Nothing is ever easy. There are constant roadblocks, which hinder our progress. The abuse and abandonment, which we experienced in our childhood and even in our adult life, cripple us with neurosis and negative behavior.

We look to You to replace our negative character with the fruit of Your Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), for transforming our mind into the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:14-16) and for giving us the divine nature of Christ (2 Peter 1:4). Thank You for strengthening our inner being so that we, through Your Spirit, can accept Christ as our Savior (Ephesians 3:16-19).

Thought for the Day:

Once we recognize that we are a nobody, we can come to the clear revelation that only in Christ are we a somebody.

The Power of the Trinity

 

The only way to have the power of God’s Spirit in our life is to spend time with God all throughout the day. Seek Him first before you make any decision and He will direct your steps (Proverbs 3:5-6). Serving God from our own self-effort is useless. God already planned works for us to do before we were ever born, and He wants us to function in them (Ephesians 2:10).
 

Sin breaks our fellowship with God. We do not have the spiritual support or power of the Trinity when we sin. If we attempt to use our flesh to perfect our flesh, we will certainly spin our wheels and end up frustrated. Every sin is from the flesh and widens the gap between God and us, because it grieves His Spirit. 

God’s Spirit is in the transforming business. The church at Pentecost started by the unction of the Holy Spirit and that is the only way we can function today too. We must be Spirit-led. The Spirit deals with one area of our life at a time. Negative emotions are a red flag to alert us to something wrong in our life. Take that negative emotion to God and ask Him to show you the real underlying cause of it. 

We may have a need that we can meet for our self. There is nothing wrong with this. Maybe we need to repent of sin, or ask for God’s healing if we are sick in body or soul, or change our focus about the issue or to realize that we are clinging to the flesh or serving an idol in our life. As we humble our self before the mighty hand of God, He will exalt us in His due time (James 4:10).

Prayer:

Father God, our human nature takes the path of least resistance. We do not want to do hard things. We want life handed to us and for everything to work out perfectly without any effort on our part. Life never works out perfectly. Our only hope of success is to draw near to You and submit to the working of Your Spirit within us. You give us both the desire and the power to serve You (Philippians 2:12-12).

Thought for the Day:

If we wait upon the Holy Spirit to come with His omnipotent will and anointed power, we will see great things happen by His hand in our own lives and in the life of our churches.

Christian Freedom

Read: Galatians 5:13-16

“The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.” - Psalm 28:7

The first key to freedom in Christ is humility. If we keep blaming others for our failure, nothing ever improves and we are never set free from the bondage of the past. Humility is absolutely transforming. The humility to admit that we are powerless leads to surrender. This surrender leads to serenity.

Serenity is peace, which transcends our circumstances. This deep peace leads to joy, which does not depend on what is going on around us. Happiness is a fickle human emotion that ebbs and flows with the tides of life. However, the joy of the Lord is our continual strength (Nehemiah 8:10). It gives us the energy to follow the Spirit’s leading as we live in the moment throughout the day.

A Christian sister reminded me that she is a teacher; and, therefore, must plan her calendar. She wondered how she could plan and still live in the moment. We can plan our life as the Spirit gives us direction, but living it moment by moment takes away our regret over the past and our worry over the future. We are also able to enjoy each moment as God gives it to us, because we are unencumbered by negative emotions.

Negative emotions are the red flags of our soul. They alert us to the fact that we have an unresolved conflict causing unrest in our mind. Ask God what is causing this negative feeling of fear, anger, rejection, hopelessness, confusion, invalidation, bitterness, depression, etc. The root of these emotions is hidden in an experience, which muddied the peaceful stream of our soul. Until we find this root of unrest, and bring it to God to heal, it will continually stir up strife in the depths of our soul. The minute God speaks His truth about this situation, however, the passion within the negative emotion is extinguished and the joy of the Lord returns.

This brings up the concept of praying without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). People wonder how to pray without ceasing and yet continue to live up to their daily responsibilities. We certainly cannot stay on our knees in our prayer closet all day long. Some people say this means that we live in an attitude of prayer. I assert that we are actually called to pray about each moment as God gives it to us. We ask Him what He wants us to do, and we follow His Spirit’s leading as we do it. Then we pray about our next endeavor throughout the day. Life flows much more smoothly with prayer.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, remind us to follow the trail of tears from the negative emotion disturbing our peace, back to the experience where Satan planted it. It may not be rooted in the current situation we are experiencing, but in some instance it stems from, which is deep in our past. Give us courage and wisdom as we seek Your healing for all of the negative emotions that rob us of our joy.

Thought for the Day:

Humility admits that we cannot, and acknowledges that God can.