Freedom from Fearing this Life

God knew us before He formed us in our mother's womb. He knew when we would rise and sleep, where we would live and what type of home we would live in while we sojourned on this earth.

Some of us are rich, some poor; some tall, others short; one may be meek and another bold; some tend toward goodness and others folly; yet, all of us have His calling on our life (Proverbs 19:3; Ephesians 4:1-16).

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Our only task is to live in submission to His will for each moment of our day. We accept His call to salvation and He accomplishes His desires in and through us as His Spirit sanctifies our flesh and our soul - our thoughts, choices and emotions.

He infuses our weaknesses with His strength, and we realize our startling need for Him. This need overwhelms us more than our fear of this life, and drives us deeper under the shadow of His wings.

God's Spirit transforms our character into the nature of Christ who abides within us through ever-increasing stages of divine glory (2 Peter 1:4). We relinquish our idols, addictions, desire and activities in submission to His will.

Our heart is totally transfixed on Him. He is our whole life (Colossians 3:4). We want nothing more than to please Him with our thoughts, words and deeds. He consumes our heart with His love and fills our mind with His wisdom.

We focus on Christ alone and relinquish the issues of this life to His care. Nothing worries us any longer as we place our full trust in Him (1 Peter 5:7). This reduces our stress levels and brings health to our body and soul.

We also sanctify Christ as the Lord of our life and we live to further His Kingdom in the earth, which dispels our fears and insecurities (1 Peter 3:13-14). Our faith increases as He proves to us His faithfulness.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for leading us to repentance and forgiving our sins (1 John 1:9). We cast all of our sorrows and cares on Your capable shoulders (Isaiah 53:4). With our heart set on things above, we no longer sorrow as those who have no hope; we even rejoice in our tribulation (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; James 1:2).

You turn our sorrow into dancing and return to us the years which the canker worm destroys (Psalm 30:11-12; Joel 2:25). We deepen our commitment to You and find fulfillment in our involvement in Your calling and cause. You are our greatest friend, husband and brother (Proverbs 18:24; Isaiah 54:5). Help us to realize that You are our refuge, and the fear of this world need not control our life.

Thought for the Day:

God is able to destroy both body and soul in hell; yet, we fear man more than we fear God. - Matthew 10:28

Let Your Insides Out

Who are you behind the masks you wear? Do you wear your feelings on your shoulder for other people to see who you really are? Do you try to act one way when you really feel another?

Or have you learned that it does not matter what other people think about you? Are you free from the tyranny of their opinions? Do you let your insides out?

Our fears and insecurities define who we really are inside. Due to our spirit and soul, we may have a strong spirit, but a very wounded soul. We appear strong, yet most of us are really weak.

When people reject us for our weaknesses, we feel worthless and damaged, which increases our fears and insecurities. We feel too vulnerable and build walls around our heart.

My former husband disdained the inner me. My adult children tolerate the inner me. My current husband dwells with the inner me with patience and understanding.

The good news is that Jesus died for the inner me and His Spirit is transforming the inner me into a new creation from one glorious stage to another (2 Corinthians 3:18, 5:17).

He slowly peels away the bandages, which I applied to the wounds of the inner me. He exposes the raw emotion and anxiety and puts the salve of God's unconditional love on each one of them.

He teaches us that the only opinion of us which really matters is God's, which frees us from having to hide behind masks. He continually encourages us to let our insides out.

Prayer:

Father God, we can love and live with a person, but only You completely love, live with and accept us just as we are. Sometimes we have idols in our life, but they are not really perfect. Jesus is the only one who belongs on the throne of our life. Only You completely and unconditionally love the inner us.

We will leave the significant others in our life when we die, but we will live with You for eternity. Your love is ours now and forever and ever. As we keep You as our best friend and the lover of our soul, we will have Your blessings in our life and Your love will flow over us like a waterfall every day of our life now and always (Matthew 16:26).

Thought for the Day:

No person can completely understand or accept us for who we really are inside; Jesus lives inside of us and He knows and loves us better than we can even know and love our self.

Sharing Christ with Others

God's invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen in His Creation (Revelation 4:11). This takes away a person's excuse for not believing in Him as their Savior. 

We instinctively know that there is a God and that we should serve Him with all of our emotions, mind, choices and physical strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

Yet, so many do not honor God or appreciate Him. They pursue futile activities, endless philosophies and fruitless enlightenment and their hearts darken further with each passing day. They think they are wise, but they are actually very foolish (Romans 1:20-22).

Authentic Believers trust in, rely on and believe in Christ even if we end up suffering for the sake of His righteousness. We learn to explain and defend our beliefs to those who ask us about the hope we have in Him.

Yet, we never impose our beliefs on someone who is clearly not interested in them (1 Peter 3:14-16). There is no point if the Holy Spirit is not drawing them to God. We never badger anyone about coming to Christ.

We share Jesus with gentleness, respect for the listener and a good conscience; even if someone slanders our good name or reviles our good behavior in Christ.

We are created for God's glory and service, and we will spend all of eternity worshiping our worthy Lamb who was slain in our place. For now, we live for His glory while we dwell on this earth and do only those works for which He created us to perform (Ephesians 2:10).

Prayer:

Father God, break the yoke of bondage that our flesh feels to sin and replace our weaknesses with Your strengths. Help us to decrease so that You may increase. We praise You as our living Lord and thank You for giving us Your Spirit to abide within us all the days of our life.

You are the only one worthy of all honor, respect, praise, glory, wisdom, might and blessing. We look forward to joining the myriads of angels already around the throne in singing Your praises (Revelation 5:12). Lead us to share Christ with those whom You are drawing to Yourself.

Thought for the Day:

The abiding Holy Spirit teaches us to follow His lead as we share Christ with friends, relatives, associates and neighbors; so that we do not push too hard, ignore their body language or fail to read the feelings of their soul in their eyes.