Totally Accepted and Approved

 

Our dependence on other people, our accomplishments, the size of our bank account or the amount of worldly goods we accumulate will overwhelm us with bondage to the earthly realm of life.

Our motivation for our choices and activities usually revolves around temporal considerations rather than eternal factors. What we fail to realize is that we are already crucified with Christ and filled with His Spirit (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 3:16-19).

The Lover of our soul is poised to lead us through each moment of our life; yet, we often ignore Him and tend to go to Him only in moments of crisis.

We forget that we are totally approved, accepted and unconditionally loved our Creator and King (2 Timothy 2:15). He loves us from the inside out.

God chose us before He formed the world and has a fulfilling plan for our life (Ephesians 1:4). We do not deserve His love and constant attention, but He freely gives us all things (Romans 8:32).

We find our security, peace of mind and needs met only in Him, regardless of circumstances. We do not earn it, because it is a free gift (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Therefore, we never need to fear that we may do or say something to lose this personal connection to our Almighty God. It is ours forevermore. Once we express genuine sorrow over our sins and choose to follow God instead, we are eternally secure in Him (Romans 5:8).

Prayer:

Father God, You will never change Your mind about us and divorce us from Your family. You love us in spite of our foibles and idiosyncrasies, regardless of our behavior and without us having to earn Your unconditional favor. You are the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

Thank You for Your overwhelming love, which sent Jesus to die for our redemption, for adopting us into Your family and making us co-heirs with Christ of everything pertaining to Your Kingdom both now and for eternity (Romans 8:17). Strengthen us in our inner being by Your Spirit and help us to walk in Your ways.

Thought for the Day:

There is nothing we could ever think, do or say that could ever separate us from the love of God. - Romans 8:38-39

The Big Lie

We are born into a world with expectations, regulations and pressure to excel. We are taught to succeed regardless of the cost to our own soul and to those we love.

By example, the adults in our life instruct us that material gain is paramount for our happiness. Many parents work more than one job to afford more for us than their parents provided for them.

The big lie is that we only have one life to live; therefore, we have to accumulate wealth, stature and expensive material possessions in order to have status and fulfillment.

No matter how much we gain in this world, it is never satisfying; so, we force our self to work harder and longer hours in order to acquire more.

We feel incomplete, but we do not understand why. Satan blinds our eyes to the reality that our spirit is dead within us, and we are only limping through life with a body and soul (Ephesians 2:1).

God originally planned for us to live in Paradise with Him; but Adam and Eve fell for Satan's temptation, and our spirit died with theirs. Yet, God made a way for our salvation, and He will never fail to meet our needs.   

He planned the sacrifice of His perfect Lamb on Calvary's cross before the creation of the world. Due to His foreknowledge, He knows the end from the beginning (1 Peter 1:2; Acts 2:23; Revelation 13:8).

There is only one reason that God knit us together in our mother's womb (Psalm 139:13-18; Jeremiah 1:5). It is to give us new life in Christ, which includes His nature and the fruit of His Spirit (2 Peter 1:4; Galatians 5:22-23).

These treasures are worth more than fine gold (Psalm 19:10). Once we come to Christ, our spirit is Born Again. We finally feel complete and whole inside. We are no longer handicapped with a spirit dead in sin.

We desire nothing more than our relationship with our Lord and Savior (John 15:11, 16:24). With each day, we feel His love more deeply and we hear His Spirit more clearly.

Prayer:

Father God, open our eyes to the fact that Satan dupes us into believing that the purpose for our life on this earth is to work for the advantage of our self and our loved ones. Help us to see that You create us for Your glory, rather than for our own glory.

Teach us to simplify our life, to downsize rather than to upgrade, and to budget our income to meet much simpler earthly needs. Remind us to make You our priority in life and to cheerfully tithe for the work of Your ministry and to obey You in meeting the needs of those Your Spirit prompts us to help (Luke 21:1-4 Malachi; 3:10; Proverbs 3:9; 2 Corinthians 9:7; John 12:8).

Thought for the Day:

Authentic Believers will realize that our life on this earth is not for the purpose of building our own kingdom, but rather to advance the Kingdom of God.

Our Identity in Christ Alone

So many people in today's society believe that they are not "good enough". They believe it so strongly that to disagree with them or to correct them heaps a weight of condemnation on their shoulders, which is just too heavy for them to bear. Even when someone attempts to encourage them, they dare not believe these positive comments.

When we come to Christ, however, He heals that deep wound in our soul. He purposely chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. His servants are weak, humiliated and despised; and He uses them to confound the haughty and to prove that Christ in us is more powerful than all the human effort in the world combined (1 Corinthians 1:27-28).

By God's Spirit, we curb our penchant to sin by trusting in God and surrendering our life to Him (Proverbs 3:5-6). Although Satan still influences our decisions and encourages us to sin, we can renounce this inclination to allow sin to use our body and soul. Instead, we submit our self to God and His perfect will for each moment of our day and Satan has to flee (Romans 6:12-13; James 4:7).

Those who are acutely aware of their inabilities and insecurities tend to depend more on God than those who have faith in their own abilities. In reality, God searches the earth for those who are aware of their powerlessness to control life (2 Chronicles 16:9). As humble Saints, we are more open to allowing God to work in and through us. 

Prayer:

Father God, You keep us in perfect peace if we focus our mind on You throughout the day and if we trust in Your perfect will for our life (Isaiah 26:3). Your peace transcends anything we receive from the world or from our own hard work and natural capabilities. The peace, love and joy we seek are not found in our position in society, the honor of our accomplishments, the status of our reputation or our accumulation of wealth and possessions. We rest our identity only on Christ within us, and we value Your opinion of us more than that of any person alive, regardless of their position, accomplishments, reputation, financial status or possessions.

Thought for the Day:

Rather than having faith in your abilities, trust in God's plan and purpose in your life to use You according to His capabilities.

A Double Portion

Read: 2 Kings 2:6-12

"The thorny ground represents the hearts of people who listen to the Good News and receive it, but all too quickly the attractions of this world and the delights of wealth, and the search for success and lure of nice things come in and crowd out God's message from their hearts, so that no crop is produced.” - Mark 4:18-19

After Elijah’s struggle with Jezebel, God gave him a friend and cohort, a man who longed to follow in Elijah’s footsteps. Elisha humbly served Elijah through many of Elijah’s 25 years of ministry, faithfully watching as Elijah performed miraculous deeds to further God’s Kingdom in the earth. Elisha never allowed worldly cares to distract him from following Elijah, even when Elijah advised him to do so. As a reward, God gave Elisha an inheritance of a double portion of Elijah’s spirit through which he served God for over 50 years.

God will also reward us if we serve Him with our whole body, soul – our mind, will and emotions - and spirit. He gives us His joy as our strength as we unwaveringly focus on Him, free of the worldly distractions, which tend to choke the spiritual life from us (Mark 4:18-19). God’s only desire of us is that we serve Him with “a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17). We are saved to serve; not to be served. My husband is fond of quoting the question, “If every member was just like me, what kind of church would my church be?”

Is God calling you to holiness? If you are Born Again, He is. Is God calling you to serve Him? If you are part of His Body, just ask Him where He wants you to minister. Is God calling you to further His Kingdom in the earth? If you are truly converted, then your family, friends, neighbors and coworkers are just waiting for you to tell them about Jesus.

Prayer:

Lord, help us not to get tangled again by the yoke of the world that so easily hinders us from serving You wholeheartedly. Help us to keep our focus singularly centered on You. Give us our daily bread and deliver us from the evil that threatens to overtake us. Let Your light so shine within us that men will see our good works and glorify You (Matthew 5:16).

Thought for the Day:

We can inherit all that God has promised, as we glorify His name and boldly ask, like Elisha did, to be blessed with a double portion of His anointing.

Securing God's Blessings

Read: Leviticus 27:29-32

“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” - Proverbs 23:4

So many people today are stretched for cash. They have bills mounting higher than their income; and they have debt from consumer credit and college loans that would choke a horse.

What is the answer to this growing problem in America?

Well, millionaires will tell you to live within your means. They know that every penny they do not spend, goes straight into their savings account. It only takes 100 pennies to make a dollar; so they mount up fast. Before you know it, you have $50 in pennies sitting in the gallon jar in the corner of the room.

The Bible is full of so much great advice concerning this topic. Proverbs 6:6-8 exhorts us to consider the ant. It is wise even though it has no guide, overseer or ruler. The ant gathers her food in the harvest and stores some of it to provide food in the summer. David proclaims that from his experience, those who put God first are never forsaken and their descendants never have to beg for bread (Psalm 37:25).

Many people use so many excuses not to honor God with their income. "We are paying off debt and we will tithe when we are more financially stable;" or "We will tithe when the kids are in school and we can both work;" or “I just bought a new house (car, boat, etc) and I can’t afford to tithe anymore” (1 Timothy 6:7). Whatever excuse we have for that moment of our lives, we will use it. If we do not tithe, however, we are robbing God, and He cannot bless us (Malachi 3:10).

Solomon, the wisest man in Biblical times, exhorts us to budget our income into portions, because we never know when the unexpected misfortune will occur (Ecclesiastes 11:2). Lazy people who love money always want more, but they end up with nothing once the debt collectors come and repossess what they fail to pay for (Proverbs 13:4; Ecclesiastes 5:10). A hasty person makes unwise choices and ends up in poverty. They have no self-discipline and they constantly lose what they have (Proverbs 21:5 Proverbs 21:5). Some even brag about their carelessness (Proverbs 13:16). 

Yet the person who puts God first is content with what he/she has and lives a diligent life enjoying an abundance of God’s blessings (Hebrews 13:5; 1 Timothy 6:6). They foresee lean times ahead and save for this financial drought during their times of abundance (Proverbs 22:3). They do not jump from one job or location to another, but they build upon what they have. This allows them to increase in wealth as the years pass (Proverbs 24:3-4). They use self-discipline and restrain from making unwise choices (Proverbs 25:28). They budget their income and they refrain from overspending (1 Corinthians 16:2; Proverbs 13:16). If we honor the Lord with the first part of all we earn, we will have plenty and our cabinets will overflow with God’s provision (Proverbs 3:9-10).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You promised to supply all of our needs according to Your riches in glory (Philippians 4:19). Convict us to walk in obedience and to give back to You ten percent of the first part of everything You provide for us.

Thought for the Day:

Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it.
- Proverbs 23:4