The Greatest Measure of God's Presence

 

We can never go anywhere that the love of God cannot find us (Psalm 139:7-12). He wants nothing more than to spend time fellowshipping with us, and filling us with the greatest measure of His presence (Ephesians 3:16-19).

In our busiest or calmest day, He is always within us, desiring to lead us by His Spirit and to direct us to do His will. Yet, in the hustle and bustle of life we often forget He is there.

We proceed through our day relying on our self-effort and human reasoning, making our own plans without consulting Him first and carrying them out with varying degrees of success.

We continue through life like this, enjoying the simple pleasures and the fruit of our labor, forgetting that God has specific work for us to accomplish for His purpose (Ephesians 2:10).

Then, we hit a brick wall and get the wind knocked right out of us. We make accusations against God, calling Him unfair, unjust and unloving.

We may even walk away from God with anger in our heart. We do not realize that we are either reaping the result of our own choices or we are experiencing the effects of Satan's lordship and sin's power in the earth.

When we walk away from God, we compound our problems. We abandon our best friend, our most faithful ally and our loving Father who loves to bless His children.

God is still waiting for us right where we left Him. He is calling us to Himself and wanting to cherish us and direct us in His will and purpose for our life.

Prayer:

Father God, when will we ever learn? Since you created us, mankind continually walks away from You. Even with Your Spirit abiding within us, we ignore You and do our own thing, making trouble for our self and living as a poor example of Your child.

You are our loving Creator, Father, Provider and Protector. Surround us with Your love and fill us with Your peace and joy. Submitting our life to You as our sovereign Lord, we appreciate that You are just and righteous in all of Your ways. Teach us to dedicate every moment of our day to loving You in ceaseless praise.

Thought for the Day:

Our walk with the Lord starts at the cross and continues by living in the center of God's will, which is the happiest place on earth.

My Soul Waits - Filled with God's Fullness

 

God chose us before the foundation of the world to redeem us, to transform us, to give us His divine nature and to use us in the work of His Kingdom (Ephesians 2:10; 2 Peter 1:4).

We no longer deflect His will with hurried lives and busy days. We grow spiritually and come to the place where we surrender our desires and embrace His heart and mind as our own.

We have a continual conversation with God as we share our heart with Him and listen to His answers and directives for our day. God's presence satisfies our longing and fills our hungry soul (Psalm 107:9).

God redefines our plans and leads us in His Truth and everlasting way. He gives us a new name and nature with a heart of compassion and a willingness to do His will (Psalm 43:3; Revelation 2:12; Colossians 3:12).

Our focus switches from our self and our little place in the cosmos and increases to the world around us and the needs of the people involved in our everyday life.

We relinquish our hurt, bitterness, anger, and pride and walk in forgiveness, love and humility instead. This diminishes Satan's hold on our life and increases our fellowship with our Father.

We empty our soul of the cares of this life, having faith in God's faithfulness to work out every detail for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28). He fills us with His fullness and we change the world around us - one person at a time (Ephesians 3:16-19).

Prayer:

Father God, spiritual understanding is ours as we allow Your Spirit to discipline our carnal nature and strengthen our spiritual nature as You fill us with Your faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Help us to totally surrender to Your love and to trust You in the good times and the bad.

We know that only You hold the issues of life and death in Your hands (Psalm 41:13). We so enjoy the immeasurable intimacy which You share with those who love You and who keep Your commandments (John 14:15; Ephesians 3:8). We enjoy our fellowship with You and appreciate the showers of Your blessings on our daily life.

Thought for the Day:

Let us walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in our thoughts, words and deeds, so that we can bear fruit by His Spirit through every good work which we perform; and may we continually increase in our knowledge, understanding and intimacy with God. - Colossians 1:9-10

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

Living in Total Surrender

 

We cannot save or sanctify our self, and neither can we walk in the Spirit by performing works of the flesh (Galatians 3:1-3; Ephesians 2:8-9). Therefore, God causes us to come to the point of helpless hopelessness in our life, so that we will totally surrender to Him.

Then, He does it all, a complete perfecting work in us and through us (Colossians 2:10). Our role is to desire more intimacy with Him and His glory, and He responds by answering our prayers in amazing ways.

We live a life singing continual praises, submitted to His Word, listening to His Spirit's direction for each moment of our day, and rejoicing in Him, even in negative circumstances. Then, He does the rest (Proverbs 3:5-6; Philippians 3:1, 4:4).

We read and meditate on scripture as we work and worship Him all day long; and His joy fills every fiber of our body, soul and spirit; bringing health in every way (Psalm 147:1).

A melancholy personality like me has to work a bit harder at overcoming the negative impulses in our soul; but gradually, the Holy Spirit replaces our negative personality traits with God's character and divine nature (2 Peter 4:1; John 15:11).

God transforms us into the likeness of Christ and brings us to the point of total surrender, until we are in such union with Him that He actually lives His life in and through us (Romans 8:29; Galatians 2:20).

Like the woman at the well, we are tired of looking for fulfillment in the things of this world; and we are longing for living water, which quenches our otherwise insatiable thirst (John 4:14, 7:38).

Prayer:

Father God, draw us by Your love and remind us to respond to it, rather than learning through discipline and suffering. Help us to come to the point where we passionately call out to You in complete surrender. We know without a doubt that You will never, ever let us go (Hebrews 13:5).

Help us to communicate to others the necessity of total surrender to You, so that they too may come to a place of rest. Do not allow them to continue to strive or to fill their life with empty pursuits and vain attempts to amass this world's goods; but to seek You with all of their heart until they find You.

Thought for the Day:

The joy of the Lord is our greatest strength. - Nehemiah 8:10