Hidden with Christ in God - Part 2 - Help in Time of Need

God has our best interest at heart; although according to human reasoning, it does not always appear so. We often unwittingly pray against the will of God in our life, and He will not answer those prayers (1 John 5:14).

We fight life’s negative circumstances and cry out for God to correct them; when all along, He is actually using them to correct our course in life (James 1:2).

God's desire is for us to fully surrender to Him in trials, so that He can use them to do His perfect work in and through us in the exact timing and location in which He chooses to put us (James 1:2-12).

The comfort we seek often first depends upon our repentance of our current sins (2 Corinthians 7:10). The lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life often fuel our prayers and our activities in life (1 John 2:16).

We even want the bragging rights for our hard earned achievements, rather than realizing they are the result of God’s Spirit working in and through our life.

We want worldly gain, when God’s will is for us to walk in holiness (Isaiah 35:8). We find both serenity and maturity in the words and example of Jesus Christ (John 6:63).

When we suffer from stress, abandonment, grief, anxiety, failure or illness and we feel overwhelmed and defeated by life, God hides us in the cleft of the Rock of Christ and reveals Himself to us by His Spirit and His Word (Exodus 33:22).

We can dwell with the most disappointing mate, rebellious children, horrible work experience, devastating illness or the driest church life and still live in the fullness of God through Christ in us (Galatians 2:20).

As we seek first His Kingdom, He provides us with everything we need to flourish in this life (Matthew 6:33). The flesh is worthless, but God’s Spirit gives us what we need to succeed (Romans 7:18).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, overflowing with Your divine fullness, we find that nothing is impossible for us to achieve according to Your will (Philippians 2:12-13). You brought us up out of the miry pit of self-centeredness and set our feet upon the Rock of Christ (Psalm 27:5, 40:2; 1 Corinthians 10:4). In troubling times, You hide us in Your Tabernacle.

There is nothing to fear, because nothing can separate us from your love: not the trials of life, spiritual powers, the past or the future, no mountain top or deep valley of circumstances, no created thing and not even death (Jeremiah 42:11; Romans 8:38-39). Thank You for continually hiding us in the depth of Your love (Acts 17:11).

Thought for the Day:

When the comforts of this life fail us, yet Jesus Christ actually dwells within us, we find our refuge in the love of Christ in us (Psalm 46:1); He reassures us as no one else can, because He lives inside of us and knows our every conscious and unconscious thought. - Colossians 1:27; 2 Corinthians 13:5

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.

Complete in Christ Within

 

We search our whole life for a person or accomplishment to complete us, to make us whole. We drive our self to distraction, like slaves who never measure up.

We want so desperately to find love, acceptance and abundant provision. Yet, our soul is fragmented all along the highway of life. Our identity is falsified with Satan's lies.

Lost loves, rejection, physical abuse, belittling, deprivation, abandonment, high expectations and a myriad of other traumas and negative experiences will chip off pieces of our soul and leave it behind in our past. 

The false labels, which we use to identify our self, are destructive and demeaning. They restrict us with feelings of futility and worthlessness. We feel hopeless and helpless.

We cripple our future with the pain of our past. We may do immoral actions, but that does not make us a bad person. It only identifies us as a sinner in need of Jesus as our Savior.

Good people do not go to heaven, and bad people do not go to hell. Believers in Christ go to heaven and unbelievers condemn themselves to eternity in hell (John 3:16-18).

As we find our true identity in Christ alone, He takes us back to these losses from our past and recovers our true self from the rubble we left behind. His love completes us and His provision satisfies us.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for renewing our mind and transforming it into the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Jesus freed us from the bondage, which Satan attempts to bind us with, and He gives us the right to become Your children (John 1:12, 8:36).

Help us to forgive our self for the sins of our past, just as You forgive us (Matthew 6:14). Remind us to follow the direction of Your Spirit through each moment of our day and to bring You the glory for our every thought, word and deed (Psalm 143:8).

Thought for the Day:

God is the only one who can restore our soul and make us co-heirs with Christ to His Kingdom.

- Psalm 23:3; 1 John 3:2; Romans 8:17

Loving the Unlovable

 

Too often we judge people for their peculiarities and idiosyncrasies. We categorize them, box them up in neat little packages and stick them away on a shelf in our mind, ignoring them as much as possible.

Once in a while our paths cross again, and we are forced to interact with this peculiar individual once more. We take down our box, stick new labels on them and place them back on the shelf as quickly as possible. They may be our neighbor, spouse, child, sibling, relative, church member, co-worker or even our employer.

Please realize that within each of these precious people is a wounded soul. They are a product of a lifetime of events, which molded their personality to give them unique characteristics, which may irritate or even wound us deeply.

We may go so far as to harbor bitterness toward them and possibly even dismiss them from our life as a lost cause (Ephesians 4:32). However, these unlovable people are diamonds in the rough.

They are created by God, and He has a special plan for their life, just as He has for us (Ephesians 2:10). God put them in our life for us to minister His Agape love to them and to give them a secure and nurturing place to live (Matthew 5:47).

We are all fallible and have our own weaknesses and peculiarities. How would you want this person to treat you? There is healing for everyone at the cross of Christ.

Sometimes, people are unaware of God’s grace, and He gives us opportunities to give them unconditional love, patience, security and friendship to model God's character to them. His plan for this relationship may be for us to help heal the deep wounds within their soul.

Prayer:

Father God, You create everyone in Your image. We are all unlovable until You redeem us (Ephesians 1:7). In fact, You loved us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). Teach us that when we allow Your Agape love to flow through us to someone else, it is hard to stay angry at them or to consider them worthless.

Remind us to pray for them and to look for opportunities to bless them. You may just use this individual to bless us in some way too, if we look beyond the aspects of their life which irritate or hurt us, and love them anyway.

Thought for the Day:

Don’t throw people away, because God wants us to use our freedom in Him to love and serve one another, just as He died for and blesses us. – Galatians 5:13