Hidden with Christ in God

 

Living a life hidden with Christ in God is a lonely life, because there are few people in this world who aspire to be that united with God. It takes a commitment to shed the cares of this world and to grasp a life devoted to furthering God’s Kingdom in this world. We are indivisibly one with the only true God. We do not walk according to the flesh, but after the Spirit (Galatians 5:16,25). We traverse a deeply spiritual walk, because Christ is our whole life (Colossians 3:3-4).

We are all individual members of the worldwide family of God throughout the ages, as well as the current Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). Jesus displays His attributes in and through us. He manifests Himself to the world through His Body. He is all and in all (Colossians 1:17). We live in this world, but we are not a part of it (John 15:19). The world rejected Christ and rejects us, as well; however, this holds no significance to us.

We seek the lost; and we lead those who are willing, those whom the Spirit is drawing, to a union with and a deeper walk in Christ. His Spirit rains on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45), because He wants to draw everyone to Himself. He is a mighty God who holds the universe together, and He is a gentle God who cares about the lilies of the field, the birds of the air and the number of hairs on our head (Matthew 6:25-34).

The earth is His footstool (Acts 7:49); yet, He came to earth as one of us, to redeem us from the penalty of our sins (John 3:16). He provides for all of our needs, by His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19). He is our total sufficiency (2 Corinthians 9:8). As we seek first His Kingdom, He provides us with everything we need (Matthew 6:33). He gives us abundance, and He see us lack; but He teaches us contentment in both (Philippians 4:12).

Our food is to do the will of our Father (John 4:34). He watches over us and listens to our prayers (1 Peter 3:12). Even when we are afraid, we can put our trust in Him (Psalm 56:3-4). There is nothing life can bring against us that Christ in us cannot handle (Philippians 4:13). He keeps His promises and through them He gives us His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). As we take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23), His life shines through us to the world around us.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You vanquished sin and death by your victory on Calvary’s cross. You are now our Victory and we walk in You. Eternal life is to know You in an intimate relationship provided for us through Your Spirit. We are united with you as one being (John 17:21-23). As You are, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17). You express Yourself through Your Body as we live, move and have our being in You (Acts 17:28). You are our pearl of great price and we treasure our relationship with You (Matthew 13:44-46).

Thought for the Day:

Knowing God does not involve religious activity or pious attitudes; it is simply abiding in Him.

Closer than a Brother

 

 

King David experienced every type of mental and physical anguish that we do. He worked out his feelings through writing his psalms. Now, David’s words give us solace too. David expressed the full gamut of human pain, as well as the consolation, which the Lord constantly provided for him. The only time the joy of the Lord flees from us is when we languish in our illnesses, sorrow and petty concerns, rather than looking to God in them.

In the dark places of life, we want a friend who will stick closer to us than a brother. The Body of Christ provides just such comfort for us, as well as Christ who dwells within our spirit. The presence of Jesus, “Emanuel”, which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23), fills each of us. His solace permeates our soul – our mind, decisions and emotions – to the extent to which we allow Him full reign and control over our life. God gives us His peace as He comforts our trouble soul (John 14:27). We are a reflection of Him in the earth.

The joy of the Lord is our constant strength (Nehemiah 8:10). We no longer entertain any anxiety in our soul about our life. We take no thought about the fundamental needs of food and shelter. God cares for His children, just as He cares for the birds and lilies. As we seek God’s purpose for our life and walk in His ways, we have His guarantee that He will provide for us (Matthew 6:25-33). Even if we wander in the desert of life, God sends clouds for shade, fire to keep us warm, manna and quail to eat and shoes and garments, which never wear out (Exodus).

God’s grace provides for our every need and is sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9). He works out all things, even the most difficult of events, for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28). These difficulties work His character into our soul and prove to us that He is worthy of our praise and trust. Jesus is our bread of life (John 6:35), and He is our all sufficiency (2 Corinthians 9:8). Jesus fills every chamber in our body, soul and spirit with His peace, love and comfort.

Prayer:
Father God, our faith increases with every verse of scripture on which we meditate, every moment we spend in abiding in Christ within us (Colossians 1:27) as well as every time we turn to You in our weakness. We surrender the control of our life to You, we take no thought for what tomorrow may hold and we forgive our self for the sins of our past. Remind us that any negative emotions signals an area of our life, which we did not yet surrender to Your Lordship in our life. We look to You for your love, peace and joy, which comes to us through the presence of Your Holy Spirit in our life (Romans 14:17).

Thought for the Day:

Hope prophesies that God is always with us no matter what circumstance we encounter. – Psalm 139:7-14; Proverbs 18:24

I Don't Want to be a Christian!

The word Christian was a compliment and came from the concept of Christ-followers (Acts 11:26). However, I am starting to like the title "Born Agains" better. Sadly this title denotes more of a commitment, authenticity and unique peculiarity (1 Peter 2:9) than most people portray who call themselves Christians in today's society. Christianity is often sorrowfully synonymous with hypocrites. The dead works of most “Christians” give God a bad reputation.

The name of Christ is defamed due to the behavior of His so-called followers, most of whom He does not even know (Matthew 7:21-23). They do not represent the life and works of Christ in their life. When we Christians rely on our human strength and goodness, we constantly fall into sin. We break the heart of God with every act of compromise we perform. Even if we follow our heart, we sin, because the heart is dreadfully wicked and deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9).

In addition, humanistic people in the world have a false concept of who Christ is and what He teaches. They call authentic Christians hypocrites, because they consider Him a cool dude who preached love, acceptance and tolerance, when the opposite is actually true (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). They also call people hypocrites who uncompromisingly live according to Biblical principles.

God’s Word tells us to beware of the traditions of men and of rejecting the truth of Christ (Colossians 2:8; Acts 17:11). God sends us trials to bring us to the end of our self. We look in the mirror and we do not even recognize the weary face looking back at us. That is when God offers us His peace and His joy as our strength (Philippians 4:7; Psalm 28:7). Through the trials of life, Born Again Believers learn that we are not as invincible as we once thought we were!

No one can make it in life all alone; no one is an island; we need our Savior. We learn compassion, empathy and sympathy through the things, which we suffer. This makes us a better friend and Christian. Persevering in our faith in God’s faithfulness helps us to traverse every trial with proven character (Romans 5:3-5). We come out of the fire as pure gold (1 Peter 1:7-17). When our soul enters God’s rest we realize that our spirit is united with His and He is our very life (Hebrews 4:10; Colossians 3:4).

Prayer:

Father God, break our heart when we sin. Cause us to feel the pain that our disobedience causes You. Rend our soul until we cry out in anguish and throw our self on Your mercy and grace. Our failures are simply the result of our disobedience to You. In our weakness, call us to look to You and rely on Your strength. In our doubts, teach us to believe. Lead us into Your truth and cause us to know Your mercy and loving kindness every morning (Psalm 92:2, 143:8; Lamentations 3:22-23).

Thought for the Day:

God offers us His vast resources, once we finally run out of all of our human assets.

The Value of Riches

Most human beings look at riches from a different light than the Bible talks about them. We want to get rich quick, without any effort. It does happen for some. They win the lottery or receive an inheritance or make money in the stock market. Some people do well until the interest rates fall, or they lose their family and friends because greed over the money forces them to part ways. The money only lasts for a lifetime, if that long; and in the scheme of eternity, that is a very short time.

In fact, gold in heaven is so common that God paved the streets with it (Revelation 21:21). Jesus said that we can buy gold from Him, so we can be rich for eternity; however, it is gold that is formed in us though our trials (2 Timothy 2:12). We can also buy white cloth from Him with our righteous deeds, to use for our wedding dress. If we do not have any righteous deeds, we will appear naked and ashamed at our wedding feast between Christ and us (Revelations 15:16).

Loving money traps us with all kinds of evil, some of which causes us to stop serving God (1 Timothy 6:10). Our life does not consist only of the abundance of things, which we possess (Luke 12:15). Otherwise, possessions end up possessing us. Riches tend to bring us more misery than blessings (James 5:1-5; 1 Timothy 6:10). The only good thing about having money is that we can share it with those in need (1 John 3:17). Truly, Godly riches outshine anything this world has to offer. 

We cannot serve God and money at the same time, because they both require all of our time (Luke 16:13; 1 Timothy 6:10). Jesus calls us to repent and to live a zealous life for Him (Revelation 3:18-19). God is a righteous God and He corrects and disciplines those He loves (Proverbs 3:11-12). We gain wisdom in life by realizing what a totally awesome Lord and Savior we have in Jesus Christ (Proverbs 2:1-11, 9:10). He is the fountain of life, and the light of the world (Psalm 36:9).

Prayer:

Father God, it does not matter if we have worldly riches, because You see to it that every person, who is faithful to You, will abound with blessings (Proverbs 28:20). You exalt the one who is lowly (James 1:9-11). We do not want to gather earthly treasures, because moths and rust will just destroy them, and thieves will steal them (Matthew 6:19-21). We do not need to build an empire on this earth (Isaiah 5:8), because You already prepared a mansion for us in heaven (John 14:2).

Thought for the Day:

Our life does not consist of what we possess. – Luke 12:15:21

Not By Might

 

Sin is resident in our humanity, and no good thing comes from this flesh (Romans 7:18). We cannot walk in the Spirit while bogged down in our flesh. No amount of claiming God’s promises, poetic mottos and no programs or college degrees can benefit our walk with Christ apart from God’s Spirit. We have no value or holiness of our own, but only that which comes from our faith in God through Christ (Philippians 3:7-9).

Therefore, when we finally come to the place where we can count our personal achievements as useless, we will gain a deepening, personal relationship with Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:8). As we come to know Christ intimately, we live our life with an attitude of expectancy. We start experiencing His resurrection power in our life. We cheerfully lay down our goals, dreams and aspirations daily in order to apprehend more of Jesus (Philippians 3:10-12).

We give up our confidence in our self, as well as the control of our life, by surrendering to His love and grace. In this way, we walk in the Spirit, and we no longer fulfill the desires, and ambitions of our flesh (Galatians 5:16, 25). Christ manifests His divine nature through our spirit, by the grace and promises of God (2 Peter 1:4). We walk daily in His holiness and live for the furtherance of His Kingdom.

We cease from our human effort and enter into His rest (Hebrews 4:10). We give Him complete control of each moment of our day. We hunger and thirst for more of Him, and nothing else will satisfy us. God does a complete work in us, bringing us from one stage of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18). Our humanity is dead and hidden with Christ in God. Christ becomes our whole life (Colossians 3:3-4).

The Lord views our life in relation to eternity. Our finite mind and our narrow perspective do not limit Him. He has mighty feats to accomplish through us as we focus our life on Him. When we leave this earthly realm, we pass from death to everlasting live. Nothing is lost and everything is gained in Christ. We need not fear death or what life has in store for us, because nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:31-39).

Prayer:

Father God, we can do nothing worthwhile outside of the work of Your Spirit in and through us. In our job, home, community, church or hobbies, we only succeed when we accomplish Your works that You created for us to do before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 2:8-10). You know who we really are deep down inside or our soul, and You love us unconditionally. We have no need to fear what any person could do to us, because You are our strength and our song (2 Timothy 1:7; Psalm 118:14).

Thought for the Day:

Fear has no place in the heart of an authentic Believer, because the Author of our faith dwells in our heart.

Possessing Divine Power

 

Salvation provides our divine union, but the secret of receiving spiritual power, which is resident within us, is to surrender our all to Christ and to be still as we wait on God. The fact that we abide in Christ, and that He abides in us, is the impetus for our whole life of service to Him. This fact motivates us through His divine life within us, and humbles us to serve our Living King as Christ sanctifies us for Himself.

God wants nothing less than complete consecration of our life to Him by laying down our goals and dreams, and daily taking up His cross. We do this by submitting every talent and physical resource we posses to the direction of God’s Spirit. We also see the reality of our union with Christ as we read His Word, and this makes us desire more of God, to enter a deeper spiritual realm and to take full possession of the power of the divine Christ within us.

This is our joyous, high calling in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14), and causes disenchantment with our human existence. The fuel for our union with Christ is prayer. Prayer enables us to walk in spiritual harmony with Christ in us. It opens communication with our Father and allows His Spirit to lead us in obedience to God’s will for our life. Prayer also expresses the pleading of our heart for oneness with the triune Godhead.

Prayer articulates the yearning of our soul to grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). Daily, we confess our sins and ask for His absolution. This deeper union gives us more power in our prayers and ministry. We do not use prayer as a means to gain spiritual gifts for our self, but for the purpose of blessing the world around us. We enter the realm of effective, fervent prayer, which avails much (James 5:16).

If we dare to pray without first having this union with Christ, we end up spewing ineffectual words, which fall on deaf ears (John 9:31). However, as we abide in the Vine, the power of the Vine extends into us as His branches. We are one with the Father through the Son, hidden in God with Christ who is our life (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3-4). We ultimately reap the rewards of our patient vigil of waiting on God’s will.

Prayer:

Father God, You answer our questions and provide for our needs as we spend time with You in prayer (Matthew 6:33). You make us one with Your Son by Your Spirit. We abide in Him and He abides in You, so that we can also flourish in our union with You (John 17:21). Teach us to pray according to Your will, so that we can ask for what we need in order to do Your work on this earth, and it shall be done for us (John 15:7).

Thought for the Day:

Attentive prayer is our greatest means of abiding more closely to our Maker’s heart.

 

The Trouble with Thoughts

The first negative thought that enters our mind is usually from Satan. He inserts his two cents worth into our mind before we can even hear from God. We often focus on some person causing us issues, when it is really Satan’s intrusion (Ephesians 6:12-18). If we react to his temptation or believe his lies as truth, he has us crippled. He can manipulate us any way he wishes. According to Jesus’ example, we combat Satan’s interference by standing on the truth in God’s Word. 

Many people are confused by their emotions; however, negative emotions are actually little roadmaps to idols in our life, which God wants to remove. As we fix our eyes on Jesus and stand on the truth of God’s promises, we walk in the victory of the joy of the Lord, through whatever life brings our way (James 1:2-4). As we fulfill God’s calling for our day, He works all things out for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28; Matthew 6:33). 

Taking a daily inventory of our thoughts allows us to keep watch over our soul – our mind, will and emotions. What we think in our mind also affects our feelings and decisions. So, if we journal our thoughts and feelings every day, it will help us to diffuse them and to prevent them from building up and exploding all over everyone else. This will also avert anxiety, paranoia and aggravation from feeding on our thoughts and exacerbating them.

God promises that there is a seed of joy hidden within every trail and temptation, and He will reveal it to us if we wait on Him (James 1:2). He also uses trouble to mature our faith, so we have everything we need to live a Godly life (James 1:4). We overcome each temptation with the power of God’s Spirit, because He always provides us with a way to resist (1 Corinthians 13:10). Trials stop bothering us after a while too. We learn from experience that God has a purpose for each one. 

People, places and things often irritate us and cause us to take our eyes off Jesus. If negative emotions influence our decisions, we make mistakes and live to regret them. We tend to take life into our own hands rather than to walk in obedience to God’s Spirit. As we surrender control over our life to Christ in us, we experience God’s victory. If we avail our self of His constant presence in our life (Hebrews 13:5), His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that our attitude about the issues in this life will often influence our thoughts, which influence our emotions and actions. We can slip into a downward spiral from which it may take days to break free. We cannot change anyone else, but we can change our focus about our times of trouble and count it all joy. We need to remember that nothing is too difficult for You (Jeremiah 32:17). Christ in us provides us with Your abundance as we abide in You (Colossians 1:27).

Thought for the Day:

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” - Psalm 23:4 (NIV)