God's Rest is the Best - Part Three

In attempting to inherit their Promised Land, Israel often failed to trust God in defeating their enemies. At times, they went out on their own without consulting with Him first, or they had sin in the camp, and they were soundly defeated (Deuteronomy 12:9-19, Exodus 16:3, 17:1-7; Numbers 20:3-13; Hebrews 3:16-19, 4:11; Joshua 3:14-17).

This happens to us in our life too (Hebrews 3:18-19), unless we totally enter into God's rest by faith (Hebrews 4:1-2). We start our salvation process in our spirit through redemption by the blood of Jesus Christ, which He shed on Calvary's cross; then we enter His rest.

The key to resting in God is to realize our complete incompetence and inability to rescue our self, or to control our own life (Ephesians 2:8-10). We stop our striving, and completely surrender to God, as we rely totally on Him moment by moment throughout our day (Hebrews 4:10-13).

Before we get out of bed, we consult the Lord for His wisdom and direction for the first activity He planned for our day (Proverbs 3:5-6). He may want us to brush our teeth first, or start the coffee pot, or check our messages, or put in a load of laundry, or maybe even to get dressed and go right to work early.

Like Joshua, through faithfulness and obedience to God's guidance each moment of every day, we will enter our rest, both now and in eternity (Joshua 3:14-17).  We depend solely on God for every step we take, every statement we make, and every single need we have (Hebrews 10:11).

We are simply pilgrims and sojourners in this world; yet, already members of God's family (Ephesians 2:19). Our real home is in Heaven. God intimately knows all about us and already has blessings planned for us throughout our life (Psalm 139:1-24; Jeremiah 29:11).

Prayer:

Father God, there is no government or nation that is not already under Your power and direction (Psalm 33:10-11, 146:1-10). You put a hook in the rulers' jaw (Ezekiel 38:4), and lead them to do Your bidding in order to fulfill Your will and promises to those who put their trust solely in You.

We want to live in Your will and to follow the direction that gives us the most peace, even if it makes no human sense at all (Philippians 4:7). As we walk in Your Spirit and live in the center of Your will, we will encounter multiple blessings all throughout our day; we just need to keep our focus on You in order to see them.

Thought for the Day:

Sometimes our flesh will argue with what we believe is God's direction; this causes confusion and we do not know what to do; however, the secret here is to discern God's peace in our heart, and even if we do not understand God's direction, we simply obey it. 

- Philippians 4:7

Victory over Satan's Forces

Life is hard. We are either in a trial, coming out of a trial, or about to go into a trial. Fear of the future, tears of pain, shattered dreams, and disasters attempt to break us down.

We have few days that are stress-free and smooth, unless we are walking in the center of God's will for us. If we seek God's plans first, He supplies all of our needs (Matthew 6:33).

Are we creating our own trials? When we realize that we are constantly experiencing hardships, we can check-in with God. If we are following His plans for our life (Ephesians 2:10), we have deep, inner peace regardless of the circumstances.

We can look at our Biblical examples and see how their faith helped them to actually rejoice during difficult times (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Philippians 4:4-8). They had their eyes on God's eternal prize for us, and the earthly events did not disturb their thoughts or attitude.

The devil is our adversary, and he would love to derail our life (1 Peter 5:8). He lies to us, puts negative thoughts in our mind, and causes us to doubt God's love and to feel that we are unlovable. 

However, if we draw near to God and resist the devil, he has to flee from us (James 4:7). We live victoriously over every scheme of the devil, because Jesus defeated him for us when He died on Calvary's cross (Revelation 20:10).

We also reign victoriously over the temptations of the world (1 John 5:4; 1 Corinthians 10:13). We no longer want to participate in carnal activities or amass worldly goods through covetousness (Romans 6:6). We have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and our perspective on life changed.

Prayer:

Father God, You resists the proud, but You give grace to the humble (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5-6). As we humble our pride, our intimacy with You increases. We spend more time in prayer, praise and gratitude for who You are, and for Your constant blessings, which You pour out on our daily life.

We are so grateful to You for making us victorious in Christ over the powers and principalities of Satan's kingdom. Through the power of Your Spirit in us, we can overcome whatever life, the world and the devil attempt to use to hinder us. We win every battle when we look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

Thought for the Day:

Our only adversary is the hosts of territories, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12); therefore rather than fighting one another, we can band together and do spiritual warfare against Satan and his forces.

Supervising Our Emotions

Thanks to my "gardening" angel, I have these growing in my backyard garden. 

Unbridled emotions can adversely impact our life, our relationships, our health and our expression. When we allow negative emotions to influence our thoughts and behavior, we suffer the consequences (James 1:20).

Underlining our negative emotions are feelings that trigger these explosive and unwise reactions in us, such as: frustration, fatigue, fear, insecurity, as well as feeling abused, taken advantage of, unappreciated, falsely accused, etc.

We may even blow up at a slight comment or action, because we have negative emotions stored up in our soul, and we choose this time to express them. Taking the time to consider our feelings on a regular basis and journaling the cause behind them, helps to diffuse them.

Negative emotions can overwhelm our physical reaction to any situation. A pounding heart, tension in our nerves and muscles, shortness of breath, tears, sweating, etc. are all signals that we are in distress.

We can experience anger - a God-given emotion - but God advises us not to cross the line to use our anger to hurt another or to lose our self-control. God's Word also encourages us not to allow the sun to go down on our wrath (Proverbs 29:11; Ephesians 4:26-31).  

One reason for this advice is that if we carry over our negative feelings, they will join the negative feelings of the next day, and give Satan a foothold to influence our reactions. We get rid of anger by evaluating why we are angry, and then changing our focus about the issues (James 1:19-20).

If we are easily provoked in our soul - our thoughts, emotions and choices (Proverbs 15:18), we will easily fly off the handle and wound other people. This is easier said than done, but, it is wise to yield to patience, rather than anger, so we can reap the positive fruit of patience (Proverbs 14: 29, 16:32, 19:11; Psalm 37:8-9).

Prayer:

Father God, You advise us to have a gentle answer to prevent arguments and rising negative emotions (Proverbs 15:1). Help us to take a frequent and searching inventory of our emotions, and to praise You for the positive ones. Then, help us to change our focus about the cause of the negative ones. This way we can rid our self of undesirable attitudes, and have pleasant interactions all the time (Colossians 3:8; James 4:1-2), and people will be drawn to Christ in us, rather than deciding not to associate with us (Proverbs 22:24). 

We look like a fool when we vent in anger, and this behavior makes us subject to judgment from You and other people (Matthew 5:22). You created us with the ability to fight or to run, in order to protect us; but You do not want us to use destructive emotions to protect our self in a safe environment. Help us to discover the cause of our anger, and to use our words to honestly express why we feel angry, rather than to react in anger.

Thought for the Day:

We should not judge our self for having negative emotions, because they are God-given red flags to help us to protect our self from abuse and misunderstandings; however, praying for God's wisdom, when we feel these intense damaging emotions, will allow us to access our rational thinking during any emotional situation.

I Can Do All Things Through Christ

God created every human being in His likeness: as a Trinity of spirit, body, and soul - our mind, will and emotions (Genesis 1:27; 1 Thessalonians 5:23). He supplies us with a personality temperament, as well as genes from our ancestors. All humans are born with the instinct of self-preservation.

Sadly, our spirit is dead in sin, which we inherited from Adam and Eve. Without coming to Christ to receive forgiveness of our sins - both those we inherit and those willful on our part - we are hell-bound and we struggle through life in our own strength and resources (John 15:5).

We make our plans, have our goals, and we are following our own passion; yet, we want God to keep us from burning out and to bless all of our endeavors. Yet, this is not what this verse implies. 

When we do humble our self and ask Christ to forgive us, He moves into our Born Again spirit, and we access His wisdom, strength, protection and blessings (Matthew 19:26; James 1:22). 

Our Heavenly Father showers us with every good and perfect gift throughout our life (James 1:17; 1 Peter 3:18). In our union with Christ in us, we walk in His presence and follow the leading of His Spirit. 

He accomplishes through us everything that He created us to do (Ephesians 2:8-10). We experience trials, but He is there in us and with us through every moment of them (Philippians 4:12; 2 Corinthians 11:24-27).

Most of us attempt to use Philippians 4:13 as a guarantee that God will bless all of our plans. We insist that He give us His strength, even when we are walking in the flesh and totally out of His will for our life.

We can do everything that God calls us to do (Ephesians 2:10), because Christ abides within us by His Spirit (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 2:10). We can overcome all of life's challenges, when we remember to access the power of Christ, who dwells in us.

Prayer:

Father God, we can live through our trials with You abiding in us, more victoriously than people who do not have You in their life (James 1:2-4). Thank You for giving us Your strength for daily living, regardless of the trials or triumphs that we experience. You supply all of our needs in our body, soul and spirit through Your glorious riches (Philippians 4:19-20).

You use our tribulation to remind us to run under the shelter of Your wings (Psalm 91:4). You supply us with Your armor to enable us to stand strong through any tribulation (Ephesians 6:13; 1 Corinthians 15:57). Thank You for giving us Your Spirit to guide us in Your will through every moment of our day so that we can walk in Your love, joy and peace (John 16:33; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Thought for the Day:

In Christ, we stop focusing on things pertaining to this world, and instead, we look at life through spiritual eyes with spiritual desires and motives that replace the carnal issues on which we once focused; our Godly contentment allows us to further God's Kingdom in the earth by serving as an example of the difference that Christ makes in one's life.

- Matthew 6:32-33; 1 Timothy 6:6-7

Our Place in Eternity

Once we receive Christ into our life, we often wonder why we have to clean up our habits and let go of our hang ups. We consider that if we are saved, we are always saved, and God will forgive our penchant to sin, because we are human.

However, if we continue to live in sin, we clearly do not have the Spirit of God residing within us (I John 3:9; Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26; 2 Peter 2:20-21). We were convicted, but not converted. We prayed a prayer, but did not surrender our life to King Jesus.

God will come for His true Saints prior to when the seven year Great Tribulation period comes upon the earth. He did not appoint us to receive His wrath, because Jesus already paid our sin-debt (Daniel 12:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Romans 3:24; Galatians 3:13-15).

However, during this seven years of His wrath being poured out on the nations of the world who clearly rejected Him (Daniel 9:24), and while He saves the nation of Israel through the 144,000 evangelists (Revelation 7:4-6), and as He defeats Satan and His demons, His Saints will face Him during the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). 

We are not judged for our sins, because Jesus already bore the punishment for us when we miss the mark of God's holiness; but we will give account of our life to the Lord, and we will receive rewards for walking in obedience to His will for us.

At the judgment seat of Christ, some of us will be naked and ashamed (Rev 16:15), because we pursued the things of the world, and gave no attention to serving God with our time, efforts and energy. However, others will receive crowns full of jewels that we can place at Jesus feet (Revelation 4:10-11, 22:12, 3:1; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4).

Another blessing available to us at this time is to dress in our wedding dress that is made from the righteous works that God accomplished through us during our lifetime on the earth (Revelation 19:8).

We will wear this dress to our wedding to our Bridegroom, Jesus (Revelation 19:7-9). Once God accomplishes His purposes during the Great Tribulation, we will accompany Jesus to the earth in our immortal body (1 Corinthians 15:53).

Then, we will serve Him as He starts His Millennial reign where Satan is bound in hell (Revelation 20:2-3), and the nations of the world will live under Jesus' government (Isaiah 9:6), as Lord of all lords and King of all kings (Revelation 20:4-6).

Prayer:

Father God, reading Revelation strikes fear in the heart of humanity, unless we are Born Again by Your Spirit. Your presence in our life assures us that You will not pour out Your wrath on Your Saints (1 Thessalonians 5:9). Many people scoff at end time accounts in Your Word, but just as Jesus literally fulfilled 300 Biblical prophesies with 100% accuracy, prophesies concerning the End Times will come to pass literally as well.

We are so thankful that You desire for no one to perish in hell, but that all come to believe in the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:9); because after the seven years of horror on the earth, only people humble enough to realize their need for Jesus in their life will return with Him to earth to defeat Satan by the Word of His mouth (Revelation 19:11-21).

Thought for the Day:

Jesus is building a home for His authentic Believers to dwell with Him for eternity; and once Satan is bound forever, it will come down from Heaven for us to abide with the Trinity in the restored Paradise for eternity. - John 14:1-4; Revelation 20:10

Restoring Love and Contentment - Part One

What is your pet peeve? What drives you absolutely crazy? What causes you more frustration and resentment than anything else in your life? What causes you to want to walk out of the situation you are in right now?

The answer to these questions may be a clue to explain why you no longer feel the same intensity of love and contentment with your existence now, compared to what you used to feel. Or maybe you are happy with parts of your life, but not everything.

Maybe there are household chores that no one ever does but you; the reason may be that they never think about them. You could have a job jar or a chore list that everyone could consult each day, and sign up to do one or more of them.

There could be a ministry that you thought you were involved in with a team, but it turns out that one member of the team ran with his/her own ideas and made decisions without consulting the rest of the team.

Possibly your mate takes you for granted and your date nights and romantic trysts occur farther and farther apart. Buying a calendar and reserving a time each week for one another will go a long way in improving this record. Emergencies may arise occasionally, but otherwise, you can look forward to this time together.

Your mate may spend more than your budget allows, and it is hard to balance the checkbook, or pay off the credit card debt every month. If heart-felt talks and counseling does not remedy the situation, separate bank accounts with a monthly allowance deposited in each one may solve this issue.

A lack of reliability can make you feel like you cannot trust your mate, friend, associate, etc.; when a person neglects to read your blog, texts, emails or answer your calls, you feel slighted and unimportant to them; a mate that is flirting with the opposite sex causes insecurity and jealousy to invade your peace; a lack of consideration and appreciation may drive a wedge between any two people.

There is hope for any situation once we stop attempting to control our life, and we completely surrender our will and our future to God. He has perfect plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), and we find our peace in the shelter of His wings (Psalm 91:4).

Prayer:

Father God, help us to admit to our mate, co-worker, child, neighbor, acquaintance, etc. when something bothers us. Remind us not to criticize or accuse, but to choose a time when we are both available to chat about any negative issues that arise between us. Help us to see that we may not be able to find an alternate solution to the problem, but talking about it often diffuses the negative emotions in the situation.

When we come to understand another's viewpoint, and they see where we are coming from, peace is often restored in the relationship; especially when You remind us that we are human too, and are often frustrating and annoying to other people. Point out to us the good in each of us, so that we can focus on our blessings and learn to be content.

Thought for the Day:

Loving someone is always a choice, and contentment is what we make it; when we view life from a heavenly perspective, the little foxes that spoil the vine cannot compare to the blessing, which God gives to us every single day.

- Song of Solomon 2:15; Jeremiahs 17:7-8

Seated in Heavenly Places

John the Baptist started a revolution, and the Kingdom of God has been powerfully progressing ever since (Matthew 11:12). We avidly grab hold of the Spirit of God, and we all do our part in advancing God's Kingdom (Mathew 6:9-10).

The wisest change any Christian can attain to is to develop a Heavenly mindset. Authentic Believers are raised with Christ and seated with Him in Heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). As we focus our thoughts on God's Kingdom, we realize that we are also hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:1-4).

We determine in our soul and spirit to live in God's will for us. As we do, He meets all of our needs through His glorious riches (Matthew 6:33; Isaiah 26:3). Due to our fervor, Satan attempts to derail our efforts and to sidetrack our commitment.

Satan plants lies in our mind, interferes with our mission, causes bodily harm and illnesses, discourages us and plagues us with His demons (Job). The only way to deal with him is to draw closer to God and to resist the devil, and he has to flee from us (James 4:7).

If we focus our thoughts, words and deeds on God and His Kingdom, we have perfect peace that dispels the negative emotions that we experience in this world (Romans 8:5-6).

When we feel anxiety rising in our soul, and we can find no peace or joy, it is because our mind is on circumstances rather than on God (Philippians 4:8-9).

We change this by centering our prayer life on God's will, rather than on earthly issues (James 4:3), and by changing our thoughts (Philippians 4:8), as well as our behavior to line up with His will.

We can still pray for our needs, but we spend most of our time with our hearts set on heavenly issues, on God and on His Kingdom (Matthew 6:9-10).

When the realization of our true position in Christ (Ephesians 2:6), and that He abides within us (Colossians 1:27) becomes a reality for us, we sincerely do not care about earthly matters any longer. We are content in whatever situation God allows us to experience.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for seating us in heavenly places through Christ in us, and for securing us a place in Your Kingdom through His shed blood on Calvary's cross (Ephesians 1:19-22). When Jesus returns to the earth, every knee in heaven, on earth and even under the earth will bow to Him (Philippians 2:10-11). We look forward to that day with great anticipation.

We are so excited that Your Kingdom will fill the earth, and only righteousness will dwell in the hearts of everyone living with us (1 Corinthians 15:24-26). We are thrilled that each person will live in submission to Your will, and that we will inherit Your Kingdom as co-heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:17). Remind us to keep our mind centered on our resurrection in Christ, and that His resurrection insures that we will live in Your Kingdom for eternity.

Thought for the Day:

Since we are raised with Christ to live a new life, we live in unity with God's Trinity, as an example to the world around us, while we share the gospel of Christ with everyone who will listen.

- Romans 6:4; Matthew 28:18-19; John 3:16-18