He's Gotcha Covered

 

God's got us covered…He's got our back. His eyes and ears are always in tune with all of His children all over this globe (Psalm 34:15). His love for us is everlasting and provides us with true fulfillment and contentment.

God brought together sun bleached skeletons in the desert and erected a great army - the perfect picture of Him restoring Israel as a nation (Ezekiel 37:1-14). His love and provision for Israel are a constant testimony to us of His faithfulness to His Saints.

When the pain of life overwhelms us, we find encouragement, peace and joy in the fact that God is always watching, and never forsaking us or leaving us on our own (Hebrews 13:5).

He dwells within us and is experiencing our pain right along with us. His peace guards us (Philippians 4:7). He knows our needs before we do, and He already provided for them before we were even born (Ephesians 2:10; Jeremiah 29:11; Philippians 4:19).

When Satan sends his emissaries of discouragement to beat us down, we have a choice to believe their lies or to trust God. Regardless of the trouble we face, God is always there in us to help us through the experience (Psalm 46:1).

We simply place our faith in His faithfulness and He lifts us out of the pit of depression and hopelessness and plants our feet firmly on the Rock of Christ (Psalm 18:31, 40:2).

His work is perfect and He is just in all of His ways. He is our faithful God without injustice, righteous and upright in all of His ways (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 92:15).

There is no one like our God, holy and stable (1 Samuel 2:2). We have no need to fear when He is our Rock of refuge (Isaiah 44:8; Deuteronomy 32:31, 32:37). He is our salvation and rest, our strength and sanctuary (Psalm 62:7).

Prayer:

Father God, we call to You and You are not deaf to our pleas (Psalm 28:1). You never allow us to be ashamed of our relationship with You. You rescue us quickly as a stronghold and fortress. You lead and guide us for Your name's sake (Psalm 31:1-3). We continually come to You as our hiding place and You save us (Psalm 71:3).

We trust in You forever as our God, our Lord and our everlasting Rock (Isaiah 26:4; Psalm 91:2). You are the Lord of a host of angels and our stronghold (Psalm 46:7). You are our deliver, our shield, the horn of our salvation and full of loving kindness (Psalm 144:2). Thank You for delivering us from violence (2 Samuel 22:3).

Thought for the Day:
No matter where we are on the face of the earth, when our heart is discouraged and we call to God, He leads us to His Rock that lifts us above the storms. - Psalm 61:2

Divinity Dwelling within Us

God dwells in His children by the new birth we receive from Christ through Salvation (John 1:12). He rejoices as we grow in the knowledge of our salvation (1 John 3:2), but He waits for our realization that we are also the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Once we begin to submit to the Spirit for sanctification of our flesh, then He teaches us about the divinity of Christ, which dwells within us (Galatians 2:20).

We are not separate from Christ, obeying Him in our own power. He permanently dwells in us and expresses Himself through us (Colossians 3:3).

We are children of His death, but we are also children of His resurrection (Luke 20:36). We are transformed into Christ’s image in ever-increasing increments of glory, which come from the Lord’s Spirit.

Then, as unveiled mirrors, we reflect to the world the glory of the Lord within us (2 Corinthians 3:18). In our daily life, as His Spirit molds us into His image, we experience and express all of the attributes of God because He is within us (Romans 8:29).

Jesus gives us the glory that God gave Him, so that we are one with our triune God, just as they are one (John 17:22). If we do not recognize this divine power within us, then we will never live up to our full potential as Christians.

Jesus’ sacrifice enables us to share in His divine nature and to escape the corruption in the world caused by evil human desires (2 Peter 1:4).

As we mature, we attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ who dwells within us (Ephesians 3:16-19). We put on our new self, shaped by the Spirit to be like God, with all of His virtues and holiness within us (Ephesians 4:13,24).

Prayer:

Father God, we often limit our understanding of life to what we perceive through our five senses. We also rely heavily only on what our human mind envisions. We ignore the supernatural and the eternal aspects of Christ within us.

Therefore, we hinder the expression of Your power in and through us. Remind us that You impart Your Spirit to us in order to allow the glorious nature of Christ in us the freedom of expression through us (Colossians 1:27; 1 Corinthians 12:27).

 

Thought for the Day:

With Christ in us, it does not matter where we live, with whom we live or even if we live alone; Christ’s presence within us rises above the limitations of this earthly realm and our circumstances in it.

Loving Our Self

As a perfectionist codependent, I always put everyone else's needs above my own. As we all serve one another, we all get served. I read in the Bible that God wanted it this way.

However, it did not work that way in the first 45 years of my life. I did all the serving and others did all the taking with rare expressions of gratitude or encouragement for what I did.

I grew to resent the lack of reciprocation and my constant physical and emotional exhaustion. I felt like a hamster on its wheel, going round and round day after day and getting no place fast.

One day I realized that I was actually teaching people to expect me to do everything and not to respect me or my needs. I had a savior and martyr complex a mile wide and high.

The fact is, however, that I love to serve others. It is my main ministry in Christ's body. Thankfully, I started working for a recovering codependent at this same time and she spoke truth to me that set me free.

She said, "You are a person too, and you can minister to yourself and meet your needs in the same way you meet everyone else's needs." WOW! That gave me food for thought.

She reminded me of Jesus' words to love others as we love our self (Luke 10:27). I realized right away that I did not love myself in the same way that I loved others.

This opened up a whole new world for me. I went to the library and checked out books on how to be a nurturing parent. I learned to nurture myself and how to nurture others in a healthier manner.

Prayer:

Father God, so many times we take Your words at face value and skip over the minute details of the verse. We miss so much of the meat of Your Word because we do not take them in context with other verses in the Bible. We miss the whole picture, which You intend for us to see.

As we follow the leading of Your Spirit each moment of the day, we stop allowing the good things to become the enemy of the best things. We stop spinning our wheels by so much busyness and we live productive lives that bring us joy as we also give joy. We develop a closer relationship with You and people see our good works and give You the glory (Matthew 5:16).

Thought for the Day:

As we walk in the Spirit, we stop enabling others to be less than they can be by allowing them to do hard things for themselves and to learn to lean on God instead of on us, so they can live productive lives.