Paying Attention to God's Will

Most of us are so focused on our to-do list for the day that we fail to pay attention to our body, thoughts and feelings. This often results in mental and/or emotional breakdowns.

Life goes far better for us if we take constant check-ups of our negative issues in body, soul and spirit. Finding out what is causing these negative feelings, thoughts and circumstances is vital for our overall health.

Identifying the root causes will unlock the doors to what our soul is attempting to communicate to us. If we go to God in prayer, He will show us these root causes and help us to discover how to deal with them.

What are we anxious about? What future event has our nerves jittering inside from worry? What past event is causing us shame or unforgiveness toward our self or someone else?

God will give us wisdom to know what situations we can deal with and which ones we need to put into His capable hands. He will give us His strength to overcome whatever He is bringing to our attention.

He will also help us to accept the areas that we do not like, but that are part of our life in this current moment. We trust in His wisdom, goodness and grace.

Changing our focus about people and situations that we cannot change will aid us in walking in God's peace and joy regardless of our circumstances. This releases us from anger and resentment as well.

Looking at life from an eternal perspective, rather than an earthly one will bring us unhindered joy that is full of God's glory as we walk in His will for us.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us to live one moment at a time, praying in our spirit continually, obeying Your will, and enjoying Your Spirit and Your presence each moment of each day. We can more readily experience fulfillment and overcome hardships by trusting You to work out everything according to Your will and for our good (Romans 8:28).

We release the stress and worry by breathing deeply to inhale Your peace. Help us to accept this world as it is, and to hear Your voice on how to make our part of it a better place for us and our community to enjoy. We want to surrender to Your will and to stop using our energy to fight our circumstances.

Thought for the Day:
Walking in true and lasting serenity comes from trusting God in all the issues of life - past, present and future - because we want to make a difference for His Kingdom and to walk in His will for us in each moment of our day. 

- Proverbs 3:5-6

Following God's Spirit

The Psalmist referred to our soul - our thoughts, emotions and choices - as a weaned child within us. He recommends that we calm and quiet our "Inner Child" (Psalm 131:2).

I totally agree with him. Many of our current issues are fueled by the trauma of our past, especially from our childhood, and caused by family, friends, acquaintances, and Satan's lies.

We have many God-given emotions and mental needs, which were neglected in our childhood; and we get too busy during our adult life to satisfy them our self.

Our mind, will and emotions play an influential part in our life, but we often relegate the soul to the realm of the “flesh” and attempt to crucify it.

I am not talking about carnal thoughts, desires and feelings. We constantly bombard our nervous system with chaotic trivia and ignore the important things in our life.

We chat or text on the cell phone more than we talk to God. To change this mad rush through life, we simply need to make a slight adjustment in our mindset.

Rather than focusing on completing our list of things to do, we can listen to and follow the Spirit of God as He leads us through every moment of the day. This cuts down on frustrated goals and constant irritations.

We stop neglecting and abusing our self, and we start nurturing the needs of our soul as we respond to God's sanctifying process. We do not encourage or condone sin, but we do fulfill our legitimate needs (Romans 5:21, 6:1-2).

Prayer:

Father God, help us to sit still and to acknowledge that You are our God and King (Psalm 55; Proverbs 3:5-6). You care about every need we have - physical, mental, financial, emotional and spiritual. Jesus died to bring us healing in all of these areas. You reveal Satan lies that keep us in bondage to the past; and You help us to collect the pieces of our past that life and the devil stole from us.

We are complete in You (Colossians 2:10), wanting nothing and counting everything we experience as a joyful event. This can happen only because of Your presence in us and with us, through all of life's trials and triumphs (James 1:2-12). Thank You for making us joint heirs with Jesus of Your Kingdom and for giving us Your Spirit to bring us to perfection in holiness.

Thought for the Day:

Jesus gives us His righteousness in place of our sin, and we experience His peace as we walk in holiness, quietness and confidence forever. - Isaiah 32:17

Christ is Our Life

When we fight the reality in our life, rather than trusting in God to give us wisdom or healing, we often spin our wheels and end up exhausted in the process.

God gives grace to the humble, but He resists the proud (James 4:6). As we surrender our self to Him, and totally submit to Him, He intervenes on our behalf.

He will speak to our inner, spiritual ear about His will for each situation as it arises. When we walk in the center of His will, all things work out for our good (Romans 8:28). He knows all of our thoughts, even those we buried in our subconscious mind.

Jesus has seen every one of our struggles in our life, has compassion on all of our fears, will provide more for us than we can even imagine, and uses us to comfort others as they experience trials that are similar to ours (Luke 22:31).

He hears our faintest prayer and offers for us to take His yoke upon our shoulders, rather than the one we made for our self. His yoke is easy and light (Matthew 11:30), because He helps us to carry it. He even walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4).

Jesus suffered similar trials to ours, and He already overcame them (Hebrews 4:15-16). He can give us comfort and victory through all of our issues as well. His is our life (Colossians 3:3-4).

He also provides us with wisdom, love, joy, stability, strength and peace through every circumstance that we face. We simply need to trust in Him and obey the guidance of His Holy Spirit.

God is our good Father and He cares about all of our needs. He supplies our physical, mental, emotional and financial needs in His way and in His timing.

He helps us to face our fears, to change our focus, to trust Him each moment of our day and to believe that He has a future and a hope for us (Jeremiah 29:11).

Prayer:

Father God, You never abandon us or leave us alone (Hebrews 13:5). You live in us and walk beside us as we grow in our awareness of Your presence and Your Spirit within us. Help us to see that we no longer need to make our plans and have our goals in life. We simply follow Your Spirit and walk in the center of Your will each moment of our life.

This will lighten our feelings of anxiety and quiet all of our fears. Living in Your will brings us joy and peace as You make us to lie down in fruitful fields and to drink from Your living water (Psalm 23:1-3). You fill our life with hope in this hopeless world and You encourage us with Your Word, which is life to our weary soul.

Thought for the Day:

We live for God, not through our own human effort, but through Christ in us, guided and empowered by His Holy Spirit, understood and cared for by His love, and drenched by His love, peace and joy.

Achieving Desired Result

When we try in our own efforts to succeed, we often fail to achieve the desired results. However, as we come to God and repent of our sins, He gives us the righteousness of Christ which produces a plethora of abundant spiritual fruit in our life (Matthew 3:8).

Walking in obedience to Him produces the desired results. For example, after they fished all night without any success, Jesus' disciples were returning to shore the next morning. Jesus called to them from the shore.

He instructed them to go back out and to throw in their nets on the right side of the boat. They were tired, hungry and discouraged; however, they obeyed.

They followed His instructions explicitly and reaped the reward for their obedience with so many fish that they had to get help hauling them all to shore (John 21:6).

God does not receive pleasure or praise from the results of our humanistic efforts, plans, goals and accomplishments. Instead, He only delights in our obedience to His will (1 Samuel 15:22).

Humanity considers God’s laws restrictive and oppressive. We want the freedom to sin and to follow the desires of our flesh. Then, we blame God when others sin against us.

God’s judgment is never mean or vindictive. His discipline is His loving attempt to draw us away from deprivation and destruction inherent in sin.

He wants us to rush into His protection and abundance. Before He sends judgment, God always gives people every opportunity to repent and to return to Him instead (Jeremiah 15:19).

Even those who give God the most grief through their hatred, can eventually find unrivaled joy the instant they humble their self, repent, trust in Him and obey the leading of His Spirit on a daily basis (Luke 15:7).

Prayer:

Father God, help us to take our eyes off the results of our efforts and to realize that obedience is what You are looking for from us. Help us to love You with a heart of full devotion, not distracted by the hollow temptation of worldly pleasure, praise, glory or benefits.

We want to do Your will in everything we say and do each and every day of our life. We give You the glory for every positive consequence we receive from obeying Your Spirit, and we return back to You all the praise that we receive.

Thought for the Day:

God prefers obedience to sacrifice, a humble spirit and repentant heart rather than accomplishments from our own efforts.

- Psalm 51:17; Ephesians 2:8-10

A Life of Praise

God's recipe for eliminating negative thoughts, words and deeds in our life is for us to focus our thoughts on what is true, good and right.

He cautions us to think only about things that are pure and lovely, and to dwell on the fine, good aspects on this earth (Philippians 4:8). As we think about all that He does for and gives to us, we praise God in each moment of our day.

He is our Everything and we can cheerfully share His Good News with everyone we meet. If we confess Him before others, He is our advocate with God (Matthew 10:32).

On a visit to a church member in the hospital, I spoke to a lady in the elevator whom I did not know. She wore a beautifully ornate cross around her neck. 

I asked, “Do you know the Jesus who died for us on the cross?”

Shocked at my question, she blurted out a bit sarcastically, “Well, not personally.”

I felt so sad for her, so I said, “Well, He wants to have a personal relationship with you; just read your Bible and attend a Bible teaching church and He will be your best friend just like He is to me.”

The elevator door opened and I never saw her again. I truly hope she took the time to meet my Best Friend, Jesus.

When we put our trust in Jesus and allow Him to live in us and to work through us, His power flows through us and from us as it changes the world around us.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for Jesus' death on Calvary’s cross, which paid the penalty for our sins (Romans 5:8). Thank You for Your resurrection that gives us life in our spirit, soul and body. We joy in the day of our salvation, never taking it for granted, and no longer questioning every decision You ever make for us.

We also appreciate Your redemption through Christ that guarantees us a place in eternity with You. Thank You for life on this earth that is blessed by Your abundance. Help us to make every day count for Your glory and to share with others what You do for us.

Thought for the Day:

Jesus gives us the opportunity to be one with Him in perfect love and acceptance, apart from any good deeds, pious performances or imposed restrictions, which come from our self-effort.

A Future and a Hope

There is a common condition in today’s society, which leads many into addictions and crime. It is called hopelessness. They have tried to make something of their life and they failed at every turn; so, they rely on chemical dependence and theft to relieve their gloomy symptoms.

Authentic Believers in Christ gain glory through our trials, because we know that they ultimately produce hope in us, which never disappoints us.

The Holy Spirit pours out the love of God in our hearts, because even when we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:2-7). Jesus swallowed up death by His victory on Calvary’s cross.

Death no longer has any sting for the Believer. We are aliens and pilgrims in this life (1 Peter 2:11). We immediately pass from this earthly realm into the heavenly realm with our dying breath.

In the face of the worse trial life offers us, we never lose hope (Jeremiah 29:11). It is simply light and momentary affliction when compared to the incomparable, unseen weight of glory, which God has prepared for us in eternity (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). 

We even gain glory through our trials, because we know that they ultimately produce hope in us, which never disappoints us. The Holy Spirit pours out the love of God in our hearts, because even when we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:2-7).

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and He saves all those who are crushed in spirit, if we will simply call out to Him (Psalm 43:18; 147:3). He loves us unconditionally and has His plans for our life.

We surrender our family, our future, our worries and our desires to the love and care of God Almighty (Mark 9:23). Then, we leave them in His capable hands.

Prayer:

Father God, You are our shield in times of affliction. You lift up our head when we are depressed. You always hear our prayers, even though You are way up in Your holy hill. We can sleep in peace because You sustain us. Even if our circumstances are overwhelming, we have no need to fear them (Psalm 3:2-6).

You have a perfect plan for our life. These plans are for our benefit and not to harm us, because they give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). You work out all things, even the negative aspects of life, for our good (Romans 8:28). We have constant access to You by faith and we rejoice in our hope in Your glory (Romans 5:2-7).

Thought for the Day:

It is up to those of us, who have first-hand experience with the wonderful love of God, to share the hope we find in Christ in a gentle, informative fashion and to entreat others to trust their life to Christ too.

Loving as Jesus Loves

Jesus’ love fulfills the Biblical law (Matthew 5:17-20). He is the personification of Divine love. He loves those who reject Him with the same fervor that He loves those who choose to obey Him.

The world rewards human capacities such as intelligence, talent and earthly accomplishments; however, these have no bearing in the Kingdom of God. There is no facade or pretense that we can use to impress God to love us more than He already does (John 3:16-17).

Our union with Christ draws us to walk in obedience to Him and His Word. His love through us is proof that His new life resides within us (John 13:34-35). He approves of us just the way we are (John 15:12).

In turn, He calls us to treat one another with this same love and acceptance. When others see His love in us, it removes the accusation that the church is full of hypocrites.

This causes many people to remain more open to the family of God. The more we allow Christ’s love to flow through us, the more conviction these contrary people will feel; and the more they are drawn to accept Christ as their Savior.

God also gives us His heart of love for all fallen humanity; we simply allow it to flow through us. This love transcends the earthly realm and is full of the Spirit of God.

Due to Jesus' humility in us, we learn to squarely face our imperfections and that in others; so that we can love our self and them without judgment or expectations.

We live before our family and to everyone we meet as continuous examples of Christ’s sacrificial love. His love in us is the common denominator that makes us all equal to one another.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us to live for You and to serve one another. As we follow Your guidance and direction, we will not enable others or codependently slip into the role as a caretaker beyond Your direction. Teach us to live in step with Your Spirit and to care for our self and others in the manner in which You direct us to love.

Allow nothing in my character or behavior to dim Your light in me or to quench the living water of Your Divine love through me. We count it as a privilege to be called by Your name and to express Your love to the world.

Thought for the Day:

Jesus taught us by His example to live as a servant to all; He also empowers us to love even the most unlovable people that we know.