 GOD LOVES YOU regardless of how well you are performing. Sometimes you feel uneasy, wondering if you are doing enough to be worthy of My Love. No matter how exemplary your behavior, the answer to that question will always be no. Your performance and My Love are totally different issues, which you need to sort out. I love you with an everlasting Love that flows out from eternity without limits or conditions. I have clothed you in My robe of righteousness, and this is an eternal transaction: Nothing and no one can reverse it. Therefore, your accomplishment as a Christian has no bearing on My Love for you. Even your ability to assess how well you are doing on a given day is flawed. Your limited human perspective and the condition of your body, with its mercurial variations, distort your evaluations.
Bring your performance anxiety to Me, and receive in its place My unfailing Love. Try to stay conscious of My loving Presence with you in all that you do, and I will direct your steps. The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness." - Jeremiah 31:3 I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. - Isaiah 61:20 Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love. - Psalm 31:16 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. - Psalm 107:8  PEACE IS GOD'S CONTINUAL GIFT TO YOU. It flows abundantly from His throne of grace. Just as the Israelites could not store up manna for the future but had to gather it daily, so it is with God's Peace. The day-by-day collecting of manna kept His people aware of their dependence on Him. Similarly, God will give you sufficient Peace for the present, when you come to Him by prayer and petition with thanksgiving. If God gave you permanent Peace, independent of His Presence, you might fall into the trap of self-sufficiency. May that never be!
God has designed you to need Him moment by moment. As your awareness of your neediness increases, so does your realization of His abundant sufficiency. I can meet every one of your needs without draining His resources at all. Approach My throne of grace with bold confidence, receiving My Peace with a thankful heart. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs.' .... No one is to keep any of it until morning." - Exodus 16:15-16, 19 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus... And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7, 19 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. - Hebrews 4:16 WHEN GOD GIVE'S YOU no special guidance, stay where you are. Concentrate on doing your everyday tasks in awareness of His Presence with you. The Joy of His Presence will shine on you, as you do everything for Him. Thus you invite Him into every aspect of your life. Through collaborating with Him in all things, you allow His Life to merge with yours. This is the secret not only of joyful living but also of victorious living. I designed you to depend on God moment by moment, recognizing that apart from God you can do nothing.
Be thankful for quiet days, when nothing special seems to be happening. Instead of being bored by the lack of action, use times of routine to seek God's Face. Although this is an invisible transaction, it speaks volumes in spiritual realms. Moreover, you are richly blessed when you walk trustingly with God through the routines of your day. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. - Colossians 3:23 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." - John 15:5 Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. - Psalm 105:4  TRUSTING ME is a moment-by-moment choice. My people have not always understood this truth. After God has performed miracles in the wilderness, His chosen children trusted Him intensely - but only temporarily. Soon the grumbling began again, testing God's patience to the utmost.
Isn't it often the same way with you? You trust God when things to well, when you see God working on your behalf. This type of trust flows readily within you, requiring no exertion of your will. When things go wrong, your trust-flow slows down and solidifies. You are forced to choose between trusting God intentionally or rebelling: resenting God ways with you. This choice constitutes a fork in the road. Stay on the path of Life with God, enjoying His Presence. Choose to trust God in all circumstances. Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Thur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to March, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called March.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?" Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. Exodus 15:22-25 But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, "You are my God." - Psalm 31:14  THIS IS THE DAY THAT THE LORD HAS MADE. Rejoice and be glad in it. Begin the day with open hands of faith, ready to receive all that God pours into this brief portion of your life. Be careful not to complain about anything, even the weather, since God is the Author of your circumstances. The best way to handle unwanted situations is to thank Him for them. This act of faith frees you from resentment and frees God to work His ways into the situation, so that good emerges from it.
To find Joy in this day, you must live within its boundaries. God knew what He was doing when He divided time into twenty-four hour segments. He understands human frailty, and He knows that you can bear the weight of only one day at a time. Do not worry about tomorrow or get stuck in the past. There is abundant life in God's Presence today. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. - Psalm 118:24 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:13-14  TRUST GOD IN EVERY DETAIL OF YOUR LIFE. Nothing is random in My kingdom. Everything that happens fits into a pattern for good, to those who love God. Instead of trying to analyze the intricacies of the pattern, focus your energy on trusting God and thanking Him at all times. Nothing is wasted when you walk close to God. Even your mistakes and sins can be recycled into something good, through God transforming grace.
While you were still living in darkness, God began to shine the Light of His Presence into your sin-stained life. Finally, He lifted you up out of the mire into His marvelous Light. Having sacrificed His very Life for you, I can be trusted in every facet of your life. "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him." - Jeremiah 17:7 We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. - Romans 8:28 AMP He drew me up out of a horrible pit [a pit of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay (froth and slime), and set my feet upon a rock, steadying my steps and establishing my goings. - Psalm 40:2 AMP But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. - 1 Peter 2:9 NKJV  YOU ARE GOD'S ALL TIME; nothing can separate you from God's Love. Since He has invested His Life in you, be well assured that He will also take care of you. When your mind goes into neutral and your thoughts flow freely, you tend to feel anxious and alone. Your focus becomes problems solving. To get your mind back into gear, just turn toward Jesus, bringing yourself and your problems into My Presence.
Many problems vanish instantly in the Light of God's Love, because you realize you are never alone. Other problems may remain, but they become secondary to knowing God and rejoicing in the relationship I so freely offer you. Each moment you can choose to practice God's Presence or to practice the presence of problems. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:38-39 The Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." - Exodus 33:14  BRING JESUS THE SACRIFICE of thanksgiving. Take nothing for granted, not even the rising sun. Before Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, thankfulness was as natural as breathing. Satan's temptation involved pointing Eve to the one thing that was forbidden her. The garden was filled with luscious, desirable fruits, but Eve focused on the one fruit she couldn't have rather than being thankful for the many good things freely available. This negative focus darkened her mind, and she succumbed to temptation.
When you focus on what you don't have or on situations that displease you, your mind also becomes darkened. You take for granted life, salvation, sunshine, flowers, and countless other gifts from God. You look for what is wrong and refuse to enjoy life until that is "fixed." When you approach God with thanksgiving, the Light of His Presence pours into you, transforming you through and through. Walk in the Light with God by practicing the discipline of thanksgiving. I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. - Psalm 116:17 NKJV The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. - Genesis 3:2-4 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. - 1 John 1:7  Daily Devotion "In Me You Have Everything"
(God) IN ME YOU HAVE EVERYTHING. In Me you are complete. Your capacity to experience Me is increasing, through My removal of debris and clutter from your heart. As your yearning for Me increases, other desires are gradually lessening. Since I am infinite and abundantly accessible to you, desiring Me above all else is the best way to live. It is impossible for you to have a need that I cannot meet. After all, I created you and everything that is. The world is still at My beck and call, though it often appears otherwise. Do not be fooled by appearances. Things that are visible are brief and fleeting, while things that are invisible are everlasting. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. - Ephesians 3:20 Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are insole are deathless and everlasting. - 2 Corinthians 4:18 AMP  (read as if Jesus is talking directly to you) I AM CALLING YOU to a life of constant communion with Me, Basic training includes learning to live above your circumstances, even while interacting on that cluttered plane of life. You yearn for a simplified lifestyle, so that your communication with Me can be uninterrupted. But I challenge you to relinquish the fantasy of an uncluttered world. Accept each day just as it comes, and find Me in the midst of it all.
Talk with Me about every aspect of your day, including your feelings. Remember that your ultimate goal is not to control or fix everything around you; it is to keep communing with Me. A successful day is one in which you have stayed in touch with Me, even if many things remain undone at the end of the day. Do not let your to-do list (written or mental) become an idol directing your life. Instead, ask My Spirit to guide you moment by moment. He will keep you close to Me. Pray continually. - 1 Thessalonians 5:17 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. - Proverbs 3:6 |
Archives
August 2020
Books
All
|
RSS Feed
