Thankful in Light of Our New Covenant – Part 3 of 3

We need to remind ourselves regularly that the moment we received His Spirit we also received a new nature. We should not live out of our old nature any longer. This requires the renewing of our minds: the process of changing our thought-life by developing a new perspective. He wants us to realize that He is there to enable us to accomplish His will in all areas of our lives.

The Holy Spirit has been given to us who believe not only as a seal guaranteeing our salvation, but also as our teacher and our comforter. He is there every step of the way. It’s up to us to acknowledge His presence and His divine guidance. He offers us to come and be active members on His team. The only way we are able to be followers of Jesus is by learning to listen and obey His Spirit.

We can be thankful that we have Christ’s Spirit living inside of us. Even if we embarrass ourselves in a moment of weakness, He has promised to stay. He is more interested with the condition of our hearts than He is with our outward achievements. We can confidently surrender our lives with all our weaknesses to Him because He will empower us for successful living. Jesus paid such a heavy price for you and me because He thought we were worth it.

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Thankful in Light of Our New Covenant – Part 2 of 3

The moment we believed in Him He took our unrighteousness and gave us His righteousness. The more we understand this, the more victorious we’ll be in receiving true freedom. It’s crucial that we get this truth. It’s what makes true Christianity different from all other religions. Every other religion has rules and regulations to follow in order to reach Paradise, Karma, Reincarnation, or whatever their goal may be. However, no one can achieve God’s standards on his or her own merits, and with Christianity that’s just the point: we all fall short of God’s standards and need a Savior.

Christ’s blood makes us right with God and transports us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. This New Covenant is better than the Old because God guarantees it no matter how we feel about ourselves or to what degree we’re able to keep His commandments. Even though we’re imperfect, we receive Jesus' one-time sacrifice to pay for all our past, present, and future sins. Righteousness no longer has anything to do with us, because it has everything to do with Him.

One simple prayer of faith makes us right with God and forever allows us access into His presence. With that prayer, He gives us new life by His Spirit. However, we still make mistakes. That’s because our old nature is at war with the new. The old nature wants to do everything its own way, contrary to God’s way.

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Thankful in Times of Opposition – Part 1 of 4

What was going on in the hearts and minds of the Israelites the first time they wanted to enter the Promised Land? With the exception of Joshua and Caleb, the people’s hearts were gripped with fear when they saw what stood in their way. The people of the land were mighty and God’s people felt small, so they lost confidence in themselves. They doubted Moses, and most of all, they doubted God. They had a hard time believing in others, probably because they didn’t believe in themselves.

Fear crippled them and prevented them from possessing the land by faith. Fear also kept them from experiencing God’s abundant love. Fear is the opposite of love. The two cannot coexist. Fear operates through unbelief, and love operates through faith.

It’s understandable that the people didn’t respect Moses much. They hardly knew him as a leader, and what they knew of his past hurt his reputation.

Imagine yourself living a slave’s life and one day finding out that one of your own people had been adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter and raised as a prince. For the first forty years of his life Moses was sheltered while his fellow Hebrews suffered under the bonds of slavery. If Moses’ luxurious life didn’t make you jealous, then what happened next might make you think he was unworthy of respect.

His whole life took a dramatic turn when, in a moment of self-appointed heroism, he killed an Egyptian for beating a Hebrew. Then, when his cover was blown, he went on the run. For the next forty years, he lived as a fugitive and worked as a shepherd. From the pleasures of palace living to the harsh realities of desert dwelling, Moses not only looked, but also felt, like a failure.

Just before Moses killed the Egyptian, he knew that he was meant to do something great for God. But after another Hebrew blew his cover, he realized his zeal had been misguided and fled the scene. This incident so crushed his pride that his dream and passion died with it.

When God got hold of him forty years later, he thought God had the wrong man. He not only didn’t jump at the offer to lead the Israelites to freedom, he even declined it. Maybe you have felt like Moses. Maybe you have stopped believing in yourself. However, no matter how bad your past might seem to you, God is in the business of giving second chances.

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Joy and a Thankful Heart – Part 1 of 3

We have an enemy called the devil, who goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour (1Peter 5:8). We ought not to underestimate his craftiness because when our guard is down he’ll try to blindside us. Whether we like it or not, the truth is that we are engaged in a war twenty-four hours a day.

Every team wants to know its opponent’s strategy so that it can win the game. That is why I may mention the devil’s strategies now and again – not to give the enemy glory, but to expose his game plan.

When God gave Adam and Eve authority over creation, life was good. However, when they disobeyed God they lost that authority. They didn’t just eat “an apple.” They took hold of something much bigger than just a piece of forbidden fruit. They took hold of the knowledge of good and evil, which had far-reaching consequences. In fact, everything was affected negatively in that we died spiritually, as God had warned. We no longer lived with God as our source, but tried to live apart from Him. We all failed at this miserably, but God had a plan to rescue us.

Jesus came to put things right. Through His authority, we have the advantage and the victory over sin and its consequences. The devil doesn’t want us to walk in that authority so he cons us into thinking that we don’t have it. He tricks us into thinking that we are losers and failures.

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The "Perfect" Mom

When you’re not managing it all and feel below standard, it’s okay. Perhaps you’re tempted to think that other mothers are perfect all the time and you’re one of those that just can’t get it right. God never intended making us all the same, just as He made every snowflake unique. We each have our own personal weaknesses and our own special strengths, so don’t measure yourself by others.

We may be human, but once we become born again, God puts His Spirit inside us. His Spirit is perfect, and yet He’s willing to live through imperfect believers like you and me. At the same time, He doesn’t intend us to be trapped by our weaknesses.

Just as we wouldn’t like to keep a messy house, so the Lord doesn’t want His children’s lives to be cluttered by burdens or shortcomings. He will gladly carry our burdens. As far as our shortcomings are concerned, the Holy Spirit is careful not to overwhelm us by pointing out everything at once. He knows how much we can handle.

Sometimes we might be tempted to try to perfect ourselves without His leading, or we might be tempted to point out other people’s faults. However, that is His job and not ours. We must remember that God is the Father and we are the children, not the other way around. He just wants us to be willing to take time to listen to His promptings.

He has called us to be holy as He is holy, but He hasn’t called us to be perfectionists. Perfectionism is a form of pride as it places the focus on our own performance instead of on His grace. When trying to do everything right becomes the goal, we are operating in our own strength. This puts us in a difficult situation because if we are attempting to keep up our impossibly high standards, we’ll eventually burn out.

On the other hand, when holiness comes by His grace then the glory is His, not ours. It’s about exchanging our lives for His. It’s the difference between self-righteous living and God’s life that He wants to give us. We have success only when we allow God to live His life through us by the working of His Holy Spirit.

Whether you are a perfectionist or not, I have good news for you: you are already acceptable in God’s eyes because of the blood that Jesus shed for you. You don’t have to prove yourself to Him. He loves you just for being you.

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