The love of God is all encompassing – it can reach down to the very depths of circumstances and lift me to higher plains of His enabling grace and strength in the midst of the trials of life. The word declares, “His love endures forever,”…..His love bears the mark of the Cross and has an eternal purpose and endurance that can be released from the Indwelling Christ in me.
Have you ever thanked God for your life? Jesus died in my place that I might receive the quality of His abundant life for kingdom purpose.
Thank God for the life He has given me!
A young man once posed this question to a seasoned “Father of the Faith:” How can I make sure that I am in the right place when Jesus returns? The older man did not hesitate in his reply….”Stay thankful.” An attitude of gratitude to the Lord comes from a humble heart.
What was it that grieved the Lord so much with the Children of Israel in the wilderness wanderings?…..their continual murmuring! A complaining heart is full of unbelief and lacks trust in God that He has our best interests at heart. A thankful heart is a praising heart – praising God in all things, NOT FOR, BUT IN, all things….the trial of our faith.
One of the definitions of the word “praise” is shining. When a heart is praising God, the face shines, the eyes twinkle. A light comes out of praise that does not come from anything else. A child of God is a sunbeam – a “Son-beam.”
In our songs of praise and prayers of thankfulness we often use the scriptural reference to thank the Lord that He is our “SHIELD.” “Thou, O Lord, are my strength and shield.” We think of a shield as protecting us from an outward attack, but not only does the Lord protect against outside forces, but He also shields me from my self life – that force within that can drag me down in murmuring and condemnation. I need shielding from me!…..and the Holy Spirit can bring me a word or a song just when I need it to lift me above my circumstance! I may not be even conscious of His Presence but when He brings me His word, living bread, if I receive it then it is creative in my life and a flow of His grace comes…”Pure, exhaustless, ever-flowing – wondrous grace, it reaches me,” and God is glorified in my life.
In the secular domains of the workplaces in the world, the highest professional standards take the longest training. When we receive Jesus at the point of our salvation, the finished work of Calvary enables us to enter into our salvation. My salvation is full and complete and sealed through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, who is the DOOR of my salvation – my entrance into the kingdom of God, but when I entered through the DOOR it was the beginning of my spiritual journey on earth in the school of life. The learning process begins as I begin to see that God’s ways are not man’s ways, nor His thoughts as man’s thoughts. The Indwelling Christ, whom I received at salvation, now wants me to make Him Lord of my life and heart on a daily basis of becoming His disciple, learning from Him through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I make many mistakes along the way – a teachable child learns from his mistakes under the loving hand of his Heavenly Father. The problem often is that we disappear under a cloud of condemnation over our mistakes
instead of seeing that they are part of the learning process.
In Luke 22:32 Jesus praying for Peter said, “But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not ….” He did not pray that Peter would not fail, but that in the learning process his faith would not fail. Peter denied the Lord, broke his heart, went back to fishing, questioned three times by Jesus regarding Peter’s love for Him….Peter failed miserably but Jesus encouraged him. He knew of the potential for Peter’s divine calling and destiny. After telling Peter to “Feed my sheep,” He said to Him, “When you were young you girded yourself, walked wherever you wanted to, but when you shall be old…….another shall gird you and take you where you would not go,” John 21:18. Just like Peter, the areas where I do not want to go in my life are the areas that God can work in me to make me willing. When the work is done, it is by Christ in me, and God is glorified. This is the highest calling on my life – and the work takes time.
One of the safest lessons to learn is not to let condemnation in. John 3:20 “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart.” As long as my faith in God does not fail God can bring life from my failure, it can fertilize the Christ within and glorify the Lord.
To glorify God in my life is the highest call to the human heart.