Learning to Live with Christ Little by Little

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.      Ephesians 3:16-17  NIV

   The goal of the Christian life is to learn to live with Christ in everything we do.  We can’t do this on our own, so the Holy Spirit empowers us to do this.  As He does, we are  filled more and more with the life of Christ.  Through the Spirit, we can learn to live in a fuller and fuller partnership with Jesus, so that His good life flows through us in ways that we can hardly imagine.

Sometimes we have big breakthroughs or crisis experiences on this journey, but mostly we learn to live with Christ little by little.  Our experience of this depends on two things.  First, we need a correct understanding of Jesus.  We need to know that Jesus is always present in us and  trust that He is always ready to share His good and beautiful life with us.  Second, we need to take small steps to become more and more aware of His presence in us. 

   This second part is what these SPAs are all about.  Each of these activities is designed to make us more aware of Christ in us.  Ask yourself two questions:

   1.  What are two simple and practical ways you can remind yourself each day this week that Jesus is in you and wants to share His life with you?  

   2.  What simple and short prayer can you pray each time you are reminded of Christ that will invite Christ to share His life with you?

When Are You Aware of God's Presence?

Where shall I go from your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?   Psalm 139:7  NIV

Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being.    Acts 17:27-28  NIV

   Scripture is clear that God is present everywhere.  Wherever we go, we are in his presence.  The issue is not whether he is there, the issue is whether or not we are aware of him and acknowledge him.  If we want to experience God’s presence, our awareness and acknowledgement of him needs to increase. 

   Sometimes giving thought to a few questions and planning a simple action step can help us take big steps in living with a greater awareness of God.  This week, set aside some time to consider these three questions.  It might be helpful to write down your answers.

1.  When is it easiest for you to be aware of God’s presence?  It could be in a worship service or when you are in nature or at some other time.

     

2.  When would you like to be more aware of God’s presence?  This could be when you are at work or when you are with your family or some other time.

    

3.  What are two steps you can take to remind yourself of God’s presence at the time you answered for the last question?  This is not a difficult question.  Keep your answer simple.

Enjoy Doing as Much Good as You Can!

 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.    Acts 10:37-38   NIV

   When we think about living like Jesus, we often get sidetracked into thinking about what we should not do. We end up putting a whole lot of energy into not being mean or impatient or dishonest or other actions we know are wrong.  This is a sly trick of our enemy.  He knows that if we spend our time thinking about the bad we don’t want to do, we won’t accomplish much of the good we do want to do. If we spend  all of our energy  trying not to do evil, we won’t experience God’s power to do good.    

    If you want to be like Jesus, make it your simple goal to go “around  doing good”  as much as possible.  Ask God to flow his healing and life giving love through you to others as you go through your day.  This week, start each day with this simple, centering prayer.

           “Father in Heaven, I give you all of me today.  I want to do as much good as possible.  Please flow your goodness through every part of me today so that others can know your healing life.”

Wisdom that Overcomes Anxiety

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are WISE will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.              Daniel 12:2-3   NIV

A WISE man fears the Lord and shuns evil, but a fool is hotheaded and reckless.        Proverbs 14:16   NIV

    Wisdom starts with honoring God as God.  Wise people are fully aware that God is God and they are not, that God is in control, not them.   A lack of wisdom is the major contributor to both anger and anxiety because these stem from foolishly thinking we can control the circumstances of life.  We stress out and blow up when things seem out of our control because we are not trusting the One who is in control.  Anger and anxiety inevitably lead to regretful decisions.

   

  Daniel is a testament to powerful, yet foolish world leaders who  tried to gain and maintain as much control as possible.  They gained much for a while, but in the end, they lost it all.  In contrast, the end of Daniel speaks of the wise who inherit everlasting life.  They may not have had much along the way, but in the end, they gain everything.

    The beginning of the path of wisdom is learning to acknowledge the sovereign power and gracious love of God each and EVERY DAY.  As Proverbs says, “In all your ways acknowledge him and  he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:6).  This instruction is parallel to the meaning of “hallowed” in the first line of the Lord’s Prayer.  Jesus teaches us to start every day by acknowledging that God is above and beyond everyone and everything else. This week, begin each day by slowly praying the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), especially paying attention to the first line, “Father in Heaven, HALLOWED be your name.”  The rest of the prayer is about living wisely, in harmony with the God of the universe.   

Surprised by Temptation

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.      Ephesians 6:12   NIV

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’    

Matthew 6:13  NIV

   We make four big mistakes when we face temptations and trials in life.

       1.  We are surprised by them.

       2.  We underestimate our enemy.

       3.  We fail to see that our temptation or trial is part of a bigger battle.

       4.  We turn to God last instead of first.

   

   Scripture makes it very clear that the struggle we have in this life is not just about flesh and blood.  We are in the middle of a spiritual battle between the forces of God and the forces of evil. This is why Jesus taught us to pray that we would not be led into temptation and that our Heavenly Father would deliver us from the evil.

   This does not mean we need to look for the devil behind every bush.  It does mean, though, that we need to expect difficult times and be prepared to persevere in the fight.  If we expect life to be hard, then it is much easier to keep a clear head and trust God and do his will in the face of difficulty.

   This week, pray through the Lord’s prayer at the beginning of each day and make sure you are aware of the last sentence of the prayer as you pray it.  Ask your Heavenly Father to lead you away from temptation and to protect you from the schemes of your enemy who desperately wants to devour you.