The Living Presence Of God

The Holy Spirit is the living presence of God setting up residence inside you. He doesn’t settle for surface-level renovations - He targets the root of your desires. He breaks up spiritual blindness, dismantles selfish impulses, and plants desires your natural flesh couldn’t create on its own.

When love replaces bitterness, or unexplainable quiet settles over a mind that used to run on anxiety, that's the Holy Spirit bearing harvest.

Salvation is the Spirit of Truth tearing down the old framework of your life and speaking brand-new life into dead bones.

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules."

Ezekiel 36:26–27

- David Delfeld

Provided by "I Am With You Always"

When The Flesh Wins

Let’s talk about the part of Christianity most people won’t…

What happens when you fail?

When the flesh wins.

When you fall back into something you thought God already delivered you from.

Those moments.

I love Jesus. I really do.

I seek Him. I pray. I open His Word. I want my life to reflect Him. But if you follow my content, I want you to understand something about me…

I’m not perfect.

There are days I struggle.

Days where my flesh gets the better of me.

Days where I walk away from a moment thinking,

“Lord… I should have handled that differently.”

And I’ll be honest…

There are days my flesh wins battles I wish it didn’t. And in those moments the enemy loves to whisper, “See? You’re not who you say you are.”

But here’s something I’ve learned through my failures… Those moments are exactly what the gospel is about.

The gospel was never for people who never fall. It’s for people who fall… and realize they desperately need a Savior. It’s for the person who runs back to God after messing up and says…

“Lord, without Your mercy I have nothing.”

My failures don’t make me run from Christ.

They make me run to Him. Because every time I fall short, I’m reminded of something powerful…

I was never saved because of my perfection. I was saved because of His grace. So if you follow my page thinking I’ve got it all figured out…

I don’t.

I’m just a flawed human being who loves Jesus and keeps getting back up, running to the cross.

The cross wasn’t built for people who have it all together, It was built for people like me who don’t. Author: Ryan Teaford

Abide In Christ

Abide in Christ – Being in Christ
“Abide in Me [Christ], and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).

Consider abiding in Christ or being in Christ as a journey. This spiritual adventure begins with a personal experience with Jesus Christ and continues for the rest of your life. The steps on this glorious path are ones of both pain and great gain since you must leave your former, natural pathways to follow a new way of living (2 Corinthians 5:17). This new path involves denial of your former path and its accompanying selfish desires and actions (see Romans 6:3-5), but is also filled with great blessings, including the very presence of Jesus Christ and a joy that is beyond description in human terms alone (1 Peter 1:8). This new life is one lighted only in small steps, which require faith in following along with, but not ahead of, Jesus Christ. Yet those who choose to discipline themselves do so with the assurance of fellowship that continues forever with Jesus Christ in His Home called Heaven (John 3:16 and John 14:1-3).

Abide in Christ – Remaining in Close Fellowship with Jesus Christ

To abide in Christ is not a matter of being in a relationship with Jesus and then suddenly being without that relationship. Abiding in Christ is experiencing an intimate, close relationship with Jesus as your Savior. It is more than a superficial acquaintance.

The life of Jesus Christ on earth was one of trial and suffering (Matthew 8:20), but also one of great joy in doing the will of God the Father (John 15:9-11). After the initial experience of coming along side of Jesus Christ, one begins to walk more and more as He walked (1 John 2:6). It is accompanied by a heart that is inclined and dedicated to obey God and His Word.

Abide in Christ – Continuing in Closeness

Being in Christ also involves the Holy Spirit, who convicts, comforts, and communicates with the disciple of Christ (John 14, 16). The truth that the Holy Spirit will teach the believer in Christ is always the same as that which Jesus Christ said to His disciples while they walked with Him on this earth (John 16:13-15).

This invisible leading is one that goes beyond words and even outward actions. There is an intimacy for the follower of Christ who hears the beckoning and guidance of the Holy Spirit which transcends what can be described in human terms alone. This closeness leads to a fruitful life with both inward and outward manifestations. These fruit are gifts from this life with the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Jesus Christ likened abiding in Him to a branch of a tree remaining part of the main vine of a tree (Luke 13 and John 15). From this vine (Jesus Christ) comes the only true, spiritual nourishment and eternal life. The branch that seeks its own ways and substitutes candy for spiritual food will not grow and will not produce spiritual fruit (John 15:2, 6). The branch which receives this spiritual food grows and helps to lead to other growth on the tree and receives to itself a life of “peace that passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).

Provided by "All About Following Jesus"

Begin Again, In Me

Father, my mind cannot grasp your greatness. I read your Word, your many feats - how you advocate for us, and my mind, my self-absorption, my pride, makes me focus on myself - my small problems, my small worries and cares. Your ways are good. You see beyond what I can see. You pursue justice. You ask us what we will do - if we will stand with you or against you, if we will both appreciate the lives you've given us, the opportunities to love and do what is good, in your name, or if we will, instead, fight our own fight, for our own glory.

Lord, forgive me for how I forget you. It is horrible, and it is true. I am your daughter, the one you love. Yet, my ways are not your ways. And I surrender my ways now. I give you my heart again, with all of its stubbornness, feelings of entitlement, self-hatred, judgmental attitudes.

Here I am, confident that, if you want me to, I can hear your voice, and yet how often do I ignore it? How often do you speak, and I close my ears? How often do you open your arms and I run to comfort in other things? Productivity, achievement, food, things? How often do you weep at the injustice of this world, and I close my eyes and heart to what is right in front of me? How often do you feel frustration and anger and yet love and love and love?

You love me despite me. Your love has nothing to do with what I do, what I think. But it is your love that breaks open my heart. And my old self, the one who rails against you, dies at the foot of the cross. She cannot stand - this old self - at your feet, Jesus. In your presence, the false parts of her wither; all of the sin in her completely destroyed. Take her again, will you?

Take this old self of mine. Take her and destroy her. Throw her into the fire and make her new. It is in death that new life comes. She needs your new life now. Jesus, you are tireless in your love. You are kind and good. I pick up your cross, my new self - strong and confident in you, and the cross does its work. Again and again, I am made brand new. In all good things, Jesus, you are present.

Lord, be present in me now. I stand here, your beauty, your delight. I stand here, filled with love, capable of anything you have for me to do. You defeat all of my enemies. You crush my every foe. You pursue my heart, pointing out what gets in the way of me completely following you. You ask me - do you want all of me now? For this, right now, needs to go.

And I say yes. Right here, right now. I say yes. I want all of you. Whatever it takes. Remove from me what is not of you and destroy it now. Right here. I am filled with your love. I am filled with your truth. You, Jesus, are the Word come down. You, Jesus, are the Beginning before the beginning.

Begin again, in me. I begin again, with you.

Amen.

Hope Has a Name: Jesus

 “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 (NLT)

Have you ever misplaced your keys? It’s so frustrating. You're running late, the kids are impatient, and nothing is going according to plan.

Imagine misplacing something far more important than your keys - your hope.

When we place our hope in anything or any person, including our children, we get stuck.

It’s time [for us] to get unstuck and embrace our true hope: Jesus. He is not a fleeting hope or a wish but a rock-solid anchor for our souls. Here are three ways hope in Jesus can encourage us today:

1. Jesus is our life.
“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So, I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Especially in parenthood, it can feel like we’re always pouring out our time, energy and love. Sometimes it leaves us wondering, Who am I outside of being a parent? But your life isn’t defined by the roles you play or what you accomplish. You are defined by the One who saved you and lives in you. When you feel empty, remember that His life in you is abundant and never-ending.

2. Jesus is our love.
In Galatians 2:20, we are also reminded that Jesus loves us and gave Himself for us. The King of the universe chose to die for you, breaking the power of sin and opening the floodgates of forgiveness. His love for you is beyond measure, an unending fountain that never runs dry. Jesus will never turn His loving heart away from you.

3. Jesus is our significance.
In a world that measures success by Instagram likes, spotless homes and perfectly behaved kids, it’s easy to feel like you aren’t enough. But Jesus flips that script. If God gave Himself for you, think of how precious you are to Him.

Don’t underestimate the significance of your daily faithfulness. Verses like 2 Timothy 1:5 show us that the consistent love of grandmothers and mothers can teach children the Christian faith: Paul wrote to Timothy, “I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and now, I am convinced, is in you also”.

Lois and Eunice were so lit up with love that the embers of grace became a burning flame in Timothy.

Don’t misplace your hope in temporary things. Cars will break down, kids will test your patience, and life will be beautiful and terrible. But Jesus is your unshakable hope. He is your life, love and significance.

Your hope has a name, and His name is Jesus.

 

Heavenly Father, empower us to live anchored in the unshakable hope that has a name - Jesus. In the Holy Spirit’s power, may our lives be lit up with love. In the powerful name of Jesus, our hope, we pray. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

- Derwin L. Gray
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"

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