The Good Life
My attention was drawn this morning to Ephesians 2:10 and the verses after it through to the end of the chapter. Paul tells us in verse 10 that we are God’s workmanship. We are the handiwork of God. We have been recreated; we are new creations, a new species of being that did not exist before. We are new creations as a result of the salvation that we accepted in Christ Jesus, which Paul talks about in verses 8 and 9. We are born anew or born again, as another place in the Bible calls it.
When we are born again, we then have access to all of God’s kingdom, everything He has. Why? So that we can carry out, do those good works that He planned ahead of time for us. We are taking paths which He prepared for us ahead of time, before we were ever born. When we walk in the paths God created for us, we live the good life, a life which He prepared for us to live. We were designed to live life God’s way. That is the best way to live on this earth.
You may be asking yourself this question. Well, if it is such a good life, why am I facing all these challenges all the time. And why does life seem to be so tough? Why am I sick? Why am I broke? Why am I in the mess I am in? What is wrong here with this picture? It doesn’t line up with verse 10. Here is the extra factor in this equation----his name is satan and he hates God’s children because they have access to what he rebelled to try to obtain. And his one aim is to kill, steal and destroy what God has provided for His children, the abundant life.
Today, if you are not living the good life that God provided for you as His child, there is something you can do about it. We have a handbook called the Bible, which God gave to us, to teach us, to train us in the ways of God and how to live the good life. This book tells us how to fight the good fight of faith against our adversary, the devil, and win every time. Oh, he may challenge you and he may whisper in your ear that you are a failure and that you are defeated and that you will never overcome the situation you are in, but in reality he is frightened that you will learn the truth that you have authority over him and that you are victorious.
What I have learned in this life is that whatever has been sent against me to destroy me or steal from me or attempt to kill me is not greater than the One Who is living in me. The key to this whole picture is getting a true understanding of Who Jesus Christ really is and Who the Holy Spirit is (Who is living in me), and Who the Heavenly Father is. We must understand from His Word His great love for us, which delivers us from all that would come against us.
Our problem is that we get frustrated, scared, upset, and distraught when things don’t turn around when we think they should. We pace the floor with our Bible in our hands. We desperately pray, hoping to get an answer. In other words, we are frantically trying to find a way out. This is not faith. Faith is knowing God so well and His love for us so well, that we know that He has our life in His hands and He is turning things to our own good. We rest in peace in the middle of the storm that is raging all around us. This is not something that we can work up or fake. Peace is very real and is there because the Prince of Peace is there for us.
But our minds and emotions must be trained to yield to God and His care for us when we come into these desperate situations. It is not an overnight training. It takes time to develop our minds to conform to God’s way of thinking and train our emotions to yield to Him. This time for development is not in the middle of the storm. It is to be done before the storm comes. And here is the challenge. Most people feel that they don’t have time in this busy world to spend a portion of their day in God’s Word and with Him in prayer. So, which is better----spending hours pacing the floor or hours waiting in the doctor’s office and the emergency room or hours on the phone seeking counsel from man?
God’s Word has very specific instructions for us. Renew our minds with the Word. Pray in the spirit. Meditate and confess His Word. Develop the fruit of the spirit. But most of us, and I include myself in this category, get too busy with life to take the time for ourselves personally to learn from God’s Word how to think, talk, and act like God. We will get God results only when we do it God’s way. And all the frenetic activity to get the situation turned around will do no good if it is based on frantic attempts to beg God for relief. Our flesh will never produce anything but fleshly results. Our spirit will produce spiritual results.
We live in a world that is controlled by satan and the flesh. Therefore, it is mandatory that we stay in the Word of God and in His Presence in order to live victoriously in spite of what things get thrown our way. And things will get thrown our way. Satan sees to that. He is looking for a way to defeat you and cause you to think that you cannot get out of the pit you are in. Well, the best scripture I know to throw back at him is this: God sent His Word and healed me, rescued me and delivered me from the pit of destruction (Psalm 107:20). In this world, God’s Word is His method of delivering us and keeping us. If you and I won’t back down from what His Word says about us, we will overcome our situations. It is a battle against all the odds of this world. Stay steady and don’t buckle or give in to the pressures of satan. He is a loser and you are a winner in and through Christ Jesus.
When we are born again, we then have access to all of God’s kingdom, everything He has. Why? So that we can carry out, do those good works that He planned ahead of time for us. We are taking paths which He prepared for us ahead of time, before we were ever born. When we walk in the paths God created for us, we live the good life, a life which He prepared for us to live. We were designed to live life God’s way. That is the best way to live on this earth.
You may be asking yourself this question. Well, if it is such a good life, why am I facing all these challenges all the time. And why does life seem to be so tough? Why am I sick? Why am I broke? Why am I in the mess I am in? What is wrong here with this picture? It doesn’t line up with verse 10. Here is the extra factor in this equation----his name is satan and he hates God’s children because they have access to what he rebelled to try to obtain. And his one aim is to kill, steal and destroy what God has provided for His children, the abundant life.
Today, if you are not living the good life that God provided for you as His child, there is something you can do about it. We have a handbook called the Bible, which God gave to us, to teach us, to train us in the ways of God and how to live the good life. This book tells us how to fight the good fight of faith against our adversary, the devil, and win every time. Oh, he may challenge you and he may whisper in your ear that you are a failure and that you are defeated and that you will never overcome the situation you are in, but in reality he is frightened that you will learn the truth that you have authority over him and that you are victorious.
What I have learned in this life is that whatever has been sent against me to destroy me or steal from me or attempt to kill me is not greater than the One Who is living in me. The key to this whole picture is getting a true understanding of Who Jesus Christ really is and Who the Holy Spirit is (Who is living in me), and Who the Heavenly Father is. We must understand from His Word His great love for us, which delivers us from all that would come against us.
Our problem is that we get frustrated, scared, upset, and distraught when things don’t turn around when we think they should. We pace the floor with our Bible in our hands. We desperately pray, hoping to get an answer. In other words, we are frantically trying to find a way out. This is not faith. Faith is knowing God so well and His love for us so well, that we know that He has our life in His hands and He is turning things to our own good. We rest in peace in the middle of the storm that is raging all around us. This is not something that we can work up or fake. Peace is very real and is there because the Prince of Peace is there for us.
But our minds and emotions must be trained to yield to God and His care for us when we come into these desperate situations. It is not an overnight training. It takes time to develop our minds to conform to God’s way of thinking and train our emotions to yield to Him. This time for development is not in the middle of the storm. It is to be done before the storm comes. And here is the challenge. Most people feel that they don’t have time in this busy world to spend a portion of their day in God’s Word and with Him in prayer. So, which is better----spending hours pacing the floor or hours waiting in the doctor’s office and the emergency room or hours on the phone seeking counsel from man?
God’s Word has very specific instructions for us. Renew our minds with the Word. Pray in the spirit. Meditate and confess His Word. Develop the fruit of the spirit. But most of us, and I include myself in this category, get too busy with life to take the time for ourselves personally to learn from God’s Word how to think, talk, and act like God. We will get God results only when we do it God’s way. And all the frenetic activity to get the situation turned around will do no good if it is based on frantic attempts to beg God for relief. Our flesh will never produce anything but fleshly results. Our spirit will produce spiritual results.
We live in a world that is controlled by satan and the flesh. Therefore, it is mandatory that we stay in the Word of God and in His Presence in order to live victoriously in spite of what things get thrown our way. And things will get thrown our way. Satan sees to that. He is looking for a way to defeat you and cause you to think that you cannot get out of the pit you are in. Well, the best scripture I know to throw back at him is this: God sent His Word and healed me, rescued me and delivered me from the pit of destruction (Psalm 107:20). In this world, God’s Word is His method of delivering us and keeping us. If you and I won’t back down from what His Word says about us, we will overcome our situations. It is a battle against all the odds of this world. Stay steady and don’t buckle or give in to the pressures of satan. He is a loser and you are a winner in and through Christ Jesus.
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 6:03 AM
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