Devotional 080409

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. The whole Nature is so fresh after the rain. Therefore, the shower of His blessings does not only give us our needy rain or provision in life, it also helps to cleanse our soul or whole being. Whenever God provides us our physical needs, He also wants to give us spiritual refreshment to know Him better. One of the coworkers of our sister company shared how she experienced the provision of God lately. She thought her ministry came under financially after she sent out her last check to the mission field; she had only three hundreds left in her company’s account with four coworkers waiting for their pay checks of this month. Yesterday, the Lord provided ten thousands through a church that met their needs. Once again, her soul is refreshed by the provision of God; knowing that God is in ultimate control. Not that she did not know the sovereignty of God theologically, she now know experientially the true Nature of God. Indeed, our Lord wants us to experience Him in a fresh new way and on a daily basis.

"Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" (Luke 24:26) Our Lord's Cross is the gateway into His life: His Resurrection means that He has power now to convey His life to me. When I am born again from above, I receive from the Risen Lord His very life.

Our Lord's Resurrection destiny is to bring "many sons unto glory." The fulfilling of His destiny gives Him the right to make us sons and daughters of God. We are never in the relationship to God that the Son of God is in; but we are brought by the Son into the relation of sonship. When Our Lord rose from the dead, He rose to an absolutely new life, to a life He did not live before He was incarnate. He rose to a life that had never been before; and His resurrection means for us that we are raised to His risen life, not to our old life. One day we shall have a body like unto His glorious body, but we can know now the effectiveness of His resurrection and walk in newness of life. "I would know Him in the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings; becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead" (Phil 3:10-11).

" For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him" (John 17:2). "Holy Spirit" is the experimental name for Eternal Life working in human beings here and now. The Holy Spirit is the Deity in proceeding power Who applies the Atonement to our experience. Thank God it is gloriously and majestically true that the Holy Spirit can work in us the very nature of Jesus if we will obey Him.

We have yet fully realized the abundant life we have in Christ. We know theologically that we are a new creation in Christ. But are we living this kind of new life? We admire the way Paul said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). But is it our daily experience? Dear Holy Spirit, show me how to realize this kind of life each day. Help me start with my inner desire - not to seek for your provision in life, but to seek you instead. A lot of time, we focus only on the temporal things on earth but not the eternal. We spend time worrying about our daily needs, but not meditating on our relationship with our eternal Provider and Protector. Change our perspectives in life and our operating mindset. Give us a new paradigm because we are truly a new creation in Christ.

Love you because of this new life,
Lawrence