Focus on the Right Stuff
Dearly beloved of God, we have a choice; we can focus on who we are in Christ, or we can look at ourselves through the eyes of the flesh.
If we look at ourselves in Christ we can live being full of joy knowing that we now have peace with God, we are justified, forgiven, saved; we are acceptable to the Father, we have access to Him by the spirit, He hears and answers our prayers; we have the victory over sin and death, and we have the hope of the glory of God, and so much more.
If we choose to focus on our flesh we will live a life of disappointing misery and regret. Not much of a choice, huh?
Now we are the sons of God, so we ought to think of ourselves as our Heavenly Father thinks about His kids. Without believing it is impossible to please Him, so believe what He says.
At times we can be our own worst enemy. We afflict ourselves with wounds of sin-consciousness, with feelings of unworthiness, and condemnation. We entertain the thought that we are unacceptable before the Father. These are perhaps the most painful wounds we bear.
These wounds lock us in a mental prison of our own making. We paint prison bars of being unacceptable to God; of unworthiness before Him. These thoughts cause us to doubt that God is always for us.
Carnal thinking focuses on the flesh. There is no good thing in your flesh. If this is your focus, no wonder you feel unworthy and unacceptable before Him, and doubt that He will perform His Word in your life.
How do we overcome this sad state of affairs? We take God at His Word, and believe what He says.
We need to get our minds on to God and His Son, and off of our flesh.
God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. Darkness does not come from God; it comes from our adversary, the devil.
God is Light, and there is no variableness with Him. He is not a schizophrenic that heals us one day, and then makes us sick the next. God does not change His mind about us from one day to the next. There is no darkness at all in Him!
God plainly reveals that He accepted us in Christ, and we are highly favored in His sight. Read Ephesians 1:3-6. It is the truth. Take Him at His Word.
God is always present and accessible to us; He says so. Read Ephesians 2:18.
Philippians 4:5 reveals that the LORD is at hand, so instead of being anxious about anything, in everything we should go to Him in prayer.
He will never leave us, nor will He ever forsake us. He says so in Hebrews 13:5, 6. He is our Helper.
Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He says so in Romans 8:35-39.
God provides for us richly all things to enjoy. He says so in I Timothy 6:17; Psalm 37:25 and 84:11. Why not take God at His Word?
God says that Jesus Christ bore our sins in his own body on the tree so that we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed. This is God’s Word, not some fable. Read it for yourself in I Peter 2:24.
Jesus Christ made peace between God and you. Read Romans 5:1; it is the truth.
We can either conform to this evil age, and think in the manner the adversary would have us to think, or we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we may prove the good, and well-pleasing, and mature will of God in our lives. It is our choice.
Hold in mind the reality that God created within you at the time you were born again. It is now Christ in you, the hope of glory.
This new reality is not by our works, or by our worthiness, but by God’s grace to us in Christ Jesus.
God does not lie, but our adversary the devil sure does. He is a liar, a deceiver, a tempter, a hinderer, and an accuser. Why would we ever listen to him?
Don't succumb to the devilish doubts that he works so hard to get us to accept. Instead, hold the Word of truth in mind.
Think like the son of God that God made you in Christ. Faith comes by hearing, by hearing the Word of God, so…listen to Him and believe Him!
There is never a problem with God; our problem is that we doubt Him, and do not think as He instructs us to think.
Persuade yourself with God’s Word, and you will have confidence toward God.
Be full of joy, and give thanks for what God did for you in Christ Jesus, and who you now are in him. It’s the truth, dearly beloved of God, so think about the right stuff.