Living Life for Christ Alone

"A mirror?" She questioned. "You want to show me a mirror?" "Yes, but not just any mirror," He said. He motioned for her to look in the mirror, so she did. It was the same reflection she saw every other time she looked into a mirror, but this time, she looked with the Spirit of Christ alongside her.  "There are many ways you can look at yourself," He spoke gently to her. Peering in, she realized it was true.  Suddenly, she was seeing herself as she imagined others saw her. Some of what she saw made her gasp in horror.  "I did not know I looked like that to them," She thought, "Must I always be conscious of this?" "Ah, but that is not all there is," He said. "Look deeper."  She looked again, but nothing had changed. She shook her head. "I'm not sure how to look deeper."  He reached out and touched a veil that seemed to cover over her face. It was the veil that covered everything about her that ...

It is so easy to assume certain things about God, to assume certain things about the way He views me.  This meditation below encouraged my heart along this line of thought this morning.  Be encouraged as you read along. Maybe read it as though you yourself had written it.  I needed it. It lifted my heart towards Him.  May it do the same for you.  "...He rescued me because He delights in me." (Psalm 18:19) HE delights in me: The God of the Universe. The King of kings. The sinless, perfect One. The One who sees all and knows all. The One who sees me. The One whose glance makes the earth tremble and whose touch makes the mountains smoke. The One who needs only to utter a word and things are created out of nothing, miracles happen, lives are forever changed. He DELIGHTS in me: That God (the only God) delights in me. He smiles when He thinks of me. There is pleasure in His heart over me. He rejoices over me with singing.  I bring Him joy. He is not sad about me,...

"And now abides faith, hope, love; these three; but the greatest of these is love. "                   - 1 Corinthians 13: 13 A question gnawed at my mind as I considered the sentence above. Why would love be more important than faith and hope? The world is filled with unfair circumstances. Life seems to always be getting messed up. You'd think maybe hope would be most needed. And what about faith? Isn't that the key to pleasing God? Wouldn't faith be most important, because faith pleases God? Didn't He create us for His glory? (Hebrews 11:6) But, no... the verse clearly said, "...the greatest of these is love." It is amazing how when you go to the bible with a need for one thing, if you truly are searching, God will show you something better than what you were looking for. I had been searching for hope. I was getting to a place where I wondered if there was any. As I searched for verses on hope, I realized that God is the God of hop...

Are you comfortable? A sense of being comfortable had crept over me as I would go before God with my requests. No longer was there fear of a holy God. No longer was there a sense of awe. His love had been the emphasis so much that it was getting old.  I mean, can't we come before God "as we are"? To an extent, yes...  Our church culture of today emphasizes God's love so much today that we forget a very important aspect of our God and His love seems to be something we can just take advantage of any time we want.  But, don't you remember the God of the Old Testament? The God who was jealous of His people because they went after other gods? The God who fumed with hatred towards sin and evil? Isn't He the God who doesn't change?