Daily Devotional Day & Night

HAPPY TUESDAY!

I pray all is well with everyone, and you enjoyed this beautiful "terrific Tuesday". I'm doing well, it's good to be back home, but I must admit I'm missing the beach a little. I'm very blessed, and am ready to get back to working hard to achieve the goals set before me. I've been on hiatus for a while, just trying to deal with the huge shift of life, but I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. In my last few days of meditation, I found that it's time to step out of the “why me” and into the “why not me” attitude. God has given me everything I need to achieve His will, and that's all that matters. I keep hearing this voice saying, "Keep your eye on above". Then, I watched the movie "Inviticus" last night, and the last few lines from this poem, written by William Ernest Henley, read, "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” which deeply touched my heart. I also heard a quote this quote: “If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life.” ~Marcus Garvey. Wow, I’m so grateful for this message that God has given me, I now know what changes need to be made within me, and I wanted to share these quotes with you as well. When we have Jesus in our heart, that makes us strong and mighty, so we must have confidence in ourselves, because Christ lives in us, and He makes us who we are. Our level of Faith in our abilities through Christ, determines our future. I'd like to wish my sisters a happy birthday, Wanda's was yesterday and LaSheda's is today, I love you guys! Enjoy the remainder of your day, and be blessed family!

Today's scriptures are about dying to self, and living for Christ. What does that mean to you? For years, when I was first saved, I heard people say, "you must die to self", but I never quite understood what that meant. Once I started studying the bible a little more I noticed how God worked in the lives of His chosen people. These men and women gave up their lives, and/or personal hopes and dreams to follow Him. When Gabriel came to Mary to relay the message from God, that she would become pregnant with a son, she surrendered right then and there. After all was explained to her it's written: "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1:38 NIV) Even though her family had planned to give her to Joseph as a wife, and they were supposed to build a life together, she didn't think twice about surrendering to God, and neither did Joseph. They both are a great example of “dyeing to self”.
Later, every one of Jesus’ servants left everything they had and followed Him. I noticed the bible often says Jesus had a "multitude" of people following Him. All of those people died to themselves to live in Christ, because they wanted to learn the ways of God. All that mattered to them was pleasing Him, which is a prime example of "Loving God with all of your heart". Now by no means am I telling you to quit your job and sell all you have, to join the ministry or do missions work, but if you feel that that's God's calling on your life then you have to do it.
When you confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, you're not only receiving "life" from Christ, but you're surrendering your own life to Him. You will begin to be transformed into a servant, but you have to be willing love Him with all of your heart. To die to self is to completely surrender. It means to no longer care about pleasing your flesh, and getting the "quick fix", or "instant gratification", but it's all about suffering with Christ, learning and doing what pleases God first. Jesus was the prime example of how to do that, that's why we must live in Him. He truly lived for God, and everything that He did, from the time He woke up in the morning, to the time He went to bed, was done with our Father in mind. Jesus lived to show us the love of God, so that we could have tangible proof of His grace, love, and mercy, as well as to pay our sin debt in full. It's written: If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. (John 14:7-10) Studying the life of Jesus is so important because getting to know the Son means knowing the Father as well.
I often write about Paul, because he's another person who died to his flesh, and truly followed Christ. He took his job as a teacher seriously, and taught from both viewpoints, the Saint and the Sinner. He could tell you first hand how it felt to be delivered for a life of strife. I love his passage entitled "Walking in the Spirit", which truly teaches us how to die to the flesh. He warns us about the dangers of living in the flesh, as well as the rewards of walking in the Spirit. Paul physically died devoted to Jesus Christ, but he begun to die to his flesh that day Jesus spoke to him on the Damascus road.
Paul explains: Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-21) Now none things are of God, so if we practice any of them, we haven't fully died to self, nor completely live in Christ. We must take life one day at a time, and this journey one step at a time. Paul also said, "I die daily", teaching us to lay down our life for Christ each given day. Take a moment to examine yourself, and pray and ask God to help you die to yourself, and you’ll notice it happening more and more each day. To the flesh sin feels natural, but once you continue to focus on the Lord, it’ll begin to feel unnatural. I’m practicing it each day, and I see more improvement as time goes one. I urge you to try Him out!
If you don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, please say that prayer now. If you're not sure of your Salvation or where you stand in Christ, take the God Quiz today. My favorite verse today is: If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

ENJOY! http://www.bible.com/scripture-detail.php?juli=2455370&dtype=Scripture
http://www.intouch.org/site/pp.aspx?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=4943197
http://www.intouch.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter.asp?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=4943547

I love you!