Ephesians | Kristi's Morning Devotional

September 2, 2017September 3, 2017

Make Every Thought Count

I think I told you once that as a child I was plagued with bad dreams. Well, I had a bad dream last night however, now there is a difference. What once were dreams filled with monsters and boogie men have now turned to situations and circumstances that would seek to destroy my peace and rob me of the ones I love. They seem more real and at times harder to deal with BUT…the exciting part is that now I use God’s Word in my dreams to dispel any sense of fear and danger!

In fact, I’ve really started using these night time situations to gauge my stand in the Word. Jesus said to his disciples, “In this world you will have tribulation, but we of good cheer I have overcome the world”. My dreams let me see how I would react to a situation – do I run and hide and let fear overtake me or do I stand firm, established on God’s word and remain at peace?

In II Timothy 1:7 we have a promise that all of us can hold on too.

“The Spirit God gave us does not make us afraid. His Spirit is a source of power and love and self-control.” II Timothy 1:7 ERV

King David said in Psalm 4:8
“When I go to bed, I sleep in peace, because, Lord, you keep me safe.” ERV

If God isn’t the one who sends fear but power and we are confident that the Lord keeps us safe then we can sleep in peace. So what to do with those bad dreams that creep in –

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” II Corinthians 3:3-5 NKJV

Use your dreams as spiritual training ground. Make them line up with God’s word! The spirit man is always awake and alert – although the physical man needs rest the spirit of man is ready to fight if we keep him energized with God’s Word.

Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Every thought – not just the waking thoughts but every thought. Let the Word of God bring you to victory – speak it out with your mouth, let it control your heart and your actions.

The Apostle Paul says that we are to stand in the full armor of God in Ephesians 6. Part of the armor is the helmet of salvation – the helmet protects the head, the head is where these disobedient thoughts come from. So the helmet of salvation protects our minds from thoughts that don’t line up with God’s word. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God – the way we get saved is by hearing God’s word, the way we have our mind renewed is by hearing God’s word.

“Accept God’s salvation as your helmet. And take the sword of the Spirit—that sword is the teaching of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times. Pray with all kinds of prayers, and ask for everything you need. To do this you must always be ready. Never give up. Always pray for all of God’s people.” Ephesians 6:17-18 ERV

So whether you’re awake or asleep live in a constant state of prayer – prayer is communicating with the Father. Talk to Him about the things in your life and about things that are in the lives of those you love and then things that are going on around the world with people you don’t know.

Take every thought captive as you do fear will be gone and you will be filled with love, power and a sound mind.

August 28, 2017August 28, 2017

A Gift Called Wisdom

We have a real need in our world today for wisdom – God inspired, God given wisdom! We don’t need intellect or education – that’s knowledge. Knowledge without wisdom is futile.

Good old common sense, isn’t so common anymore.

I was doing a search on wisdom and what I found was really cool. Really it was! Wisdom, the word, is first used in Exodus chapters 28 – 36 when the Lord showed Moses how to make the Tabernacle. It talks about all the workers who were assigned the tasks …of building. It says that they were all filled with a spirit of wisdom.

“I have chosen Bezalel from the Judah tribe to make the sacred tent and its furnishings. 3-5 Not only have I filled him with my Spirit, but I have given him wisdom and made him a skilled craftsman who can create objects of art with gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood.” Exodus 31:2-4

Then it goes on to show that Joshua was filled with wisdom and Solomon had wisdom. Solomon said wisdom was of more value than gold and we should “pursue” it!

Wisdom brings understanding; understanding of God’s ways and the blessings He has given to us as His own children.

“So I never stop being grateful for you, as I mention you in my prayers. 17 I ask the glorious Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you his Spirit. The Spirit will make you wise and let you understand what it means to know God. 18 My prayer is that light will flood your hearts and that you will understand the hope that was given to you when God chose you. Then you will discover the glorious blessings that will be yours together with all of God’s people.” Ephesians 1:16-18

God has promised to give wisdom to anyone who asks – so as you are looking at your day, your occupation, your marriage, your kids… Let God fill you with His wisdom and it will definitely make a much more favorable outcome.

“If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won’t correct you for asking. 6 But when you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm.” James 1:5-6

If you need wisdom today – ask and you will receive it.

August 22, 2017August 22, 2017

The busier I go…

There was an old saying I remember from growing up – The busier I go, the behinder I get!

So many times we times we get wrapped up in doing that we lose traction and fall behind in what’s important. Does that happen to any of you?

Work, work, work. No time for rest – there’s always another project, always another errand, always another “to do” that needs to be crossed off the list. Sound familiar? We all fall into that trap – overdoing. It’s time to unplug, even for a few hours. Give yourself permission to rest or relax – it’s not God’s plan to have every minute filled with activity. I’m not advocating laziness either, there is a balance!

This same frantic compulsion to work can also carry over into our spiritual lives. We think that we have to being “doing” things for God so that He will be pleased with us. And that mindset is more destructive to us than the physical labor that we put in.

“Christ died for us when we were unable to help ourselves. We were living against God, but at just the right time Christ died for us. 7 Very few people will die to save the life of someone else, even if it is for a good person. Someone might be willing to die for an especially good person. 8 But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us.” Romans 5:6-8 ERV

Before we could do or even had a desire to do anything for God, Christ died for us. His unconditional love made provision for us when we were unable to do anything to save ourselves. And His love is still unconditional toward us once we accept Him as our Saviour.

If you are living a life of “doing” things for God to earn His favor, you don’t understand grace. There is nothing you can do to get God to love you more and there is nothing you can do that would cause God to love you less. His love comes to us by GRACE! So does that mean you just go out and do whatever you want because you know that God will always love you – to coin a phrase from the Apostle Paul, God forbid!

Our lives should reflect the gratitude and love we feel for the great sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf but it shouldn’t be done trying to earn it. There is nothing that we can do to earn God’s love.

“But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. 5 We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) 6 Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places. 7 God did this so that his kindness to us who belong to Christ Jesus would clearly show for all time to come the amazing richness of his grace.
8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. 9 You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about. 10 God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.” Ephesians 2:4-10 ERV

So take a break today…stop working to be good enough for God. Our efforts will never accomplish that but instead take time to rest and enjoy God’s grace and let love flow from your heart to His!