But Who Are You?

[S] Acts 19:15 --
 ¹⁵And the evil spirit answered and said to them, "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"

[O] At times my enemies seem to know more about myself than what I know about myself.  In fact worst enemy is the one who is clueless about who they are up against.  In the spiritual realm the evil spirits know who the Holy Spirit is very well and also can distinguish which spirit belongs to Jesus or not.  So if I belong to Jesus then there really is nothing to fear about the evil spirit because they cannot even think about touching the people of God while those who do not belong to Jesus are at great risk of being attacked by the evil spirit.  In this passage, the evil spirit identifies those who do not belong to God (but pretends to be) and so imitation Christians won't be left alone by the evil spirits.

[A] Be recognized by the evil spirit as the one belonging to Jesus; and even further as one like Paul who are boldly speaking out and teaching about Jesus to others.

[P] Dear Father, I want to carry the mark of Jesus in my life every moment.  Please allow such a mark to be ingrained into my life such that even Satan would recognize me as of your child.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Proof of Abiding in Him

[S] 1 John 3:24 --
 ²⁴The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

[O] Abiding in God takes more than the willing heart although that is a good starting point.  It must be complemented by keeping (action) His commandments. This act of obedience can only be done by the Spirit given from God because on our own it is impossible to complete.  So in order for me to abide in Him, having the Spirit in me is a must and so the fact that I can abide in Him means I have the Spirit in me.  Jesus came 2,000 years ago in order for me to abide in Him through the Spirit He sent us after His ascension into Heaven.  And I am glad I had received His Spirit into my life many years ago, however, the fact that I still struggle to abide in Him on daily basis points out that my inner struggle between my self will vs. the Spirit is an on-going phenomena that I have to observe carefully and guide wisely to bring out His Spirit's fruits.  In many ways, I must minimize my will power and submit to the leading of His Spirit because in the end by revealing the works of the Spirit in my life that I will prove that I belong to Him.

[A] As I daily meet with Jesus, I need to learn to hear His voice teaching me in which area I need to let go of my will-power and to surrender and submit to His Spirit.  This is not to put a show to others, but this way others will recognize that it is His Spirit working in my life that sustains me.

[P] Dear Spirit, thank You for coming into my life and working in me.  I know I need to surrender more areas of my life to reveal my abiding in You.  I desire this very much and I also realize this is a "dangerous" request because You will answer my request and that potentially means I need to face some challenging circumstances to burn away the impurities in my mind -- i.e., difficult.  Continue to give me strength, wisdom, and healthy outlook to carry on with my life highlighting Your wonderful fruits in my life.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

My Flesh and My Heart May Fail

[S] Psalm 73:25-28 --
    ²⁵Whom have I in heaven but You?
         And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
    ²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail,
         But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
    ²⁷For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;
         You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.
    ²⁸But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
         I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
         That I may tell of all Your works.

[O] What a great praise this is to my God and Lord of my life!  This described my sincere heart toward God and as I read and re-read this passage, it gave me a wellspring of strength to carry on.  This must be the quick answer to my prayer from yesterday's journaling.  God is good indeed.  My own "efforts" (flesh & heart) may fail but God will never fail and He's encouraging me to take the step of releasing my children into His hand because He will make sure they will not perish but to tell of His wonderful works to the whole world.  As stated in verse 28, I will "make" the Lord God my refuge and stronghold.  That is my decision from this point one.

[A] I will praise Him today by repeating verse 25.  You're the awesome God!

[P] Dear God, I praise You for leading me and my family into Your presence.  Please continue to mold our family so we, too, may follow the steps of those who will not only be used by You to spread Your wonderfulness to this dying world, but to also praise You for You alone can bring the best out of our lives.  There is nothing I can do that will replace any portion of what You can do through me.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Spirit vs. Letter

[S] Romans 3:29 --
 ²⁹But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

[O] Any society desiring to live in order will need some type of a law to help establish that.  However, the ultimate purpose of having such a law is for the benefit of the people sharing that society.  So, the law is the result of people agreeing to follow for the sake of living in harmony with one another.  As time passes on, though, the people lose the focus of the initial purpose and get all wrapped up around following the law itself more than the reason behind it.  Paul seems to be addressing this issue with the Jewish people where they were so ingrained in following the Law itself they lost the purpose of serving God with their hearts.  To make things worse, as we are constantly trained to impress others by our external features we are pressured to look good on the outside even in our spiritual walk with God when God is interested in our dedicated hearts toward Him.  This is why living a life pleasing to God is so difficult in the midst of our society pressuring us to attain external status.

[A] As the circumcision originally intended to display the commitment to follow God's Laws, I would like to pursue and live a life that starts with the right intentions displaying the acts of commitments for surrendering my life to Jesus and His ministries.  I need to spend more time in prayer to prepare my hearts to just do this.

[P] Dear God, I want to tune my heart such that Your Spirit is the primary guiding factor instead of being too stuck on the rituals of serving You.  I desire to seek Your praise and that alone as I live out my life in various avenues.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Don't Mock Myself by Trying to Mock God

[S] Galatians 6:7-10 --
⁷Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
⁸For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
⁹Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.
¹⁰So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

[O] How many times have I tried to "outsmart" or "fool" God? One too many times to find out I cannot do such a thing. Those times when I attempted these were when I was doing something I am not proud of telling others about (out of my self-centeredness); in fact, when I'm doing something to boast to others about, I actually want to be transparent and want others including God to fully be aware that I'm doing something worthwhile. Since God knows everything at all times what I do (or don't do), I should 1) adjust my life to follow His principles at all times, and 2) continue to do good things to others even if no one seems to recognize my good deeds.

Isn't it strange that when I am tempted to "sow to my flesh" as Paul writes here I want to do it in secret and don't seem to get tired of it, but doing good to others not only I don't have a problem doing it in open but will eventually get tired of doing and start thinking about how to cut corners? That's probably why Paul wrote in verse 9 not to get tired of good to others and in verse 10 to not miss any opportunity to serve others and do good to them.

[A] Don't get tired of doing good to others. Memorize Galatians 6:9-10 so I can readily remind myself about doing good to others all the time.

[P] Dear God, as Paul encourages us to no cease doing good to others because our tendency is to do the opposite, I want to sow to the Spirit by continuing to do good to others. I'm thankful this is what you modeled through my own father's life and I would also like to pass that on to my children. I pray that You would reap the spiritual fruit through my life. In Jesus' name. Amen.