For we are God’s own handiwork, His workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew that we may do those good works which God predestined, planned beforehand for us, taking paths which He prepared ahead of time, that we should walk in them, living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live. Ephesians 2:10 Amplified Bible
Shaped – Groomed By God
Oh how we want to walk in them, those good works that God is speaking of here, those He prearranged for me and I want to be so, consistently. I call those good works, God’s divine appointments for me. God is so involved in our lives, we have no idea, no earthly idea just how much. We are His, He is shaping the heavenly design He has created in us. We are all so unique and that is why God loves to personally work in us, individually. We are learning and growing, or should I say being shaped and groomed by God. How entirely cool is that. Our God is amazing! He is a God Who is so involved in our lives that He we are His work in progress, we are the beautiful vessel He is forming on His Potter’s Wheel, and He is busy in our lives, active in our lives finishing us. Wherever God has planted us on this earth, we, His incredible design and we can bloom in God’s glory, no matter where we are positioned, we will always be beautiful in Him and because of His nurturing and powerful presence in us.
“A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.” Author~Thomas Merton
Vital-Vertical Relationship
It is important to God that we stay in a vital-vertical relationship with Him. He wants our relationship to be equalized and balanced. He has given us 100 percent of Himself and He is looking to us giving the same. Wholly-Holy! We have to work at tearing down the compartments in our spirit that the influence of our culture erects. We were designed to be in a wholly-holy relationship with God, 100 percent give-give kind of relationship. Our relationship should look like His cross. Our interaction with this world horizontally, our lives lived out stretched out and interacting with people heart to heart with arms wide open can only happen if we are in a vital-vertical relationship with God. He holds us up, otherwise we are flat out on the ground and have no ability or power to lift our lives and be held up in the strength of God. That vital vertical relationship with God makes us consistently, and stably lifted high above this world. We become the symbol of His Cross as we experience His resurrected power in and through our lives, His “Now Power”!
“To be loved by God is the highest relationship, the highest achievement, and the highest position in life.” Author~Henry Blackaby
Constant Conversation With God
This world, the culture we live in of busy, busy, busy distractions takes us away from that constant conversation with God. This world feeds our soul with excitement, we get hooked on it, but the excitement high doesn’t last, so we go from one thing to the next thing. You know what I mean, so many choices to do so many things, to take in multiple media into our minds and to use our senses, to experience life in so many different aspects as new enticing things grab our attention. We are very distracted by excitement. Our culture offers us much, but none of it is permanent, it is fleeting and temporary and we often have to remind ourselves that these television series that we stop our life for, the characters and the stories, they are not real life. Sensationalism that we choose to fill our time with, replacing our time and conversation with God, it flashes and then it fizzles out. Cultural excitement, it is a wave that comes in strong with a cultural tide and then it washes out on the shore. God is not like that, He is constant and all of His truth and ways are permanent, they have not changed over the years and centuries. When we buy into our cultural say-so, we become fragmented, undivided in our spirit by white washed truth that compartmentalizes the loyalties of our soul into heaven and earth compartments. Instead of being in a wholly-holy relationship with God, we find our relationship with God compartmentalized by our culture. We are saying God I give you this part, feed my spirit, but I am keeping this part, it feeds my flesh.
“In such a world as this, with such hearts as ours, weakness is wickedness in the long run. Whoever lets himself be shaped and guided by anything lower than an inflexible will, fixed in obedience to God, will in the end be shaped into a deformity, and guided to wreck and ruin.” Author~Alexander MacLaren
The Enveloping Presence Of God
God has an enveloping Presence, but He won’t breach our will, because He respects that He made us with a free will. He did that so we would deliberately and purposefully choose Him. It is our choice how much we know Him and fellowship with Him. It is His desire to be a part of the all of our lives, to share 100 percent of His purpose, power, peace, provision with us in abundance. We were born with eternity in our hearts, so nothing in this world will truly satisfy us and God knows that we will come to that conclusion as we are enticed by the worlds distractions and the cultural say so that truly does not stand the tests and trials if time. We come to realize that God is all we need and we begin to desire that 100 percent give-give relationship with Him. He is always doing His part, that never changes, but we change and God is hoping to develop in us a stability in our relationship with Him that can’t be distracted by this world. He is hoping for a relationship with us where we cling to Him and our roots are deeply rooted in His Kingdom and not this world.
“In these two things the greatness of man consists, to have God so dwelling in us as to impart his character to us, and to have him so dwelling in us that we recognize his presence, and know that we are his, and he is ours. The one is salvation: the other the assurance of it.” Author~Frederick W. Robertson
We Are God’s Workmanship
Because we are God’s workmanship, all we need to do is ask and be wholly-holy open-hearted to Him and He will shape in our human condition, a spiritual personality that learns to take the things of our world lightly, not react impulsively to them, but respond first to Him. God has the power we need over our human weakness to make it strong, in the verdure of His love and truth. We can from every moment to every choice, make the right choice as we stay in a 100 percent give-give relationship with God. It is possible and it is a great goal for us. God will help us break those bad habits that cause us to be impulsive and He will “flesh out” all obstacles that stand in the way to having a relationship with Him that is 100 percent give-give. His part is done and will not change, we are the ones that need to learn to anchor to Him, dig our life roots deeply in His Kingdom. He wants to, He can and He is able to teach us that.
“A faith which works not for purification will work for putrefaction. Unless our faith makes us pine after holiness, it is no better than the faith of devils, and perhaps it is not even so good as that. A holy man is the workmanship of the Holy Spirit.” Author~Charles Spurgeon
Water The Seed Planted In Your Heart With God’s Word
Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. NIV
Colossians 2:6-8 Paul calls the believers in Colossae to remain steadfast in their faith. Now that you have welcomed the Anointed One, Jesus the Lord, into your lives, continue to journey with Him and allow Him to shape your lives. 7 Let your roots grow down deeply in Him, and let Him build you up on a firm foundation. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, and always spill over with thankfulness. 8 Make sure no predator makes you his prey through some misleading philosophy and empty deception based on traditions fabricated by mere mortals. These are sourced in the elementary principles originating in this world and not in the Anointed One so don’t let their talks capture you. The Voice
Philippians 1:6 I am confident that the Creator, who has begun such a great work among you, will not stop in mid-design but will keep perfecting you until the day Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King, returns to redeem the world. The Voice
Pray It Up And Let God Transform You
Lord Jesus, I surrender to You, wholly-holy today. I deeply desire change in my life so I may be completely yours and be found in a 100 percent give-give relationship with You. It is my goal to have a spiritual habit of responding to you first in my every choice. I so desire to be Yours in all my choices, and realize this goal, not by my strength, but by Your power living in me and through me. I am on my way, teach me Holy Spirit so I may live this out, being found from every moment into every choice, not reacting in my flesh, but responding to You, and making the right choice the first time by Your power, wisdom and truth activated in me and lived out of me. I am looking forward to this change in me, here I am Lord Jesus, transform me.
Live It Out, These Precepts And Principles Of God
Begin today, by taking the first step out of your bed in the morning, being a step down, to bow before God, connecting your heart to His heart, your spirit to His spirit. Then open the Bible and read some, letting God’s Word be your first thoughts of the day. At the end of the day make time in your evening schedule to read the Word before bed, let God’s Word, be your last thoughts. Then before you go to bed at night, do the same, as you did in the morning, bow before God and let God wash away the culture things that weigh down your spirit. Give God everything you can’t reconcile, everything you can’t fix, every situation, every expectation, put in His Hands and lay down to sleep in trust and peace. Begin making these two spiritual habits in the morning and in the evening and you are on your way to 100 percent give-give and realizing your spiritual goal of every moment to every choice, making it the right choice, the first time.
Selah – Pause And Think On This
May Christ through your faith, actually dwell, settle down, abide, make His permanent home in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, Ephesians 3:17
I hope you enjoyed this “Manna Munch”. This is one of my favorite tables in The Bridegrooms Cafe because it begins with a bite of God’s Word and as we digest it, the Holy Spirit makes it come alive with a personal flavor, an application just for us, so we can grow stronger in our walk with God. Please take a moment to share this particular Manna and its flavor boost with someone one else by using the social media buttons below. I also would love it if you would share how this munch of manna has enriched your soul. The encouragement would not only bless me, but bless others, so do leave a comment. Thanks! God bless you, MUCH. KimberlyMac