My Opus Chapter Four


An intimate prayer life

Do you pray for what you need, or do you pray to have a greater intimacy with God? There’s nothing wrong with praying when you are in need but imagine if you only conversed with your parents, when you needed something, or your children only conversed with you, when they needed something. Share with God how your day is going throughout your day and watch your intimacy with him grow.

Righteousness

You have already been made righteous through Jesus. Like a gift that remains wrapped up you can’t use it until you receive it and believe it. When communicating with him becomes like breathing in your life, you’ll know he’s there when things go wrong. The alternative is to try and connect with him only when things go wrong and the roller coaster of emotions you’ll have to deal with along the way won’t be fun. He seeks intimacy with you and wants you to know how he sees you all the time.

You are saved by grace through faith

“I wasn’t created for me, I wasn’t created to live self centred. I wasn’t created to be emotionally driven and live sensual and move by every whim and every thing and live by how it seems. Father I give myself to you. I’m a man/woman of faith. I thank you father. I surrender my life to you. I’m not here to live for myself. I’m here to live for you, and your great name and the world around me, and I give myself to you. I thank you father that your grace is so abundantly upon me. You are the one that rules and reigns in my heart. You’re the one that orchestrates my emotions, and redeems me from the fall of man. I am not a hurt, I am not a despairing, I am not disappointed. I am full of joy, full of life and my eye agrees with you, and I thank you that your love rules in my heart.” Dan Mohler

How different could the rest of your day be if you started a conversation with God like that right now? How different could the rest of this month be if you continued that conversation not just everyday but throughout everyday?

Do you think you would keep living for yourself as much as you have been or would you start living for him and others more if that was your genuine hearts cry throughout everyday for the rest of the year?

I’m discovering more of God’s grace while living by faith and writing this for you. I pray it’s helping you grow closer to him. He isn’t threatened by your struggles, so whatever you are wrestling with give it to him and live in abundant grace. He loves you so much, receive his love now.

His Gift To You

No one can take his gift from you. You can leave it sitting on a shelf collecting dust or you can enjoy it every day. He’ll never change his mind, he’ll never take back what he has given you. Satan can’t stop you from having it, no man, woman, child, animal can stop you from having it. You and you alone have the power to live the life he has for you or struggle through this life without him.

It may sound too good to be true, but it is the truth. If I told you if you contacted me right now I’d give you $100, would you do it? Would you think it was too good to be true or would you take a chance and find out if the offer was real, even if you were still sceptical?

Let me be clear I’m not making that offer but hopefully you see the point I was trying to illustrate. God’s gift is worth more than $1,000. The more you are willing to receive, the more you will discover he has to give.

It is better to be love than to be right

Words said in love are better than those said to be right. Loving someone rather than just correcting someone will always be more beneficial for you, and them. Correction and discipline are healthy but it needs to be from a motive of love. They’ll be more receptive if they believe you love them. The more you love them the easier they will believe you love them. The more you believe God loves you the more you’ll be able to love others. It all comes back to identity. When you see yourself as he does, the easier you’ll see others as he does. Seeing things through his eyes will break your heart and bring you joy in the same moment.

Good News will change your life

The more you discover the good news waiting for you in the Bible the more your life can change. You’ve gotten this far in your life without knowing the true power contained in the scriptures. Whether you have just started your new life with Jesus or have had a relationship with him for years you can grow closer to him this year. Turn the TV off, the majority of it is bad news and spend the same amount of time discovering the good news in the Bible.

If you find it difficult reading the Bible listen to an audio Bible, there are so many free options where it is more of a radio drama than a plain voice reading it. Watching the TV show The Chosen may also help bring the Bible to life for you and help make it feel more real when you read it. Listening to HCSKL really helped change the Bible from something I knew I should read to something I really wanted to read. This isn’t about following a method but encouraging you to discover what works for you so your intimacy with Jesus grows exponentially.

Don’t judge, verify

If someone tells you someone said something about you, go to that person and ask them. If you believe hearsay you could end up believing a lie or at the very least a misunderstanding. If you hear something about someone that doesn’t match up to what you know about the person involved verify the information before acting on it. It’s easy to mishear what someone says depending on where the person is at that hears it. Gossip can spread faster than a fire and if it isn’t 100% factual information are you sure you want to be adding fuel to that fire? By verifying the information you could be the one that throws water on the fire and ends the gossip and saves others from being hurt.

Don’t condemn yourself

Once you have been made righteous by accepting Jesus gift you remain righteous in God’s sight. If you do something you know you shouldn’t do, accept his forgiveness and keep living by faith. God won’t condemn you, as Jesus is now your advocate. Don’t condemn yourself. Shift your focus back onto growing more intimate with Jesus and don’t spend another second thinking about the mistake you made. True repentance will set you free as you reap the rewards of Jesus mercy and grace.

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