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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind Romans 12:2 • Gratitude adds depth to thankfulness, as we are not only thankful for changing circumstances but, deeper still, grateful for an unchanging God and the life we possess in Christ, all we have and all we are through Him. In this depth of acknowledgment, our focus transforms. God’s constancy releases us from a mindset focused on the temporary, on what this world holds. Our minds shift as all we now see is in the light of the eternal nature we possess in Christ, the eternal that surpasses all of this world. We have been brought into something that will never shift, spoil, or fade. Our gratitude brings our spiritual reality to the forefront. It clears our minds from the superficial and transitory, moving us into a place of quiet renewal. Our minds are stilled by the eternal nature of what we have in Christ for this present age and the age to come. In having all we need, we move from a mindset of lack and the pursuit of more to a place of contentment. In this contentment, gratitude flourishes. Our minds are set on what is truly important: that which is from above. The gauge we once used to assess our internal satisfaction refines. What we once thought brought us fulfillment pales in comparison to what is now ours in Christ. Our dreams and desires transform to accommodate our new perspective. How we see ourselves in this world and before the Father is renewed. In this gratitude, we come to experience God’s great love for us, and the perception we have of ourselves transforms. We no longer see ourselves as unworthy of His love, our view before we came to know Christ, but as worthy, seen by Him in a whole new light. God’s love catalyzes our love and appreciation for Him. It is God who is the initiator, just as it says, “We love because He first loved us”. Our gratitude mirrors our understanding as we grasp the depth of His love. In our gratitude, we begin to see all things new, as He sees all things new. It is no longer just the grand that catches our eye; the small and once seemingly insignificant become grand. A smile, a cool breeze, sunlight on our face, a quiet cup of coffee, the smallest of details all become quiet reflections for a heart pondering the magnificence of the life we now possess in Christ. In this quiet contemplation, the meditation of our hearts, our minds are renewed. In this renewal, our lives follow suit; we are changed and transformed. One step at a time, one moment at a time, our walk in the body through the power of the Holy Spirit aligns itself with who He has made us in Christ. A mind renewed by gratitude is a lifelong journey. To see and not take for granted; to feel and to experience; to be mindful of all that is wondrous in this new life. To store up within the heart the riches God has bestowed upon us and to overflow to the world around us. This is our calling: from glory to glory, reflecting Christ as lights to a world in darkness.

Before our first breath of life, we were created in God’s image, with an eternal heart, soul, mind, and spirit, transcending all we could ever become according to the pattern of this world. Because of our unique makeup, we were imprinted with certain spiritual hopes and desires, love, joy, and peace, meant to be fulfilled by our Heavenly Father alone. He created us in His image so that one day we might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. To see Him as He is and to see ourselves as He has made us. To experience all that was meant for us. God was evident, yet not acknowledged, clearly seen in all His hands have made. In experiencing a spiritual reality, yet denying the knowledge of God, we sought to write our own story. God’s graciousness became gifts from the universe, and the work of His hands became Mother Nature’s handiwork. The awe we feel in seeing the beauty in His creation became a connection to a universal energy source, a life force, all the while renouncing the true source. In writing our own story, we misplaced ourselves. We gave up an eternal calling for a worldly one, identifying ourselves not with God, our Heavenly Father, but with the things of this world, what was deemed important. We spiraled in an endless cycle of striving to be worthy of love and acceptance, to find happiness and peace, yet coming up short. We gave up God’s vision for us for one tainted by feelings of inadequacy and lack. We were so much more than we ever imagined, spiritual beings in a shell of flesh, looking to the inanimate to fill a spiritual void within. We saw ourselves not as we were, but as the world told us we were, the sum of which was based on what we had or didn’t have, what we did or didn’t do, who we knew or didn’t know. We scaled ladders of importance by the world’s standards but denied our intrinsic value as God’s creation. Who we thought ourselves to be, shackled to the world, dictated all we thought, said, and did. We lived out a life we felt destined to live, but God had so much more planned for us. We were created in God’s image to see ourselves as so much more than we believed, to be drawn back to Him. Yet now, through God’s Son, through His sacrifice on the cross and our faith in Him, we have been offered something even greater: to be recreated and reborn into the likeness of God Himself as holy and righteous. Through Christ, to receive a wisdom and understanding that transcends a worldly point of view. To no longer see ourselves in light of this world, but in a new light of who we could be in Christ, God’s saints, God’s priests. His plan would become our plan; as He is a light, we too would be lights to the world. A new purpose and quest would take hold of us, a new vision to live out, an eternal reality unfolding before us, a high calling.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! • We rejoice, giving thanks to God for His indescribable gift. And yet, at the same time, we find it difficult to fully express with words what God has done for us. We experience a joy welling up from deep within, our only true response to what He has created, this new spiritual life we now have in Christ. It is not as the world rejoices, over circumstances that shift, but rejoicing in the unchanging and unfading beauty of being in the Lord. His blessings, His promises, what He has done in and through us, what He has now made us through His Son, transcend all. Our hearts are elated with the notion that what we hold within our hands represents God's great love for us. Just as He created the beauty of the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, He has, with intricate forethought, fashioned something far more lovely for us to experience and enjoy, our new life in Christ. Rejoicing in the Lord does not precede our acknowledging what it is we have to rejoice over. At its essence, it is an overflow of the heart, seeing clearly what we now possess. The pathway to rejoicing in the Lord is awakening to the grandness of God and our true life through His Son. It is a call to see the eternal reality we have to live out each day. It is heart service, a prevailing consciousness of God and what He has done. Realizing and acknowledging with deep, heartfelt awareness this grandness is the influencing factor in our rejoicing in the Lord. Our perspective shifts from the transient things of this world, from which there is no lasting joy, to an ever-present and eternal joy. We can rejoice always because there is no end to the goodness we have received and are yet to receive. God has already blessed us far beyond all we could possibly ask or imagine. Even so, we spend much of our time waiting and hoping for more. We struggle with contentment, not recognizing how bountifully we have been blessed. Not the blessings of this world, which never truly satisfy, but our spiritual blessings, which are soul satisfying, fulfilling our deepest hopes and desires. We rejoice in the Lord that we are His new creations, no longer to look at ourselves from a worldly point of view. No longer as sinners, that old vantage point, but as we truly are, His saints and His priests. Recreated as spiritually holy, righteous, and pure due to Christ living in us. Through this renewing of our minds, our lives, this walk in the body, are changed, transformed to align with who He has made us. We are washed clean by Christ's blood as we walk in the light of who we are, who He has made us, and the new eternal reality we have in Him. We have been given a clear conscience before God, set free, no longer living with the constant reminder of our sinfulness. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, a new perspective transcending a worldly reality, hidden in Christ till He appears again. We await our new heavenly home, our true future, the joy set before us. We rejoice in this, our new consciousness, our blessed reality in Christ. Before we experienced the saving grace of God, we were in a state of longing, hoping to receive just a portion of what we now experience in Christ. We longed for love and acceptance, to see and to be seen in the light of something far greater. We hoped for salvation, to be lifted out of our pit of despair. We have been brought into a new and glorious light, illuminating our true essence before God, as His children, as His new creation. I pray we have the eyes to see, the mind to grasp, and the heart to acknowledge just what we now possess through Christ. A life freely given, to live freely, to give freely, and to always rejoice in.

In our walk with Christ, what is our spiritual focus in regard to sin? Is it merely telling ourselves that we should not sin and then trying with all our might not to sin, or is it far more than that? Could it be about our minds so transcending this world, by seeing ourselves as we truly are, saints and priests of the Most High, that our hearts realign with God? Is it not about who He has made us to be and the joy set before us, our true future, a righteousness that comes through faith and the confident hope of our eternal home, by which we walk in the reality of who He has made us, our true spiritual nature as holy, righteous, and pure? Sinning is to be out of step with who we now are, with what Christ died on the cross to recreate in us, our new nature. We rise above by setting our minds not on the old self that is gone, the self that has been crucified with Christ, but on the new self. Our eyes are opened to an eternal perspective, no longer seeing ourselves from a worldly point of view. The darkness of sin becomes starkly evident in light of the greatness of God and who, in His likeness, He has now made us to be. This frees us from the transient illusion of sin and leads us to please our God by living out who we are in Christ. We have an understanding within the heart that comes from the Spirit, not by the letter of the law. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Sin goes deeper than the outward act. Our hearts and minds wander from our calling and from our position before God, from the holiness to which we have been set apart by His saving grace. Do we think true righteousness is a confidence in the flesh, as if we are right with God simply because we avoided certain sins while our hearts remain unchanged? God extended His heart to us by sending His one and only Son, an act that revealed the depth of His love for us, and He desires that same depth of heart in our relationship with Him. We walk with Christ in a spirit of gratitude and thankfulness for His saving grace. We walk with an enlightened perspective based on what God has done within each one of us. God has not merely performed an outward washing, but has cleansed us to the depths of our soul so that we might see all things as new and walk in that vision. We come to see sin for what it is, and to recognize its deluding effects on our lives as it clouds our eyes from seeing ourselves as God sees us. If what Jesus said is true, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits his soul?” then what is the grandness of sin? What can a man give in exchange for his soul? We live sober lives with a consciousness of and focus on what is eternal, knowing that the heavens and the earth will one day be destroyed. What, then, was the benefit of the things we are now ashamed of, in which we once lived? We live not in fear, but in understanding. On one hand, we are conscious of the gravity of our new life in Christ, and on the other hand, we live with a confident expectation of a holy life and joyfully await our new heavenly home. We are so conscious of this world, so drawn to that consciousness, that we count as secondary our spiritual standing and the eternal reality that transcends all we see. If our spiritual awareness could transcend our earthly awareness, would we not, as Paul the Apostle did, count all things to be rubbish in comparison? If we could physically feel the presence of God as He dwells and moves within us, if we could see the myriads of angels sent to aid us in our walk with Christ, if we could see the hand of God moving in all He has created, if we could see this enveloping reality just as clearly as we see this world, would we not rise above? Would not our desires shift? Would not our lives align with what is actually happening, with what true life is, the eternal reality that encompasses us? Christ died on the cross, making a way for us to see ourselves in a completely new light. Let us take hold of that light today. “Let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. • You spent your life before Christ seeing yourself a certain way based on this world. Ingrained in you was a worldly perspective that is no longer part of your new identity. You have been made new in Christ and will spend the rest of your life coming to grasp that truth. You will progressively, from one degree to another, come to see yourself as a completely new creation, separate and apart from this world. Your perspective will transform from one based on circumstances and situations to a godly perspective that remains steady despite what you experience. Your journey is just beginning, yet it begins with the stability of a new standing and position before God. You now live in a safe, protected, guarded, and hidden place in Christ. From this position of security, you can safely live out your new existence. You do so with confidence in God, who by His power will faithfully bring to completion what He has begun in you until the day of Christ Jesus. It will take a lifetime to understand what pertains to God and your new life in Christ. This is a lifelong journey of discovering the depth and greatness of God and the richness of the spiritual life He has created for you. It is a growth process of seeking out and uncovering the treasures of wisdom and understanding hidden in Christ, and applying them to the spiritual perspective He is forming within you, according to your faith. Understanding and not yet fully understanding, seeing and not yet seeing clearly, often exist together. Even moments when you feel surrounded by darkness are part of walking by faith and not by sight, learning to trust and rely on God. What you come to understand will rise above this world and give you the ability to do the same. Rising above is a gradual process of letting go of what now fades in comparison to the surpassing greatness of what you have received in Christ. You let go by seeing more clearly what you now possess. You acknowledge God’s reality above your own limited perception. Your desires begin to align with His, shifting from the temporal to the eternal, from the worldly to the spiritual. This means refocusing, meditating, and pondering what is from above, setting your mind on these things rather than on what belongs to this world. Be still in the knowledge that God is God and that He holds you securely in His transforming work. Know that He has made you spiritually holy and righteous through Christ, and that He is aligning your daily walk with that new reality. It is God who works in you. It is God who produces the growth. Fan into flame what has been planted within you. Embrace who He says you are and, in your mind, nurture this new reality. In all your ways, recognize and acknowledge what He has already done and what He continues to bring about. Desire His work and His change in your life. See your new nature, your recreated self, Christ in you, as your true identity, and let that be your focus.

Romans 12:2 “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” • Those in the world have a process of transformation that strives to become something, not from a position, but toward a position, according to what is seen in this world. The transformation that comes through Christ is far different. It is a changing of the mind where we take hold of a new identity, a position we have been given as a gift through the redemptive power of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. This is not working toward a position, as the world does, but living out in the flesh the position we have already received. It is a new frame of mind in which we are who He says we are, and so we live. It is God’s power working in us through the Spirit, aligning our walk in the flesh with who He has recreated us to be. Spiritually reborn, a new creation, holy, righteous, and pure, we now have a new standing and position before God. We are free from the shackles of becoming, free to see ourselves as completely new, and for that newness to produce a new walk. This is the transformation of our lives through the renewing of our minds. The renewing of our minds means our thoughts are being repositioned to see ourselves in the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness. True righteousness and holiness are not responses to our own ideas of what righteousness and holiness are, which lead to self-righteousness. Instead, they come from being filled with the vision of who we truly are in Christ, a completely new creation. We no longer teeter on a scale based on all the good and bad we have done in our lives. Christ has redeemed us from an old and worldly way of seeing ourselves as lost and striving to be saved, to an entirely new way of seeing. To be clear, we still walk in this body and we still sin, but this is no longer our identity. We no longer see ourselves as walking according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. We do this by setting our minds on the things of the Spirit, not the things of the flesh. Setting our minds on who we no longer are and striving to become something better is a worldly force that does not bring about the true change God desires. It is impossible to set our minds on the flesh and still please God, because in doing so we do not see ourselves as Christ has made us. We often get caught up in the age-old battle that began in the garden of Eden, the warring of the consciousness of good and evil within the mind. We see ourselves as good based on the good we do, which leads to self-righteousness, and at the same time as evil because of the evil we do. This inner conflict, as Paul writes, wanting to do good while evil is right there, causing us to do what we do not want to do, is a pre-Christ state of mind. It does not take into account the vision of who He has made us, His saving grace, or the confidence we now have in our new position. Christ abolishes this war within the mind by setting us free from the law, which was a constant reminder of sin. The dual consciousness of good and evil prevents a clear conscience before God and hinders the spontaneous working of the Spirit within us. It quenches the Spirit, stifles our joy and praise to God for what He has done, and limits the overflow of that work in our lives. This prevents us from living out our true and new nature. God’s process of sanctification, brought about by setting our eyes on what He has done, opens us to the possibility of truly being who we are in the most authentic way.

When we are overwhelmed and our hearts seem to condemn us, what can ease our minds and slowly take our focus off ourselves is this truth: God is greater. His greatness is the driving force of our story as believers in Christ. Who He is and what He has done outweigh who we think we are based on the circumstances and situations that weigh on us. These are not the final word on how we see ourselves, nor are they our true reality. His thoughts toward us are greater, rising above the thoughts we have of ourselves. We no longer see ourselves through our own limited understanding, but through who God says we are. His is the everlasting and final word. It is God who sees all, who is greater than our hearts, and who knows all things. In Him we place our trust, even when we cannot see clearly. We surrender to Him because true understanding does not come from within us, but from Him and from His reality. Once, all we could see was this world and ourselves defined by it. Then the power of God entered our lives, setting our feet on solid, higher ground. Our eyes shifted from seeing only ourselves to seeing His greatness. What He did for us forever removed the old way we viewed ourselves, renewing our minds to see ourselves in His light. His greatness settled the unrest in our hearts that came from judging ourselves by what we did or did not do. It was what He did that changed our thinking. We stepped into a new reality, moving away from the degrading thoughts of our old mind and into praise. His righteousness and holiness became our righteousness and holiness. We were clothed in a new understanding. Walking in the light of who He has made us is God’s transforming work in us. Through the Spirit, our minds are renewed and we are changed. We now possess the mind of Christ and are able to see as He sees, both ourselves and our relationship with the Father. We have been made like Him in true righteousness and holiness. This purity in our inner being comes through His cleansing power, making us saints and priests to our God. We rise above all because He rises above all. We become in the flesh what He has already made us in the Spirit, by His power. This is a gradual process, moving from one degree of glory to another. Who we are is expressed in all we say and do, not by effort of the flesh, but by the work of the Spirit. We set our minds on the things of the Spirit, not on the things of the flesh, which no longer define us. As we fix our eyes on Christ, we see ourselves as we truly are. We are like Him. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Our God is greater, and that makes all the difference. Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. As we step away from old ways of thinking and the ongoing lies of the enemy, and turn toward God’s way of seeing, we allow His power to work in and through us. He changes us from the inside out. Christ has cleansed the inside of the cup, and the outside will follow. It is God who brings the growth. It is God who produces the fruit in us. We are vessels of His love and power, filled to overflow.

Psalm 139:7-12 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. • We are not alone, no matter how dark it may seem. By the indwelling of God’s Spirit in our inner being, we are never separated from Him. As Jesus said in anticipation of the Spirit to be given to us, “I will be with you always,” a promise that we would never be parted from Him. This is a quiet assurance for our hearts and minds when feelings arise that seem to contradict that truth. If before Christ, as Paul wrote, we move and breathe and have our being in God, how much more now, being filled with His Spirit, are we completely immersed in Him. We think in worldly terms because all that surrounds us, all we can see and touch, is so prevalent that it becomes the dominant sense of what we believe reality to be. This often overshadows a spiritual reality, one that far transcends the world in its power to transform our lives. It has the power to change how we live by transforming the inner makeup of who we are and the way we see the world and the circumstances we experience. Situations can seem to carry a power of their own, influencing our minds and leading us to believe that what they represent is our true reality before God. But we are neither less nor more with Him because of our thoughts or circumstances. Although much in this world would tell us otherwise, God is with us, for His word stands true for all time. Whether we feel it or not, our spiritual vision, our true reality in Christ, surpasses all things. God has established this reality by sending His only Son as a sacrifice for us, sealing our position before Him so that, without dispute, we may confidently take hold of what He has given us. His desire is that what He has done would firmly settle in our minds the truth that nothing is able to separate us from His love. Was it because of anything we did that God called us to Himself? Were we not in utter ruin, in the pit of despair? He was there for us in the darkest of times; how much more now, having been saved, will He be with us through all things? As it is written, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” If during the most trying time, when we came to Christ, He rescued us with His righteous right hand, how much more now will His hand uphold us? If while we were sinners Christ died for us, how much more now will we be saved through Him.

1 Peter 3:15 NASB “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” Colossians 4:5-6 NASB Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. • When sharing our faith we speak of what we believe, we declare what is in us, “for the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart.” Focusing our hearts and minds on the power of God in our lives, who in Christ made us new and continues to transform our walk and on all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms bestowed upon us, what is now our eternal reality, infuses us with a purpose. To reach out, encouraging those around us, lifting up one another with wisdom in love whether believers or nonbelievers. Believers, because sharing with one another that we are a new creation and filling one another with the wisdom and understanding of our new nature fills us with the Holy Spirit, to all the fullness of God. To nonbelievers, since before their first breath they were created in the very image of God; heart, soul, mind, and spirit. A new vision, an internal reality, outshining all they have thought of themselves. Moving them to grasp out to God, taking hold of what He has done through His Son, the new creation they are called to embrace. The reality of what we possess in Christ so far transcends this world and its reality. Our consciousness shifts from the temporal, the transient to the eternal. The reality of which transforms the way we approach life and how we interact with the world around us. It teaches us that our true future lay in the eternal life to come. All we think shifts toward an everlasting perspective permeating all we say and do. We are stilled from the chaos to a moment to moment awareness of what is before us. Taking advantage of and making the most of the opportunities revealed to us to lift up one another. Expressing our faith is spontaneous and genuine when it has been stored up within the heart. It is a natural overflow, neither contrived nor coerced, ever mindful of God’s love for us and His willingness to lift us up. It is faith working through love, void of the self-focus that stifles authentic expression. Jesus uses the analogy of the wind, hearing its sound but not knowing where it comes from or where it is going to describe those led spontaneously by the Spirit. This lack of self-focus, allowing the Spirit to move, and for God’s hand to work, is seen in the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip appears, is moved by the Spirit, then is seen no more. Jesus also instructs us not to let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. Avoiding acts of self-piety with eyes focused on ourselves, what our hands are doing rather than focusing on God and trusting in His hand to work. We meet people with words applicable to the moment. It is what Peter is saying when he writes to respond in gentleness and reverence, it is about being mindful of who we are sharing with. When speaking with nonbelievers we understand they do not yet have the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives in order to transcend this world, nor have they been set free from sin, nor do they have the vision of being holy and righteous, reborn, a new creation that we have in order to rise above. In this consciousness we tread with love and compassion. They cannot fully comprehend what they do not possess or may be rejecting. We respond in kindness because we understand just how much of a hold the world has on hearts and minds. We cannot forget that we once received as they have the opportunity to receive.

Understanding our new identity in Christ invites us to view ourselves through an entirely transformed lens, fundamentally altering how we address our inherent human frailties and desires. This shift is not about struggling against what we are no longer bound to be; rather, it's an awakening to our true essence. Jesus illustrated this profound truth with the metaphor of faith the size of a mustard seed, teaching that such faith could command mountains to move. This principle underscores that even the smallest degree of faith in our God-given identity—minuscule as a mustard seed—empowers us to embrace our rightful place in God's design. In this position, when we petition in Jesus' name, our requests align with our divine status, making the impossible within reach. These are not ordinary requests but are made from a place of deep spiritual union with God, who has transformed us to reflect His nature.   This newfound stance is a significant departure from our pre-Christ existence, elevating our perspective to dwell on heavenly matters. It's not about the effortful attempt to focus our thoughts on the divine but an inherent knowledge that we belong to a higher, spiritual realm. Scripture affirms this, stating we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, implying a radical shift in our spiritual location and viewpoint. If our essence is spiritual and this physical realm is transient, our true residence is alongside Christ in the heavenly domains. This prompts us to reconsider our spiritual stance and outlook.   Adopting this mindset means we no longer evaluate ourselves through worldly metrics. Every action and decision is transformed because we ourselves are made new. Our journey of renewal transcends mere self-awareness of our transformation; it's not about pondering what actions our new identity necessitates. We exist in a state of "I am because I am." Our deeds and words spontaneously echo the "Who I Am," naturally and progressively. The Holy Spirit's influence in our lives is not forced but flows freely, like a spring of living water, overflowing to meet the needs of the world around us.   Jesus' teaching about cleansing the inside of the cup to ensure the outside's purity is pivotal here. We are sanctified, justified, and purified from within, which naturally manifests in our external actions. Just as a king does not need to remind himself of his royalty but simply embodies it, we, too, embody our identity in Christ. We are not constantly convincing ourselves of our status; we live out our royal priesthood because that is who we are in Christ. This realization births a life of spontaneous alignment with God's will, where our actions and being are in perfect harmony with our divine identity, offering a wellspring of life to a thirsty world.

John 15:12-13 NASB This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 1 John 4:19 NASB We love, because He first loved us. • We are new, reborn and recreated, and our perspective is no longer of this world. We do not fight as the world does, against flesh and blood, but against an evil that grips men’s hearts. At one time, we too were enslaved, held captive, striving against one another to maintain an identity. We live in the world, but we are not of it, we have been set free into a wholly new identity. We are taught by God to love because He first loved us, imitating Him as those who have been made to be like Him in true righteousness and holiness. Held in the grip of grace, we show love because we understand what is in a man, the mindset of this world, a world blinded by sin and an overwhelming weight of guilt. What Jesus proclaimed on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” becomes our perspective. An understanding enabling us to do the extraordinary, to show love and kindness even in the face of an evil that seems so prevalent. We lay aside indifference toward one another, loving because God cares for all, and sustains all, every heart beat and every breath. Whether great or small, rich or poor, righteous or unrighteous we all in Him move, and breathe, and have our being. He sends rain on the just and the unjust, blessing our lives with good things that we might reach out to Him. In this we recognize and consider one another worthy of love and compassion because He considered us worthy by saving us. Created in His image, we are a collective with one purpose, to draw one another nearer to God. It is a process that flows from God through us as we come to understand and grasp His love, and then outward to a world who does not know Him. In thankfulness and gratitude, we reach out because God reached out to us. In humility, we love, understanding our position and knowing we share the same Master in Heaven. We express compassion because, at one time, we found ourselves separated from God, without Him in this world, and experiencing its deep despair. It is God’s love, His kindness, that leads people to change their minds, to regret their past sins. In the same way, by loving one another, we make that kindness and love evident to others. Just as Christ Jesus was the exact representation of God, we too represent God to the world. We align ourselves with God and His love, for as He is the light, we too are lights to the world. We are to let our light shine in such a way that others may see our good works and glorify our Heavenly Father. To live in such a way, is to live in love, not for the glorification of self, but for the glory of God. We have a calling in line with Christ Jesus, who emptied Himself and came to this world for us. “Greater love as no one then this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Called to love as Christ loved, we lay down our lives, not necessarily our physical lives, but setting aside ourselves for others, considering others greater than ourselves. In Christ we have been given all so that we might give all. We have a new life, that we may impart that same life to others. We are no longer entangled in what in this world is a stumbling block, a dividing wall, namely, our ego and the quest for earthly possessions. These cloud what is most valuable, a heavenly reality that transcends all in this world. All we once held so precious we release, because what we now possess is far more precious. We have a new position, and from that position, we see beyond. In seeing beyond, we are enabled to rise above, to let go as Christ let go, and to love as He loved. In doing so, we reveal the truth about our God to a world in need, that He is love.

Nehemiah 8:10 NASB “Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Philippians 4:4 NASB “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” 1 Peter 1:8-9 NASB “though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.” • Joy, and the overflow or expression of that joy, rejoicing, wells up from within, from a heart genuinely focused on God, who He is, and what He has done. It is what fills our hearts with joy and rejoicing that matters most. As a fruit of the Spirit, joy is a natural outflow of being filled with the Spirit, from a pure heart whose reality rests in God’s reality; whose future is our eternal heavenly home; whose conscience has been cleared through grace; who trusts in God’s transformational power in our lives; holding on to a confidence in God that transcends circumstance because He is faithful and His Word is everlasting. It is in seeing ever clearer the unseen and believing with all our heart that what He says to be true, is the ultimate truth. It is in an understanding that our God is caring for us, and will till the last day, the eternal salvation of our souls. Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord always, not as an act to follow, but because we have so much to rejoice over. Joy and rejoicing, without the basis of that joy, without recognizing, acknowledging, and grasping what produces it in our lives, is just an emotion and lip service. The ever-increasing reality of what we have in Christ is the foundation of what wells up within and overflows in a life of joy and rejoicing. We spent our lives before Christ searching externally for happiness, a semblance of joy, yet void of an internal reality that could bring about something far deeper. True joy is not based on external factors, which are circumstantial, but on God and His reality within us, becoming a constant and steady source, a wellspring of joy bubbling up to eternal life. Christ is the truth that brings life to our walk in the body. Nothing in this world is able to bring about what is lasting and eternal, since it is transient, fading, and will one day be destroyed. As long as our eyes are fixed on what is transient, and our lives are focused on the makings of this world and the work of our hands, we will never experience the joy Christ gives. Joy comes when we release what holds no power to lift our hearts and minds out of life’s weariness and embrace the truth that Christ holds the key to a life of inexpressible joy. Christ overcame the world, and through our faith in Him, and by holding on to all that is right and true, we also overcome, taking part in His life, His understanding, His perspective, and His mind. Christ, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross and sat down at the right hand of God. That same joy becomes part of us as well, enabling us to transcend this world and experience what we were recreated and reborn to experience. Our eyes are opened to the truth that what we have in Christ, what we have been given and all that is yet to come, far exceeds anything we could possibly ask or imagine. This is the root of joy and rejoicing, the realization that what we now possess surpasses all we have searched and longed for. It is an eternal truth beyond what we can now fully comprehend, culminating in an eternity where all will be changed and made new, according to all that God has prepared for us.