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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.

John 8:36 NASB “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Galatians 5:1 NASB “It was for freedom that Christ set us free” • Christ Jesus through the gift of Himself made us who we are, wholly recreated and reborn, and in the act of His making we were set free. Set free from a focus, the idea that we can make ourselves, to gratitude overflowing. That overflow is a state of being. A mindset where we believe with all our heart that we are who He has made us. That acknowledgment changes our minds, and in nourishing that understanding our lives are progressively transformed from the inside out. Since we are priests of God Most High, His holy and righteous saints, we see ourselves as such and in turn our lives naturally, authentically, and genuinely move in ever increasing measure in line with who He has made us. A transformational growth process, from one degree of glory to another, brought about by the power of God. Not by the letter of the law, but by the Spirit who declares us to “be.” Not continually focusing on our walk in the flesh, but through the redeeming sacrifice of Christ seeing ourselves as He sees us. “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Jesus said, “come to me all who are weary and heavy laden,” and “you will find rest for your souls,” as one would find a gift of great price. He calls all those who are weary with this world and its constant striving to be, and heavy laden with the weight of guilt, the continual reminder of our lack apart from Him, to come. To take upon us His yoke and to learn from Him. Not the yoke of our own contrived self-righteousness, a construct of self will, or to continue in the pattern of this world whose inhabitants spend their lives seeking to become something. For we are already something marvelous, and what we possess is of far greater value than anything this world according to its pattern could ever offer. Christ teaches us through Paul the apostle that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. Not the repurposing of the old, but an entirely new way of thinking. Not just adding to what we already think and believe to be true according to this world, how it has taught us to see ourselves, but by setting our minds on things above, on what is spiritually right and true. About God, about who He has made us and how He sees us, that our lives might grow to overflow in the expression of the New Creations we are.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NASB “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”   •   Oh, how desperate it would be not to have a God who comforts through all of life’s trials, granting His grace and mercy to help in times of need, and filling us with His Spirit of wisdom and understanding to see beyond the temporary to the eternal. Who has called us to a reborn and recreated life. A new position and standing before Him, raising our hearts and minds to transcend this world. Who has given us a new vision of an eternal future with Him that we may in this world have hope.   The work of God’s hands, the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them clearly demonstrate His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature that we may but look up and know, we are surrounded by Him. That we may be confident He is with us, caring for us, sustaining our very existence even through the most difficult times.   When we acknowledge His presence, His steadfast faithfulness in His care and guidance of our lives our faith grows. Even though this walk in the flesh may shift beneath us and we feel we are in some way forsaken, His presence tells us otherwise. In Him we move and breathe and have our being an all-encompassing reality. If the eyes of our hearts could see, and our minds fully comprehend and grasp, what comfort it would bring.   We have but this one life to come to fathom our God, to acknowledge Him, to see Him as He is in all His glory, that we may be changed, that our minds may open to a new understanding of what is eternal in nature, what is our eternal purpose, and what is of eternal importance, to move beyond what is seen, what is transient, what will one day pass away.   This understanding guides us through what in this world so easily entangles us, captivates our thoughts, and weaves its way into our hearts and minds. Without it we flounder in life’s turbulence, swaying with every wind of thought and the cunningness of the evil one. His desire is to distract us and our intentions toward God. To living free, being still, and to knowing that He alone is God.   Our hearts ache when we suffer, partly because it is difficult for us to see, to comprehend with our hearts and minds, that He exists, that He is all powerful, knows all things, and is keenly attentive to our best according to His will. What He has for us, what He has given to us, and His thoughts toward us, far surpass this world, having the power to raise our minds above life’s turmoil.   Even though at times our eyes are dim and our minds dull, it does not diminish or make any less glorious what He has determined before the beginning of time for those who believe and trust in Him to experience. We may not fully grasp it, but He alone has the power to transform us to the core of our being, our thoughts, our experiences, and guide us through all of life’s trials to bring us safely home to be with Him.   Our feet have been set on a high place, on solid ground, unshakable and enduring for all eternity that we may release ourselves from what pales in comparison to the glory that awaits us, not only in this life but far more in the life to come. An eternity that starts today.

2 Corinthians 3:4-6 NASB Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.   •   When we were in the world, we strove to be adequate, to feel good about ourselves in what we thought and in what we did. We worked hard to gain this world and be found worthy. Yet in putting our hope in the temporary, we missed the mark of what is truly important, our internal makings; the heart, soul, mind, and spirit, what is eternal and will never pass. This is the essence of who we are, created by God in His image. When we acknowledge and understand this truth, it transforms our perspective, our perception, and our minds, changing the entirety of our lives forever.   Who we are will never be defined by what we think of ourselves according to this world. It is not by anything we accomplish, possess, or do, no matter how great. God has created us so that the world’s external validations will never satisfy the inadequacies we feel. We cannot rest in them but instead must reach out to Him alone who can make us adequate. Who we are, our eternal, spiritual selves, comes from the Lord and not from man, and nothing can take that away. Since our identity depends on Him and comes from Him, we can be secure in how we see ourselves, in the light of Christ alone who has made us new.   We have viewed ourselves long enough through this world’s perception of what is right. This kind of worldly validation rests on circumstances that shift with the tides of time. In them we find no adequacy to put our minds at ease or to secure our hearts before God, because they are transient. But God is not transient. His thoughts toward us are based on the unchangeable fact that Christ, through His life and sacrifice, has now made us secure, immovable, and steadfast.   Once and for all, our security is in Christ, who is steadfast in His love for us despite what is external. Insecurities based on comparing ourselves to others and conforming to the pattern of this world are not a part of our new eternal identity. It is God who justifies us and redeems us, giving us a standing and position that cannot be compared with anything this world offers.   Our worth as Christians does not come from following rules and regulations that make us feel good or bad, but through freedom and trust in the Spirit, who works in and through us. The letter of the law, which causes one to feel self-righteous or condemned before God, does not produce the heart He desires. It does not submit to God, nor can it do so. It is a self-prescribed righteousness that does not align with the righteousness of God, which is by faith. Through Christ we have been made righteous and holy so that our life in the Spirit, far exceeding what any law could ever accomplish, may be lived out in genuine and authentic love for God and for one another.   In the adequacy that comes from God, we are freed to live as He created us to be. Once we were bound and constrained, thinking only of ourselves and our standing before God based on our own self-righteousness. But God has made us truly righteous through the work of His Son so that we no longer fix our eyes on ourselves but set our focus on Him. He is our righteousness, which comes only through Him and not from ourselves. We are free indeed, with adequacy to live out His plan for our lives, to have a pure and clean conscience before Him, and to shine the light of His love into the world, not our own light, but His.

Hebrews 13:5-6 AMP “I WILL NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DESERT YOU NOR GIVE YOU UP NOR LEAVE YOU WITHOUT SUPPORT, NOR WILL I IN ANY DEGREE LEAVE YOU HELPLESS, NOR WILL I FORSAKE OR LET YOU DOWN OR RELAX MY HOLD ON YOU ASSUREDLY NOT!” So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently say, "THE LORD IS MY HELPER IN TIME OF NEED I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?” • Every second of every day we are enveloped in God's unchanging presence, we are never alone. Our nearness to God is not determined by our subjective feelings of closeness or distance. Even when we feel distant, we are not far from Him; and when we think we are close, we might be overlooking the fullness of His presence. From birth, whether we have lived a life as an unbeliever or believer, He has always been close at hand. (Acts 17:27-28 AMP) "that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grasp for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist that is, in Him we actually have our being." Our relationship with God is derived through internalizing His word, believing His truth, our true reality, reminding us He has drawn us to Himself. As those in Christ filled with His Holy Spirit we are in constant communion with the Lord. Our circumstances and situations bearing no influence on His abiding with us through all. Nothing in this world shifts His faithfulness away from us. We fix our eyes on Christ looking past ourselves, our sometimes mistaken emotions, those based on mere feelings. We take every thought captive and set our minds on things above. It is through fully grasping within our hearts and minds God's grace and releasing ourselves that we can confidently take hold of what has been given us in Christ. Believing and accepting who we now are in Him, to rise above, transcending ourselves. What is seen and perceived with our physical eyes only and not the unseen, what truly matters. We cannot experience what He has made us and all He has blessed us with if we do not let go of our sense of lack and inadequacy, and accept His view of us. Remember that the "I" of our former identity has been crucified with Christ it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. (Galatians 2:20 AMP) Filling us with Himself through faith in who we now are, recreated and reborn, and thus for all time changing the way we view ourselves. God has set in place provisions encouraging us to move on when we feel overwhelmed or overburdened. To forget what lay behind and to press on towards what lay ahead, the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13 AMP) To realize our position in Christ far surpasses what we may feel. Feelings which are not aligned with God's truth keeping us from fully experiencing Him and His power to raise us up from wherever it is we may feel we are. This is the same power that raised Christ from the dead, now working within each of us. We will never find ourselves in a position unworthy to receive His grace, mercy, and peace. Just as He is in us we are in Him, hidden in Him, seated with Him in the heavenly places, guarded and protected. For us to take hold of everything that is right and true in Christ, we must surrender our pre-Christ self-perception over to our Father who loves us. A love we are never separated from. (Romans 8:38-39 AMP) A love which knows no bounds of width, nor length, nor height nor depth. In this love we shift our perspective from our narrow view sustaining ourselves to God's eternal view held securely within His hands.

Matthew 18:1-4 NASB At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.   Phillipians 2:5-8 NASB Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.   •   Jesus Christ gave all that we might have all. With a humble heart He emptied Himself for our sake, lived among us, and died upon the cross for the joy that was set before Him. That joy was the salvation of our souls, raising us to a new position and a new and restored identity reconciled back to God. We have entered that joy having been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms, with a new holy and righteous position as His saints and beloved children.   Having been set free from the old and given all that is new, not out of anything we have done but by His grace, we take on a new perspective wholly set apart from what we once held to in this world. It raises our hearts and minds above a world where self and confidence in the flesh is the focus.   Having all we need for life and godliness through Christ we gain a new frame of mind releasing ourselves from a world that is fading and will pass away into the security of an eternal existence. In this security we let go and our minds open to the attitude of Christ, a humility that sets us free from self and opens us up to all God has prepared for us and who He has made us to be.   In this new frame of mind worldly concepts such as pride and arrogance lose their meaning. We no longer have the need to compare ourselves with others, to lift ourselves above others. To feel more highly of ourselves than we ought or less of ourselves than we should. We have been raised to a new life, filling us and giving us new meaning and purpose. We have been satisfied, no longer having the need for this world to provide for us what it was never meant or able to provide.   A humble heart acknowledges a reality that what we have been given from the Lord far surpasses what we have held onto in this world. Within this understanding we choose to relinquish what is temporal for what is eternal, for a calling and a purpose higher than ourselves. The pride of a life without God holds no lasting treasure for this life or the life to come. We died to this world that we might live anew. Jesus said, “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”   Possessing a humble heart is not really about losing; it truly is about gaining all, our true spiritual self. Who we were always meant to be, created to be, and called by God to be. We humble ourselves under His mighty hand, exchanging the illusion of this world’s pride for an unshakable eternal reality.  God’s reality proclaims as David said, “and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” This reality far surpasses all we could ever have asked, imagined or hoped for.

Romans 8:38-39 NASB For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.   Psalm 106:1 NASB Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.   Lamentations 3:22-23 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.   •   In a world constantly changing, the steadfast, abiding, and everlasting love of God is an anchor for the soul. A foundation that nurtures true peace because of its enduring nature. A love holding us secure, that does not shift as the world shifts. The tides of how we feel are transcended by a truth; not an emotion, nor a whim of thought passing through our minds, but an unshakable reality; that we are never alone, that His love will never forsake us.   It is hard to imagine a love not derived from anything we have done, good or bad. God’s love does not depend on us, but is a manifestation of His character, for He Himself is love. His love is steadfast because He is steadfast, it is impossible for Him to be anything other than who He is. He is our perfect Heavenly Father, having knit us together in our mother’s womb, we are His children, and now in Christ, His adopted sons and daughters. His love for us is certain because He has brought us into an imperishable relationship, having been redeemed and reconciled back to Him, His eternal desire.   For God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son, not when we were holy and righteous, but sinners. Loving us even when we were lost and without Him, how much more now saved by His Sons sacrifice should we see His love as a constant? We looked in hope to His love when we came to Him for the salvation of our souls. Now, having been redeemed shouldn’t we see ourselves secure in His love for all time? He loved us at a time when we were without Him as a testament to the fact that no matter where we see ourselves, no matter our circumstances, in Him we can be assured to never be without His love.   God’s love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, His love never fails. Although we are called to love as God loves we often fall far short. But God’s love is not a reflection of our love. We may fall short, but God’s love never falls short. We come to know His love not by looking at how we love one another but by His word and what He tells us about Himself, by His faithfulness, and by all He has done on our behalf. In this world we’ve not come close to experiencing the kind of love that is from the Father, so sometimes it is hard for us to relate. We tend to see God’s love in light of the way we have experienced love in the world and assume His love to be the same. But no matter what we may feel, or what kind of love we have come to know, or what we see in this world, He is exactly who He says He is, unchanging, an everlasting love.     God’s love defies the rules of this world and how we love one another, paying back for wrongs incurred, shunning, and rejecting, keeping record of wrongs, or only loving those that are lovable, these are not part of the makeup of His love. His love transcends this world so that we may see to transcend. To come to Him no matter what the world says, no matter what we may think or believe about ourselves, beyond any feelings of unworthiness. To believe in Him knowing that He is always there for us, that we are never separated from His love.

Ephesians 6:10-11 NASB Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.   Psalm 28:7 NASB The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.   2 Chronicles 20:15 NASB Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.   •   We turn our eyes to Jesus who is our strength and dwells within. We set our mind on who we are through Him, what we have been given, what we have been brought into, what is in keeping with the new life we possess, truths that hold us firm in God’s hands.  These encompass us, they are God’s mighty strength for us, His armor protecting from all sides. They shield us from the lies that seek only to kill and destroy and into a spiritual reality where He is guarding and sustaining every step we take.   We pray to the Lord to grant us His strength, but maybe praying for Him to be our strength puts us more in line with continually looking to Him. This world, the things in it, what we do, and what we have, and what we experience are an ever-present force that can shift us from a heart in need of constant reliance on the Lord. When God tells us to pray without ceasing it is so that our hearts stay tethered to the fact that He is our never-ending strength and deliverer; that He alone sustains us.   There is peace and security in putting our trust into the hands of our all-seeing and all-powerful heavenly Father, whose strength never diminishes. We are freed from the constant belief, either consciously or subconsciously, that we need to hold ourselves together. We may still be clinging to this worlds viewpoint that we only have ourselves to look to and to care for us. That we are the only one we can rely on, the only one we can trust in.   Releasing ourselves from ourselves, the notion it all depends on us, a grip that can strangle the life and freedom He came to give, allows us to experience what He desires because He is the one caring for us with His mighty strength. In looking to Him we free ourselves from self-consciousness and self-centeredness to experience the blessings and plans He has for us.   God offers us strength, and the peace that comes with that strength. It is a spiritual hindrance to look to pull ourselves up rather than looking to Him. It is God who lifts us up, He is our deliverer, our shield and protector. We look to Him in all things and at all times because when we were lost and, in our sin, unholy and unrighteous, He raised us from the dead and gave us new life. Therefore, no matter what, wherever we may find ourselves, He is always there for us with a lifting hand. In His eyes we are worthy of His abiding love and strength.   When it is no longer about us but about Him as our strength, those are the days when we walk in spiritual victory. The days when we bring to Him what little we have and lay them at His feet, putting our trust in Him and believing He will sustain us. For when we are weak, then we are strong. When Jesus said, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, He implied that it is not about our greatness but God’s greatness.   When we exalt God by looking to Him through our weakness we find His true strength. We glorify God not by being perfect but by trusting in Him with all our heart; with all we think and feel, with all we will ever have or be. In releasing all, we find that what we have been given, apart from anything we have ever done, is wondrous because it comes in light of His great love for us apart from our own strivings.   We lean into our Most High God because we are His children, adopted as His beloved. He is the one with the strength, power, and wisdom, which He freely bestows on us. Yes, He has made us holy and righteous but not to see us sustain ourselves. It is God who fills us; this is God’s grace, His power in our lives.   God has chosen the weak things of this world to shame the strong. The things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before Him. God and His power are our glory in weakness. He gave us everything when we had nothing, not so that we would rely on and look to ourselves, but to fully entrust ourselves to Him as the giver of all.   Trust is the application of our belief. If we believe God is as He says He is. That He cares for us, provides for us, and sustains us with His power and we continue to focus on these things as our ultimate reality then we will begin to see ourselves progressively trusting in Him as the source of all that is good.   We step aside and allow God to be God in our lives. To bring about in us what He alone can accomplish. Did we receive Christ from anything we did? Why after receiving Christ through His grace do we look to ourselves as if it comes from us? Our Christian walk does not fluctuate on our strength. We are not in one minute and out the next. God’s gracious hand of strength in our lives is not for us a sign that it is now somehow in our hands. God has provided us with all things so that we look to Him as the provider and not ourselves.   We were crucified with Christ, but God raised us up together with Him to a new life. He gives us light where there is no light. He lifts us out of the pit of despair. He is our strength, His grace and mercy in times of need. He sets our feet on solid unshakable ground. He blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He takes us by His righteous right hand and leads us that we may not fear. He comforts us with His wisdom and understanding, lifting our eyes to what is above. God is the fulfiller of all things.

Romans 1:19-20 AMP "That which is known about God is evident within them in their inner consciousness, for God made it evident to them. For ever since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through His workmanship all His creation, the wonderful things that He has made, so that they who fail to believe and trust in Him are without excuse and without defense." • When we as believers reflect on God's wonderful creation we are struck with acknowledging the undeniable impossibility of life originating in any way other than by His mighty hands. That the creation of the heavens, the earth, and the sea, and all that is in them was not a matter of chance or an evolutionary process, but through His grand design and purposeful act. That it is God alone who breaths life and who sustains life. Seeing the evidence of God in His creation is not just for unbelievers that they might see and believe, but for us as well. That as we consider the beauty and magnificence in all He has made and His wondrous care in sustaining life, we may in all respects grasp that we can indeed believe and trust Him in all things. Each one of us no matter what we may believe to be the source of life can agree that what we see all around us, this earth of ours and all that lives within is beyond majestic. No one will argue that it is beyond comprehension. That all 8.7 plus million species of living organisms are a masterwork of complexity and perfection. We humans in all our vast wisdom, understanding, and knowledge have yet to be able to replicate even the simplest of life forms, nothing we have created has ever matched what His hands have made. In saying that life was formed in a way other than by the hand of God we are making the assumption that all life learned within itself to create, replicate and sustain itself. Evolution has not even scratched its own surface of how that came about, having no recollection within us of how we and nature pieced ourselves together. Those looking at the origin of life as happenstance and not an act of creation, conclude that life began with the simplest of life forms, the single-cell organism. Although a single-cell organism is microscopic in size, we cannot for that fact consider it inconsequential. We cannot accept the belief in its evolved existence when in fact no life existed before the life of that organism. Indeed— nothing comes from nothing. Size is relative, complexity is what is important. It has been said that the happenstance of a single-cell is like taking a 747 jumbo jet apart and shaking it up in a bag for billions of years and it comes out fully operational and able to fly. Think of the impossibility of that happening even once, let alone in the case of all species of living organisms. A single-cell organism has up to thousands of distinct physical and biochemical functions with up to millions of biochemical processes occurring each second. In contrast the human body has billions of distinct physical and biochemical functions with quadrillions of biochemical processes occurring each second and the interplay of each flawlessly working together sustaining life. Each has a before and after function. An example for us as humans is eating and breathing. Which came first? Well, we have to look at a third function that of the epiglottis and the role it plays. The epiglottis is a flap-like structure of cartilage which covers the windpipe allowing food and liquid into the esophagus to avoid choking. Without all three in place and fully functioning, not over a span of time but at a singular point in time, you would either starve to death, suffocate to death or choke to death. In evolution it would be impossible to find a starting point wherein one function develops at any level apart from another. An organism in development would be in a state of underdevelopment during which it could not function nor have the ability to evolve. Every function has a purpose but no function exists alone or can develop separate and apart from another. It is undeniable that life could not have maintained itself over an extended period of billions of years but would have to have been created with all parts fully functioning in unison. We could go on speaking of the innumerable examples of the impossibility of life existing without God that we find in the living organisms of this earth. For example the caterpillar who sheds its skin, all its unique bodily functions said to have evolved over billions of years including locomotion, eating, vision etc. and revealing itself as a chrysalis. Within this chrysalis its body is broken down into a liquid substance from which a butterfly is formed. The butterfly emerges after days or weeks with the ability to fly, all the functions of locomotion, eating, and vision etc. changed. If we look at it from an evolutionary standpoint the caterpillar once having learned to shed its own skin would immediately have died without the ability to continue evolving. The blueprint for the butterfly is within the caterpillar when created. A living organism cannot evolve with the expectation of later becoming something completely different. The two life forms cannot evolve together, the caterpillar, and within, the butterfly to be. Life did not will itself into existence, designed and created by the living organism. What about God's sustaining power continuously at work in all of life. The fact that life was maintained as the caterpillar went through the process of shedding its skin, liquifying, transforming, and emerging as a butterfly able to fly. Or the fact that our hearts beat unassisted. Or that all the functions of our bodies continue without our input. All quadrillions upon quadrillions of functions occurring in all life on earth every second of every day unaided and unyielding. The scripture says in (Acts 17:28 AMP) "For in Him we live and move and exist that is, in Him we actually have our being." The scriptures also say in (Colossians 1:17 AMP) "He Himself existed and is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. His is the controlling, cohesive force of the universe." The world goes about life without giving the slightest thought to the sustaining power and cohesive force of God holding all life together. He is the creator and sustainer having been continually at work from the beginning of time. God has gone far beyond what is seen. He has done and is doing for us so much more than having created us and sustaining our lives. Through His Son He has given us new life. He has washed us clean from sin and guilt, setting us free from what had for all time enslaved us. From all we were unable to free ourselves from. We are reborn, recreated, made new, blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms so that we may have a dynamic spiritual life. (2 Peter 1:3 AMP) "For His divine power has bestowed on us absolutely everything necessary for a dynamic spiritual life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence." If His creation is magnificent and beyond compare, how much more the spiritual life He came to give us, which we now possess? What Christ has brought to us, to be filled with and fully experience far exceeds all. Jesus said, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits his soul. What He is telling us, is that what He came to give us, who we are in Him far exceeds all the treasures of this world. We have so much which surrounds us, His creation; which fills us, His Holy Spirit, that speak of the awesome God He is and display His power of faithfulness. We can indeed believe and trust in Him with all our heart. He has made it abundantly clear that we can look to Him in all things. Let us desire what He desires. Setting our hearts on things above in order to fully experience all He has prepared for us in Christ. Slow down, stop, observe the beauty in His creation, for He Himself is Beautiful. Be filled with wonder and amazement. God is the God of the minute details, sustaining all of life's intricacies both physically and spiritually. Everything is taken care of and watched over by His loving hands. If you haven't yet reached out to God, reach out to Him. As it says, if you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you. Fill yourself with Him. Acknowledge His truth. As believers and unbelievers we are all directed to draw closer to Him through His Son Jesus Christ. He is the only way, the only one who holds life, true life in His hands, both physically, and spiritually.

Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God." NIV "Cease striving and know that I am God" NASB "Let go and know that I am God" NASB "Relax and know that I am God" NASB • To be still before God we must first believe the profound truth of His existence. In believing He exists we must know that as our creator He loves us. In believing that He loves us we must know most assuredly that in His care for us as His children His power is great. His power is so great toward us that He asks us to cast all our anxiety on Him and to be anxious for nothing. - 1 Peter 5:7 Philippians 4:6 In letting go and releasing our anxiousness we believe that He will take care of us in all things. For He promises to work all things out for the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. - Romans 8:28 As the source and sustainer of the intricacies of all life, nothing is too small or too great for Him. Being still is not just a physical response, but a state of mind. Understanding the mindset behind the act of being still is the foundation and power of being still. Being fully convinced that He is God and holding to the truths revealed through that belief we trust in Him. To quiet one's mind and spirit. To stop striving to do with our own strength and fortitude what God says He will do. And to rest in His hands are all part of being still before God. In so doing we loosen the grip we have on our need to sustain our own existence. Leaning on our own understanding and guiding our own steps. "For a man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps." - Jeremiah 10:23 We have spent enough time living in light of our own understanding and experiencing its fruit to know this to be true. What is it that holds us back from taking Him at His word? Believing in the things He tells us as true, the extent to which we can trust in Him. Those of this world seek to find their own way, doing what makes one feel good, striving to fulfill and satisfy themselves, dependent upon their own strength, wisdom and understanding. Although they have felt the hand of God in their lives, mercy and grace through difficulty and His graciousness in their need many still do not acknowledge Him. We are animated by His power and our very breath is from Him. His intentions are only good toward us. He has prepared what is right and pleasing for us to experience and enjoy through our trust in Him. The extent to which we release ourselves from ourselves, our own doing, is the extent to which we will experience Him. What has been meant for us before the beginning of time. It is hard for us to release from the lingering patterns of mindset we have lived so long within. Self-generated patterns that testify to a notion that truth and sustaining power lay within ourselves and not our Heavenly Father. Have we not seen His faithfulness, His workings to know that it is not within us? We must stop. We must change our minds in order to see beyond what we have always seen. To believe something other than what we have always held to be true, taking hold of His perspective, His view. If we are called to be still, to cease striving, to let go and relax then we know there is a truth that transcends all that would trouble our hearts. He is faithful even when we don't understand, and when we can't see. Nothing in any way nullifies the faithfulness of God. No matter how dark, or how blind we may feel we can always look to Him as the one caring for us. So, reliance on oneself transforms into a reliance on God. What we once held so tightly to in order to fix, to make right we cast upon Him. We present our requests before Him and move on in thanksgiving, His intentions becoming our intentions. We acknowledge Him in all our ways. As He goes before us our eyes fix solely on Him. We are convinced that His desire is for us to release all to Him. It is His intention to hold us in His care. It is what He means when He asks us to let go. It is clear to us His motives in regard to our well-being. He who has brought all things into being, even our spiritual standing and position, is willing also to carry us on to completion. We acknowledge and understand the extent to which we are asked to trust in Him, the degree to which we are able to trust Him. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NASB Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

Philippians 4:6-7 NASB Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.   1 Peter 5:6 NASB Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.   •   At times and to varying degrees, we all feel anxious, which can challenge our faith in God and His abiding care. We may feel alone in our anxieties and that might feel a lot like God has abandoned us, but He hasn't. Far from Him being absent from us He acknowledges us. In our weaknesses and our sometimes short-sighted faith He calls us to trust in Him. He asks us to cast all our anxieties on Him, to bring our requests to Him, because He is the one actively caring for us.   By asking to take our anxious thoughts and requests from us He makes it clear that it is He who we need to trust in with all our heart. To let Him hold what we don't see, the unknown, our anxious understanding causing our hearts to feel distress. Our anxiety can be a gentle and often not so gentle reminder that it is not in us to piece it all together in order to calm our inner turmoil. Rather, it is for us to put our confidence in Him, to let go and trust Him to care for us.   With God all things are possible and even in the darkness of our anxiety we can be brought to a place where even though we don't see what is ahead we move closer to trusting Him. Trust and faith are not about seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Their essence is that there doesn't need to be a light, only a recognition and acknowledgment that God has us within His hands and is carrying us through. And in this, the anxiousness of our hearts begin to ease. We move closer to letting go of what we don't see into the hands of an all-seeing Father who loves us.   Our anxiety begins to lighten as we allow our mind to renew with what is, not with what is not. We focus our mind on the things from above not on what is of this world. We dwell on what is right, and true. God has brought us into His light, what is so true about us according to our new lives in Christ. We no longer see ourselves from a worldly standpoint, from a worldly point of view, for we are a new creation, the old is gone. We release what makes us anxious because it does not define us, it is not our new and true identity.   This new identity and our new position in Christ have raised us above the temporal of this world, what often causes our hearts to be troubled. God has given us new life so that we see ourselves and life anew. We are not alone and so we don't approach life as if we are alone. God is working in and through us. Working all things out for the good because He loves us and has called us according to His good purpose.   We have a new life and purpose so that we set our eyes on something far higher than ourselves and what we may be experiencing. God the creator of the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them has brought us into His life, to experience what is new. Not the old which has passed, but what is fresh, bright, and clean, a completely new outlook.   Dealing with anxiety is not so much about striving to not have any more anxiety but is far more than that. It is about learning to let go, to be still, and to trust in God with all our heart. If we are to trust in God with all our heart, is there anything beyond the concept all our heart that we don't put into His hands? In Him we move and breathe and have our being, what is beyond God enveloping us that He is not a part of? He is our life, and in His hands are all things.   God is clearly seen in all He has made so that we need only look up to know that He is with us. He sustains our entirety, every moment of every day. His hands hold the universe and all things together; just as He holds us together, not only physically, but even more so, spiritually. His hand is at work in all of life, every facet of our existence. Every hair of our head is numbered. If His eye is on every sparrow, how much more must He care for us, being intricately involved in every detail of our lives?   Is it possible that we let go just a little bit of our anxiety today and put it into His hands? This is His request and will for us. What He has prepared for us, accomplished through Christ, this is our inheritance, what we have to look forward to. The plans He has for us to experience. All the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms He has given us to enjoy, to be filled by them.   No matter where we think we are, we are completely new and in a completely new place. Seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, held close, hidden, protected, and guarded. He has prepared such a life as this, unfathomable, to take part in as His fellow workers. What He has given us transcends all. We can alter our perspective because reality, our reality, has been altered into something far greater than we could ever have imagined, all by the hands of our eternal Father through His Son Jesus Christ.