“Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth. Wealth and riches will be in his house. He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established; He will not be afraid.” (Psalm 112:1-3, 7-8, NKJ)

When we received Christ, we were delivered from the kingdom of darkness and conveyed into the Kingdom of the Son of His love (Colossians 1:13). It’s a completely different place and a fresh new start.

We no longer need to allow ourselves to be cheated through the deceit and vain principles of the world.   We can live according to what Christ has for us (Colossians 2:8). The system of the Kingdom of God is very unlike the world’s system. We are to come out of the world’s system and learn to put our confidence in God’s system.

No matter what is going on in the world we can continue to expect to be blessed, to have success, and to be fearless. The woes of the world do not take a single thing away from who God is, or what He owns. It is upon us to decide which kingdom we will live in.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planed by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” (Psalm 1: 1,2-3, NKJ)

“A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.” (Psalm 91:7, NKJ)

Questions: Are you letting the troubles of the world impact your expectations? Do you continue to rejoice in the abundant and sure promises of God, and His unshakeable Kingdom?

About the Author: Emmie Stanley

It is with serious intent that I intrude upon our devotional moments in these missives with things such as coffee, the Da Vinci Code, jogging, iPods, Bonnie Raitt, and Dodger dogs. There is a method to this madness – to splash a little profane around the sacred so that the opposite might happen when we leave this devotional reflection to the end that the sacred might invade our profane existence and open our eyes to God in the world.

It’s all about connections. The more we learn to connect God’s truth to the physical world and the culture that surrounds us, the more we will be able to live a life of worship. Worship does not consist in leaving the world to see God, but in learning to see God at all times in the world.

The separation of the sacred and the profane is hard to shake. It is deeply engrained in us, the result of a long history going back at least to the early Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, who taught that the good and the sublime exist only in the non-physical realm. The body was tainted; the spirit was pure. The Gnostics came along and took it even farther. They believed the physical does not even exist. It is an illusion. The only truth is what you know in your mind.

Then along came Jesus. He busted the whole paradigm because he was the essence of the spiritual – God himself, to be exact – in human flesh and bone. He ate and drank and got dirty walking the road of life, and made it all sacred in the process. He told stories about vines and branches and farmers and merchants and kings and widows. He changed water into wine, sickness into health, death into life. He healed people’s bodies and forgave their sins at the same time. He paid his taxes, helped his disciples fish, and cooperated with Roman rule. And even after his resurrection, he made breakfast for his little band of followers and ate with them.

To Jesus, life was a mixed bag of the holy and the common, but mostly the common made holy by his touch. In Jesus, the sacred and the profane meet, resulting in the realization that the profane can be redeemed. Our earthly existence can be given spiritual value. The physical world is not disconnected from the spiritual one, nor is it at odds with it, but the physical world can embody all that is spiritual. The Word became flesh, and since then nothing has ever been the same. Now work, play, recreation, entertainment, and even commerce can contain God’s glory. Indeed, the entire physical world is merely a front for the spiritual realities it illustrates.

So to go into the world, leaving God back in your devotions somewhere would be a big mistake, when in reality, by focusing on him, you are just getting warmed up to discovering him everywhere else.

Question: What are some of the ways that we compartmentalize our lives into “sacred” and “profane”? How can we seek to redeem the so-called “profane” parts for God?

About this Author: John Fischer

Please open your Bible and read 1 Corinthians 15:54-58.

Because Jesus is alive, we have the awesome confidence that God is actively involved in our life. We pray; He answers. We watch Him work in our hearts and in the lives of other people. And we have the certainty He has forgiven us of our sins. Jesus took the penalty we deserved, and as we avail ourselves of the cleansing He offers (1 John 1:9), we experience a renewed sense of fellowship with Him. When Jesus is real in our heart, we don’t have to worry about defending our faith – the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit allows us to live life in a way that brings God honor and glory.

On the other hand, people who choose to live without Christ do their own work, not His. Likewise, they consider their own will, not the Lord’s and spend their time doing what they deem best without giving God a thought. When they approach death, they assume everything will somehow be all right. But people who have never trusted Jesus Christ will end their earthly existence without joy or assurance. Having missed God’s specific, personal purpose for their life, they will realize that all their money, prestige, and prominence is like sand – worthless.

It’s foolish to think that God will make an exception because we have been good or done our best. He offers us a free gift of the Holy Spirit so that we can enjoy peace and contentment, even in difficult times. The abundant life He offers flows over the physical and time – bound limitations of this world into eternity – but it is accessible only through His Son.

Question: How do you see God’s purpose for your life?

About this Author: Charles Stanley