It is neat for me to see that God desires interaction with us so much. He doesn't give us a bunch of principles to follow, so that if we do all those things we'll have a successful Christian life. You don't even "need" God for such a plan (anyway, if righteousness comes by the law, Christ died in vain).
Instead He gives His very own Self and tells us that He is the secret to the Christian life. It's all wrapped up in Him and we interact with and trust Him, commune and communicate with Him, look to Him for all we need. The branch is completely dependent on the Vine so that real, living, union relationship occurs and real growth and fruit come out of that union relationship.
It boggles my mind that God would actually want to have a relationship, a friendship, with me. It's almost like I can't believe He would want to talk with me about everything and never tires of helping me. Yesterday I had this terrible, irritable day and yet it ended with Him and me together listening to worship songs and me enjoying His wonderful presence. That's a great friend who can do that with me! It was as if all my ranting and worrying hadn't even happened. Our friendship just went on so perfectly. It's almost unbelievable. That's grace! He is grace personified to me, the love and acceptance and strengthening life of God put within me! He truly is my best friend, the friend one thought they could only dream of ever having.
There's another area where I see this wonderful interaction between Him and me taking place. I didn't realize that in the past I was trying to fight so many of my worries myself. I think He is showing me He wants me to look to HIM for the answer. He wants me to lean on Him and trust Him for HIS work in the problem. I have noticed over the last few days that when I felt troubled, I was feeling led to just stop and ask Him right then to fill me with His Spirit and to restore me to peace and clear thinking. He just kept directing my thoughts back to Him. Often He would give me a sense or reminder of His presence with me, and over time the problem thoughts cleared.
Through these experiences I am understanding so much better what it means to let Christ live through me. It has seemed kind of vague to me in the past, but now it makes more sense. I'm not here alone having to figure things out on my own - I'm attached to Him and His life is flowing through me! He literally lives for me! He handles my problems in my place! He takes care of the worries and struggles. He actually desires that I share all my concerns with Him so that He can take deal with them for me. We're not meant to struggle and deal with our problems on our own, we're meant to look to Christ and watch Him deal with them with His power and through His Spirit.
With Him taking care of that stuff, I am freed to just enjoy His presence! I think He loves that so much, just enjoying being together, interacting and communing. Why would God Almighty care to be around ME? I don't have a clue but I am thankful for His marvelous grace that loves me and accepts me and strengthens me with His life - no matter what! That's truly a result of His grace!
Life in Christ is the best thing going, isn't it? It just gets better and better. And it's all a gift of His grace from beginning to end!
With love to all,
Through these experiences I am understanding so much better what it means to let Christ live through me. It has seemed kind of vague to me in the past, but now it makes more sense. I'm not here alone having to figure things out on my own - I'm attached to Him and His life is flowing through me! He literally lives for me! He handles my problems in my place! He takes care of the worries and struggles. He actually desires that I share all my concerns with Him so that He can take deal with them for me. We're not meant to struggle and deal with our problems on our own, we're meant to look to Christ and watch Him deal with them with His power and through His Spirit.
With Him taking care of that stuff, I am freed to just enjoy His presence! I think He loves that so much, just enjoying being together, interacting and communing. Why would God Almighty care to be around ME? I don't have a clue but I am thankful for His marvelous grace that loves me and accepts me and strengthens me with His life - no matter what! That's truly a result of His grace!
Life in Christ is the best thing going, isn't it? It just gets better and better. And it's all a gift of His grace from beginning to end!
With love to all,
