Pure Gift
He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:30
Holy Spirit: It is not you, Beth, sweetheart. It is all grace - given - not earned, not deserved, not bought by you – but gifted, pure gift to you, from me. Purchased for you on the cross, paid with my body and my blood. It is this gift of mercy and grace and power that sustains you, helps you love, understand, and even speak. In Me you live and move and have your being, not in you! You must believe that, remember that and accept that! Then we can really do some great love and some great work together. Apart from me, my mercy, grace, strength, and power – you can do nothing. But with me – nothing is impossible. Do you accept that? I am that powerful, yet meek, humble, just, and merciful, always gentle, loving, and faithful. Activate my grace in your heart, in your life, moment by moment. Remember that. Remember me.
I struggle daily with letting go of my will, being overly self-reliant with selfish pride. In my quiet, meditative prayer times with Scripture, Jesus always seems to point me in the right direction. He helps me see the errors in my attitudes and thoughts and always provides a peace and illumination on the problems. Directly through a Scripture verse, through a commentary reading or bringing to mind a verse that reminds me of his truths and promises, He speaks to me in the quiet of our prayer time together. My daily execution of trust, obedience and surrender are certainly flawed but I grow ever more trusting and am humbled by His attention to the desires of my heart. He is infinitely gentle and persistent in helping me root out vice and grow in virtue. The above reminder is straight out of my prayer journal from a few weeks ago. Thank goodness He is patient and merciful with a work in progress. Pure gift indeed!
Inspired by:
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11
For with God nothing will be impossible. Luke 1:37
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29
What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness? 1 Corinthians 4:21
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’. Acts 17:24-28
I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
…since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, Rom 3:23-24
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the Lord sustains me. Psalms 3:5
…so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption; therefore, as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:29-31
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you; this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14
For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100:5
The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made. Psalm 145:9
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit, which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 1 Corinthians 2:12
Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our sufficiency is from God, 2 Cor 3:4-5