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Series: Bridges

Living everyday with God

"...God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?'" (Hebrews 13:5-6).
God is always there. He doesn't just go away, then come back to check on how we are doing. He's always there. The starting point in our life with God is to realise that He is there. At the beginning of the day, throughout the day and at the end of the day, we must be conscious of His presence with us. When we realise this, the whole day will be different! Read Psalm 139:1-10*.

The Starting Point

As you begin your day with God, you need to remember three special gifts that He has given you, just because you asked Him into your life. You cannot earn this gifts by being good enough. You cannot qualify for them by being a Christian long enough. They are gifts. Bccause you received them, they're yours.
These three gifts are:
Many people struggle all their lives trying to qualify to be accepted by God. Some people struggle with unworthiness, guilt and failure. But the Christian message has wonderful news! We are not trying to become righteous in God's sight - God gives His own righteousness to us as a free gift! We are not trying to earn eternal life - God gives us eternal life as a gift! We are not trying to become good enough so we can have God's Spirit in our hearts - God gives us His Spirit as soon as we open our hearts to Him. It's all a package deal. When you were born into God's family, these three things were God's birthday presents to you. They are now your starting point every single day.

Putting your roots deep into God

Just like a tree must put its roots down deep into the ground - where the underground rivers are - so you need to put your life's roots deep down into God. Many people put their roots down into other things - money, bitterness, unforgiveness, selfishness - and this is what their life feeds on. Their roots are ingrown on themselves. But now, as a Christian, your life can feed on God's presence every day.

The Bible describes the two main kinds of roots we can have:

Ingrown roots: "This is what the Lord says: 'Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives" (Jeremiah 17:5-6).
Roots into God: "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit" (Jeremiah 17:7-8).
The Christian life isn't just a Sunday experience. It's a daily experience. Every day we get to know God better. Every day we can draw on special strength to face life with God. Every day we grow in the image of God, becoming more and more like Jesus Himself. God does not want weekly Christians. He wants daily Christians.

Talking to God everyday

Prayer is a special part of the daily Christian life. Prayer is simply talking to God, spending time in His presence. We can talk with God anywhere, at any time. Because we are a part of His family, we have an open invitiation to talk with Him about anything that might be worrying us. Read Philippians 4:6-7*. But we can also make special appointments with God, at regular times every day. First thing in the morning, we can find a quiet place to spend a few moments alone with God, and this can give us special strength for the day. "
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (Matthew 6:6).

Reading the Bible everyday

The Bible is a special gift from God to you. It contains many historic stories about God's involvement with people, and how Jesus came into the world. But the Bible also contains God's thoughts about you. This is why the Bible is often called "God's Word". As you read the Bible, you will discover more about God and about yourself too. God wants to change the way we look at ourselves and others, and when we read the Bible, it can be like hearing God's quiet "voice" in our hearts. You can ask another Christian where to begin reading the Bible.
"Jesus answered, '...Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God'" (Matthew 4:4). Read also Colossians 3:16* and James 1:21-22*.

Standing strong everyday

As you pray and read the Bible each day, you can receive special strength from God to face temptation and difficulties. Maybe you have a weak area that you always give into. But now that you have God's Spirit living in your heart, you can begin to rely on Him to give you strength.

However - if you do get into difficulties with sin, God has made a wonderful promise to you. Read 1 John 1:9*. This means that you don't ever have to allow anything to get between you and God. Just ask God to forgive you and He has promised to cleanse you. You can also talk to the minister of your church. Part of his responsibility is to help you in any area where you may be having a struggle.

The secret to the Christian life

The secret to the Christian life is God's Spirit - called the Holy Spirit - living inside your heart. Without Him, the Christian life doesn't work. You can try all your life to be a good Christian by yourself, but you will fail. God's standards are too high. God has designed the Christian life to work only by the power of the Holy Spirit working on the inside, helping you to live up to God's standard. The Bible uses a very special word for this inner power - "GRACE"*. Grace means God doing what you can't do yourself. God's grace is God's energising power in your life, working from the inside out. Read Ephesians 2:8-9. This is a beautiful example of God's grace. You didn't deserve to be "saved". In fact, the Bible says you deserved to be judged for sin. But God's grace saved you from that judgment, because of God's love and mercy. When the Holy Spirit brought you to birth into God's family, that was His grace in action. But grace didn't just stop there. Read Titus 2:11-12. The "Grace Factor" is the secret to your whole life with God. It is God energising you to live a life that pleases Him. Not just every now and again, but every day.

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Copyright & copy; 1981,1996 Paul, Bunty and David Collins. All rights reserved. This study may be freely used and reproduced, wholly or in part, by the Christian Church for the non-profit purposes of study and training only, provided copyright and contact information is included.

Unless otherwise stated, all scriptures quoted in these studies are from the New International Version of the Bible, & copy; New York International Bible Society, used by permission. Other versions referred to are: KJV (King James Version), NKJB (New King James Bible), TLB (The Living Bible), Amp (The Amplified Bible) and The Message. All versions used by permission.

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