DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR TODAY, AUGUST 19, 2012
THROUGH CHRIST JESUS
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Phillipians 4:13
The Christian life is to be lived through Christ Jesus. But what does that mean? It means that we seek and settle to live through his resources. Similar to a wife whose provision comes through her Husband, so the believer is to be dependent upon Christ. Dependence does not mean inactivity. Just as it is proper for a wife to be full of good works, virtue, and industry; so, too, it is proper for the believer to have labour with their faith. For faith without works is dead, according to James 2:26. The truth is that we are to engage in every work through the resources of Christ. He gives us the strength, power, wisdom, insight and funding to accomplish every task.
There are several ways in which we can access the resources of Christ. Prayer is primary:
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened" (Matthew 7:7,8).
Another way in which we live out of the resources of Christ is to destroy the flesh:
"For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live"( Romans 8:13).
The practice of fasting is an effective method of destroying the flesh or mortifying the deeds of the body.
