The Living Hope Within You

 Stop looking outside yourself for strength to carry on and turn to the indwelling presence of Christ within.

My Christian life resembled a roller coaster for many years—up one minute, down the next. Instead of making progress, I had more failures than successes throughout my life. Have you ever had a similar experience? Many Christians believe that living a Christian life consists of doing things like going to church, reading the Bible, praying, and serving. While this is true, we must remember that we have the holy, sovereign God abiding within us and that we can draw strength from him in times of need.

 

The power we need to live the Christian life isn't given to us from on high, but rather from within you, every believer's life, as a result of Christ's indwelling presence. The holy spirit, whom Jesus promised would always be with us, was to be our helper.

 As the Lord understands, our human frailties and limited power make us unfit to practice the Christian life. His purpose is to achieve what we can't do on our own or with our natural abilities through us.

Prayer: Father God, we thank you for choosing us to be fashioned into the image of your son Jesus despite our helplessness. Teach us to yield to and rely on your indwelling presence.