To Live From the Inside Out!

I had an interesting conversation with my son this morning, He just turned eight years old but He is always very curious about the things of the Lord, and he made a comment about us being protected.
What I explained to him is that when we have Jesus Christ living within us we have all the protection we need, all we need is to learn to live that new life Jesus has given us, and the only way we can accomplish that is through reading the Bible and through constant prayer; once we know where we stand in Christ we learn to walk in confidence, knowing that not only are we protected, but we are fully blessed and those blessings are there for us at our disposal as we learn to activate them.
The trick is, as I explained to him, to learn to live from within, and to learn to use those tools that the Lord has given us to walk his walk.
First of all we have the armor of God, (Ephesians 6:10-18): the Belt of truth, the Helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes that gird us with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.
When we learn to carry those tools and use them effectively we can walk with confidence and boldness, knowing that we are impenetrable, through Christ.
Then learning to live from within becomes easy, especially as we grow in Christ, as we mature in the knowledge and understanding of his word and His will, as we secure our position in Christ.
Living from within implies learning to live actively the fruits of the spirit, (Galatians 5:22-23); Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Goodness, Kindness, Faithfulness, Righteousness, and self control, and learning to reject the constant exposure to the fakes that are thrown at us by the world, because if we are living from within, if we are living by the spirit, then the wants of life will be deflected, for then we would not need to seek love, since by giving love, love is always surrounding us, giving love rough actively exposing the schemes of the devil, and rejecting his constant darts, the attacks that seek to derail us.
triggers constant joy; others will be affected by our joy and bring joy back to us.
When we look for joy outside of ourselves all we find is the "joy producing" fakes which lead to sinful behavior, drunkenness debauchery, recklessness, immorality.
When we find joy within that joy overflows into our surroundings, affecting everything in our sphere of influence.
The peace of God is within us, and by connecting to God, and leading a spirit filled life, by living from within, this peace gets fully activated, and nothing on this earth can take it back, as we learn that there is nothing that can either replace or destroy that supernatural feeling, as we learn that no circumstance on earth is big enough or complicated enough to matter more than the love of God.
The order in which these fruits have been presented to us in scripture is quite significant, because when love is exhaled from within us, touching and transforming the lives of others, it triggers a wonderful joy, a contagious feeling of completeness and achievement, and the peace of God invade our spirit, filling us with contentment and satisfaction.
And when we are irradiating that Love and joy and peace, all other fruits become second nature; become an intrinsic part of our selves.
Yesterday at a barbecue with some friends, in conversation with one of them I was listening to him explaining how his mother in law was always sour and disconnected and loveless and sad.
I interrupted him and asked, when was the last time he gave her an expression of love? his answer was, how can you give love to somebody like that? My response to him was, love is not a thing to ask for, but to give unconditionally, and by giving it we will affect those receiving it in such way that they will in turn eventually respond likewise.
The Bible says in the book of 1 Corinthians; Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
(1Corinthians 13:4-7).
Living from within, is living about others, and not about us, God bless those who bless us, as long as we are a blessing to them first.
So let us activate our blessings, let us start living from the inside out.
Rev.
Jose A.
Luna A servant of Christ Jesus