A life in Christ what does it look like?
So, what does a life in Christ look like? While walking past a photo of Leo and me kissing at the beach, the Lord said, “Life in Christ.” It was a photo we had taken only weeks earlier while visiting our homeland in South Australia. In 2008, Leo and I sold our 80 acres of land and home in the Adelaide Hills because the Lord Jesus told us to sell all we had and move to San Diego, California. It was a terribly hard decision. But because of faith in Christ, the Lord Jesus gave me the courage and strength to obey Him when I would have rather stayed. Today, Leo and I still reside in San Diego, doing the Lord’s work and the things He’s called us to do to be faithful. But I want to tell you about this day, driving through the Adelaide Hills, when Leo and I ended up on a beach and took this photo that the Lord had pointed out to me. You see, I had started a blog called Life in Christ. So, Jesus’ words got my attention. But as Jesus said, “Life in Christ,” He also put it in my heart that this day, when Leo and I took this photo, and the troubles and victory we experienced encapsulated a life in Christ.
*Photo taken at Aldinga Beach – 14th September, 2019 at 5:54pm
As Leo and I drove through the Adelaide Hills and by where he used to work, my heart started to feel as if Leo wasn’t being compassionate about what had happened to me. He seemed to be talking so fondly about his memories there. I knew it wasn’t this job, or this place, that had caused my suffering and near-death experience by Satanists. But as Leo’s career progressed, he was consumed by it. And Leo had left me alone on our property, sometimes for weeks at a time, to look after our three daughters. It had caused me great exhaustion and loneliness, and I questioned our choices and his love. I had cried out one night from the depths of my soul to understand the meaning of life, and that’s when the Devil sent people to befriend me to kill me. The Devil didn’t want the Lord Jesus answering my soul’s desperate cry to know the truth and find the secret to life. I wasn’t born again, nor did I understand the truth of the gospel at the time. As I responded to Leo in the car, speaking fondly about his work experience at the water pumping stations we passed, I knew he wasn’t hearing me correctly. Leo became annoyed and frustrated. But the more I tried to diffuse the situation, the worse it got, until Leo wanted to turn around and go back to the Airbnb. But I didn’t want to go back! I knew the Devil was at work in the car with us – firing his arrows at our hearts and messing with our ears so we didn’t hear each other correctly to get us at odds. I didn’t want the Devil to win! I didn’t want to miss out on what the Lord Jesus had for us today. So, I told Leo we needed to pray! And asked him to pull over somewhere.
The Devil can confuse our hearing. He holds the whole world in his control, the minds of unbelievers, so that they can’t understand who Jesus is, the Christ, to set them free. I knew his tactics so well after my experience of my betrayal by people who pretended to be friends, to hand me over to the demonic, and be captured by demons. But I wasn’t that person anymore! Jesus had released me from their power and given me a new heart and a free mind. Jesus had granted me knowledge of the truth of who He is and given me the ability to worship and adore Him. I knew, in the car, it was the Devil trying to get Leo and me angry so we would fight with each other and miss out on what the Lord Jesus wanted to bless us with and teach us. But as Leo pulled over for us to pray, I knew I had not guarded my heart by allowing his comments to bother me. I had not guarded my heart with what Christ had done for me.
“Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.”
1 Peter 4:12 NLT
It wasn’t easy, Leo and I humbling ourselves before the Lord Jesus in our attack. Our hearts were hurt by the other’s words. But we prayed together, knowing Jesus was the only one who could deliver us from these attacks and rectify the damage so we could go forward in His will and wishes. We both asked for forgiveness and for the other to be healed. And that we would be more careful in the future to the Devil’s attempts to set us apart. That day did not end in disaster as the Devil hoped. But on the beach at Aldinga where you can drive your car onto the sand. Leo and I watched the sunset, praising Jesus for His victory and awareness to the assault on our marriage – wiser than before, full of the Holy Spirit and His victory – a life in Christ. We read Philippians Chapters three and four, and I took this photo of the ocean and wrote on it so I would remember. We do have an adversary, the Devil, and his evil spirts and army of demons, though many would like to overlook it. They are constantly looking for an opportunity to devour us. To devour means to swallow, consume, have you for food, so you are no more.
“So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.
1 Peter 4:12 NLT
Give all your worries and cares to God,
for he cares about you.
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.
He prowls around like a roaring lion,
looking for someone to devour.
Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.”
To have a life in Christ is the way to heaven, Jesus is taking us here! Leo and I might have ended the day in victory, praising the Lord on the sand by the sea. But we are on the shores of celestial glory! We must humble ourselves before the Lord Jesus, repent of our sins, seek Him in prayer for help against our enemy, and forgive one another, not hold a grudge. If I had held a grudge against Leo or had thought myself better than him when pulling over to pray, I doubt strongly our day would have ended in the joy and release that it did.
“Have faith in God,” Jesus told the disciples after they were amazed that the fig tree withered at the roots because of Jesus’ curse on it. Jesus was angry with it because it had no figs for Him to eat, even though it wasn’t the season for figs. “Have faith in God,” Jesus had said, the Lord incarnate – embodied in flesh; in human form. Jesus then explained that we are to pray to Him and believe He will give us what we ask. But when we pray to Jesus, we are to have no unforgiveness towards anyone, or the Lord will not forgive our sins. We do not want to be like the fig tree that had no fruit for Jesus to enjoy. It is not the path of Christ’s victory. We will bear fruit for Jesus, even under great strain and difficulties because His door for us is always open. Remember, Jesus wants to take us somewhere far greater than just to the beach to watch the sunset! He wants to take us to heaven to see and share His full glory forever!
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Mark 11:22-25 NIV
God Bless you.