Forty Days to Inner Spiritual Strength Meditations in the Grace of God

When God called Moses to the top of Mount Sinai, tablets of stone with commandments were given to him that he might teach the people. The Children of Israel saw the glory of God as a devouring fire on top of the mountain. Moses was in the midst of the cloud for forty days receiving new direction for the people of God. When the word of the Lord came to Jonah to go to Nineveh, he preached a simple message, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." The people believed God and proclaimed a fast: "Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way . . . ." For forty days, they repented and God saved the city. In the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness. Once there, He was tempted to satisfy His hunger in his own power. He was tempted to establish His kingdom by forsaking His heavenly Father. He was tempted to achieve His own end by manipulating God. For forty days He successfully conquered those temptations and came out of the wilderness in the power of the Spirit. Jesus had been crucified, buried, and raised again to life. After His passion, He showed himself alive to his disciples. He gave commandments to His followers. He spoke of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Putting the final emphasis upon His earthly journey, He gathered together His followers. Forty days after His death and resurrection, He was taken up to dwell at the right hand of his Father. Forty days seems to be a set time for the process of trying the character or abilities of a person or of a people in a certain role or task. It was a time where a series of events occurred intended to establish the quality, performance or reliability of those being tested. It was a time where the participant was molded into what he was to become. Forty Days to Inner Spiritual Strength: Meditations in the Grace of God has been developed to assist you in becoming what you were intended to be. It must be stated from the beginning that the process of being molded into the image of Jesus Christ is a work of the Holy Spirit. Specifically, the Spirit is the means by which the revelation of Jesus Christ occurs in your life. It is the interplay of the Word of God and the Spirit of God that develops spiritual strength in those who hunger for God. Forty Days to Inner Spiritual Strength can provide an opportunity for you to be molded by the Holy Spirit. The knowledge of the Word of God comes not from man's effort to study the ways of God, but rather by allowing himself to be put into a position whereby the Holy Spirit can reveal them to him. Man, in responding to the mercy of God, is humbled by the realization that he has no understanding and capability to pull himself up to the heights of the revelation of God. Mysteriously, man must go down in sackcloth and ashes dying to his perceived ingenuity. This humility (which is also produced by the grace of God) allows God the freedom in man's mind to reveal the knowledge of Himself and His ways. Spiritual integrity comes only by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. It is this interplay of the Word of God and the Spirit of God that is fundamental to the process of Christian learning. It is important to emphasize that the level of the knowledge of Jesus (the manifested Word of God) that will make the believer wise unto the ways of God (2 Tim. 3:15) is a revelation by the Spirit of God. It is not a product of man's study. The key to spiritual integrity is experiencing the interplay of the Spirit of God and the Word of God. If the believer will meditate, carefully speak silently to himself in his mind, pondering, reflecting with deep devotion the words of Jesus, the Spirit of God will reveal, "all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him . . . ." Forty Day to Inner Spiritual Strength can become a reality in your life by the grace of God. Meditate in the living Word of God.