When God calls us to Himself, He
does not want part of us, He wants all of us; and He gives us all of Himself.
We have His Spirit within us as His down payment for all that He has in store
for us.
Just as we do not see the wind,
but we feel and see the effects of the wind, we do not see God, but we feel and
see His presence in our life. We give up our fleshly pursuits and turn our mind
to spiritual, Heavenly issues.
We lose nothing by surrendering
to God, except the destructive forces of this world. In exchange, we gain
eternity, which starts the moment of our salvation.
Our body may end up in the grave,
but our soul and spirit never die. We simply pass from life on this earth to
continue to dwell in the everlasting presence of God.
The more we surrender to God's love,
the more peace and joy we experience in our life, regardless of our
circumstances. This occurs because we know from experience that God works out
even the worst circumstances for our good (Romans 8:28).
We find others who share this
same confidence in Christ, and we gain strength from one another. We encourage
each other to let go of more of the world and not to rely on our human
understanding.
Modern idols and overwhelming
anxiety about the future cause negative thoughts and emotions to invade our
soul, and force us to forfeit the rewards of totally surrendering to God.
A wise practice, which we can
employ, is to journal our thoughts and emotions daily. We praise God for the
positive feelings and seek His truth about the negative ones. Once we discover
His truth, our soul returns to balance and His peace reigns in our heart once
again (Galatians 5:1).
Prayer:
Father God, You prearranged that
redemption by the blood of Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death,
which dictate the circumstances of this life. We cease from struggling, by attempting
to control our life to keep our self safe; and instead, we trust You to care
for us in every area of our life both now and in eternity. We walk by faith
into our unknown future by trusting only in You.
You break down the walls of
partition that keep us from enjoying the fullness of the life You have planned
for us (Jeremiah 29:11; Numbers 6:25). Until we admit that we are powerless in
and of our self to give up the worldly crutches on which we depend, we can
never fully trust in You to help us to experience the freedom You provide for
us.
Thought for the Day:
Surrendering from the battle - of addiction, anxiety, depression, anger, etc. - raging within our soul enables us to find freedom in God's peace and joy; only then will we experience the fullness of the Son of God who loves us and gave Himself for us; and to find our true self-worth in our new identity in Christ.
Surrendering from the battle - of addiction, anxiety, depression, anger, etc. - raging within our soul enables us to find freedom in God's peace and joy; only then will we experience the fullness of the Son of God who loves us and gave Himself for us; and to find our true self-worth in our new identity in Christ.
