Yielding to God's Spirit

As human beings, we are programmed to preserve our life. It is a foreign concept to allow any harm to come to our body or soul - our mind, will and emotions. We fight to the death to preserve our autonomy and the control over our own life. 

We spend our lifetime combating people and forces, which attempt to harm us in any way. Dying daily is not something we readily embrace (Matthew 16:24; 1 Corinthians 15:31).

However, once we yield to the power of the God's Spirit within us, we do not struggle with the world, the flesh or the devil. We realize that God is going to protect us and care for us through any issue in life. 

God may lead us into a catastrophe, such as Paul’s shipwreck, or into temptation like Jesus in the wilderness, or into torment like Paul in prison. Yet, we can rejoice in our tribulation, because His Spirit is leading us (Romans 5:3, 8:14).

We humbly follow God's Spirit, even if we know persecution awaits us. We have the confidence that God always opens a way for us (Romans 8:28). 

Even through the raging rivers, which attempt to thwart our spiritual progress, we eventually cross on dry ground (Nahum 1:3; Isaiah 43:6). Jesus puts all of His enemies under our feet, including Satan and His minions (Romans 16:20; 1 Corinthians 15:25).

We no longer fear Satan or march to the beat of his drum, because we are free indeed (John 8:36). We view our afflictions as new adventures in growing in Christ. Jesus did nothing on this earth without following our Father's direction. 

We are also children of God and co-heirs with Christ of the Kingdom of God (1 John 3:2; Romans 8:17). We only succeed in this life as we truly follow His example, and live and move and have our being in Him (Acts 17:28).

Prayer:

Father God, we have a problem with loving our flesh more than we love You (Ephesians 5:29). Teach us to nourish and cherish our relationship with You more than we cater to our own desires. 

Remind us of Your faithfulness and allow us walk in Your ways regardless of the trials or the temptations, which we face in our life. Help us to yield these issues to You, our Savior and our King, who lives within us with all power and might.

Thought for the Day:

We triumph over Satan and our flesh by the blood of the Lamb and our evidence that Christ reigns in us, because we do not love this life, even when faced with death. - Revelation 12:11

Yielding to God's Holy Spirit

 

Christians today are far from the Biblical norm of what we should be. We have no concept of what life is like when it is controlled and guided by God’s Spirit. We take too active a role in our life and we make our own plans instead of checking with God about His plans for us (Ephesians 2:10). We get our self stuck up a tree or circling the same mountain in life and then we get discouraged and grow weary.

We end up grieving God’s Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) by our thoughts, words and deeds. We dishonor God’s name by walking with one foot in the world and one foot in the Spirit. We walk with diminished spiritual power because we focus more on the fleshly concerns in our life than on the spiritual and eternal.

We have so much self-confidence, self-centeredness, self-reliance and self-sufficiency that there is no room for God. We are like the foolish Galatians (Galatians 3:1-3) attempting to please God by our human efforts. This type of lifestyle comes from the flesh and the flesh stinks in the nostrils of God (Acts 8:22-24). God’s power is available to every Born Again Believer...it is yours.

His Spirit wants to sanctify us and enable us to walk in God’s will every moment of every day. God continually eliminates our human strength, confounds our human wisdom and limits our human abilities in every area of life until we get tired of trying to live life apart from Him. We end up in complete shame and emptiness, lost and undone.

If we call on God’s mercy and grace, He cleanses us from all unrighteousness and helps us to walk in newness of life (1 John 1:9). This is when the blessings of God start to fall If you find yourself failing or discouraged or overwhelmed in life, you can be sure you are out of God’s will. Stop and pray. Center yourself in the mind of Christ and ask God for His direction. Then, yield to God’s Holy Spirit.

Prayer:

Father God, show us the futility of living life from our own wisdom and strength. Remind us to seek You first before we do anything, make any plans or set any goals. Allow us to see Your hand in every area of our life, to feel Your love overflowing in our heart, to have Your strength to accomplish everything that You calls us to do and to yield to Your Spirit each moment of the day.

Thought for the Day:

When God calls us to perform some function in His will, we find our self in the happiest place on earth.

 

A Willing Heart

Mother Nature gives us a perfect picture of what it means to be totally surrendered to God. The flowers bloom where they are planted. The animals interact in the area of the world where God placed them. Even the bugs dutifully fulfill their destiny. God’s Spirit and blessings are often blocked in our human life, however, because of our lack of surrender to Him. We miss out on all that God planned for us before we were even born (Ephesians 2:10).

Each of us is the Temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16), but we do not allow Him to feel at home in us. We are so caught up in our own agenda, that we spin our wheels and get nowhere fast. We ignore and neglect God most of time. Some of us remember to give Him a few moments of time before we fall asleep, and some even rise up to give Him an hour of time prior to starting our day. Yet, this is not even close to totally surrendering to Him.

We are too used to maintaining control of our life. We do not want someone else to tell us what to do or to dictate the circumstances in which we live. We fear that we will suffer too much pain and loss if we surrender completely to God. We live in anxiety, fearing that He may send us to darkest Africa or coldest Alaska! Thankfully, God facilitates our surrender by freeing us from sin, calling us to Himself, providing all of our needs and helping us to trust in His faithfulness (Mark 9:24).

God sanctifies us and He will also perfect us, but it takes complete surrender to His plans for our life. God requires a willing heart. Then He will do the rest (Philippians 2:12-13). If we live in the moment, without regretting the past or fearing the future, God will fill us with peace, which exceeds our human understanding. He proves to us how gracious He is and that He plans to give us a future full of hope (Jeremiah 29:11). Jesus is our perfect example of a surrendered life.

Prayer:

Father God, even though You required that Jesus go through the cross, You shortened the time He normally would have hung there (Mark 15:44). You also shorten the time of our trials on earth, and You give us the grace to experience them with victory rather than defeat. You give us the faith and courage to face the future by granting that Your divine nature, which dwelled in Christ, dwells in us through Your Holy Spirit. We believe, and You help our unbelief (Mark 9:24). We completely yield our self to You to use for Your glory.

Thought for the Day:

When we totally surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our life, God uses us for His Glory.

Victories and Delights

Jesus Christ is our whole life (Colossians 3:3-4). He lives in us and wants to accomplish our Father’s work through our life, so that He can do greater works than He did alone (John 14:12). When we rely on our own accomplishments and talents, we miss the whole point of our life in Christ. God can even overcome our inabilities with His glorious abilities within us. As we submit our life to Him, He puts us in the right place at the right time to live in the center of His will.

We are joined with Christ and with His Body, the church, in one Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). His divinity steadily replaces our humanity. We abide in Him and the fruit of His Spirit replace our carnality (Galatians 5:22-23). We rest in Him and enjoy all of the fullness of the divine Trinity in our life. We trust in His faithfulness, regardless of the circumstances in our life. He uses us to accomplish His works and He brings us total fulfillment (Ephesians 2:10).

We no longer rely on what our heart advises us to do, or what our soul’s emotions feel is the best course for our life, or what our family, friends, the world, the flesh or the devil determine for our day (Jeremiah 17:9). We rely on God’s Word to feed us, and God’s Spirit to lead us (Matthew 4:4). We live in God’s will for each moment and soon find that our only desire is to accomplish His purposes for our life (Isaiah 26:12).

Christ unites us with Himself in an intimate and integral relationship, which lasts for eternity. Especially in times of anguish, we can cleave to the Lord with our whole heart (Acts 11:23). We are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). We no longer have responsibility for our life, because Christ in us is ready to take over at the moment of our salvation. We simply yield to Him and He births His righteousness within us (Titus 3:5), leads us by His Spirit (Galatians 5:16,25) and turns all of our sins and sorrows into victories and delights.

Prayer:

Father God, our soul is capable of becoming distress and discouraged (Psalm 42:5). The Psalmists consistently illustrate the need for our soul to praise You, who are the only One who can truly encourage our soul (Psalm 42:6 & 11; 3:1, 104:1). May the eyes of our heart be enlightened in order that we may comprehend the hope, in which You called us to live; so that we can enjoy the riches of our glorious inheritance with You and Your holy people (Ephesians 1:18).

Thought for the Day:

The Lord lives in us as our might Savior. He rejoices over us with great gladness; with His unconditional love, He calms all of our fears. He is so pleased in us that He rejoices with a new song. – Zephaniah 3:17

 

The Center of Our Focus

Read: Isaiah 32:17-20

"Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you." - Psalm 9:10

A person, animal or thing that is the chief object of our attention, interest, activity and/or emotion is at the center of our focus. Every other person and interest takes a back seat. For instance, the sun is the center of our solar system. The planets revolve around the sun. Jupiter is our biggest planet; yet, it is miniscule in comparison to the sun. Anything that is the center of our focus is enormous in comparison to everything else in our life.

What is the center of your focus? Is it your family? Job? Car? Hobby? Money? Health? Beauty? Fame? You fill in this blank: The center of my focus is _____.
So many people find their life spinning out of control because their center is not secure. Fickle Fate comes along and removes the item/person from your life that you set up as the hub of your wheel. Without that hub, your life is at a standstill. You are not going anywhere.

We often allow our life to revolve around a person, animal or thing. We put all of our stock into this item/person and we bet our life on the fact that it will be with us forever. Then, something happens to remove our prized possession and we are left helpless, jaded and forlorn. Jesus Christ is the only entity in life that is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Everything else is destructible, fallible and temporary.
 
Jesus is our only friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24), who will never let us down (Hebrews 13:5) and who will never die and leave us alone (1 Timothy 6:16). Our personal, intimate relationship with the Lord of lords and King of kings (1 Timothy 6:15) is the only permanent entity we have in this life. Nothing else will last through eternity. This relationship is vital for the stability of our life. Without Jesus as our center, we are like a boat without a rudder, a bird without two wings, a flag without a pole and a dog without a tail to wag.

Do you have this intimate relationship with the living Lord? He has perfect plans for your life. He wants to prosper you and to give you a future full of hope (Jeremiah 29:11). He is just waiting to give us a quiet and confident heart, a peaceful and secure home and undisturbed places of rest. Regardless of devastating natural disaster, accidents and emotional tragedies, He will give us blessings (Isaiah 32:17-20). Once we completely surrender our life to Him, He takes our heavy burdens and gives us His rest forever (Matthew 11:28).

Surrender is one of the hardest endeavors for a human being. Yielding to God takes no effort, no amount of control, no creativity and no stress. We merely let go and let God take over. We simply allow God to be God in our life. The reason this is so difficult is because, in order to surrender, we must first be willing to rest, to cease from our efforts, to sit down and to take a deep breathe and relax.

It takes a great deal of effort and struggle for a human being to let go. Once we are there, however, we can actually stop striving and enter God’s rest. God gives us His unconditional love freely as a gift (John 3: 16-18). We only have to open our hearts wide and receive His gift of love. When you realize the truth of this concept, you will sit in your quiet place and feel His love cascading over you like a waterfall. His peace will seep deeply into your soul, and you will never want to strive again.

Prayer:

Lord God, it is no small task for a human being to give up. We are not programmed to surrender, but to fight. You created adrenalin for this very reason. It is only when we realize that You will never leave us or let us down, that you protect and provide for us, and that you have our best interest at heart that we can even remotely consider letting go. Forgive me for placing other people and things at the heart of my life. I want You as my center.

Thought for the Day:

It is only by making Jesus the center of our focus that we can enter into His eternal rest.