Jesus at the center of it all

To Surrender to God

What does it mean to surrender to God? Is it just a simple raising of one's hands in Church service? Or to just to sing with all your heart the hymn " I surrender All"? No, surrendering to God is so much more than that. You see, God says he blinks at our ignorance for a season,but he calls all men to repentance. When a Christian first comes to the lord, it was enough to just raise your hand and that would be accounted for surrendering to God. It was enough to just sing the lyrics to "I surrender All" and that would be accounted for. Any Christian that continues to grow in Christ will soon realize that God would begin to require more. As Christians or unbelievers we may hear that God wants every part of you. It doesn't seem possible that God would want that and that you could give him every part of you, but it is possible. To surrender to God is to give your life as a sacrifice to him. It's surrendering your heart, mind, body, soul, emotions, dreams, ambitions, family and everything that you are to him. God wants your heart. Sometimes we are in situations that are uncomfortable and we have to surrender our heart to God, so God can have his away. Our ultimate response to any situation that we are in should be the response that Jesus had. He was an example for us and we should follow in his steps: Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. Hebrews 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Until it becomes your nature, you have to consciously decide that I am going to die to myself so Christ can be seen through me. God and flesh can't be on throne at the same time. It's either you are going to let self live or die to yourself and become alive unto God.
Romans 6:1-10 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Else I die

Rachel in the Old Testament was barren for a period of time and out of desperation for the fruit of her womb she said, "Give me children else I die". Hannah was another woman of the Bible that was barren and she prayed so fervently unto the Lord that the priest thought she was drunk because only her mouth moved and her voice was not heard. When I think of children, I think of fruit and I parallel it unto my life. We as Christians are suppose to bear the fruit of the spirit. Luke 8:14 says, "And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection". This passage is talking how the cares of this life choked the word of God of a heart and they that have this heart are not able to bring forth fruit and if they do bring forth fruit it is not able to be perfected. The word of God says for us to go on unto perfection. That perfection is having the nature of Christ. That perfection is having the mind and spirit of God. The perfection is seeing a flow of Christ in our lives. The perfection is sonship. The perfection is us becoming manifested sons and daughters of God. Perfection is us reflecting the word of God. It shouldn't be random spurts of the hand of God in our lives. Christ should be able to live his life through us. We are to live the life of Jesus Christ. The word of God says that we travail in birth until Christ is formed in us. It doesn't say until you see a little bit of Christ, but until Christ is formed; meaning that there is a fullness of Jesus Christ in our lives. I feel that in my spirit, urgency and a cry for coming into the nature and mind of God. Sometimes the travail is really is so strong that there is no sound, but a deep groaning in my spirit. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.Romans 8:25-27"Our spirit man should be groaning and travailing to bring forth Christ. But, not to keep it for ourselves, but for those who are seeking and searching for Jesus. Also, so we could be a reflection of this Word of God in these last days. Some many of us as Christians become satisfy with just living day to day and keeping the word and the life to themselves. But remember, God didn't say these things for naught. It is possible to go on unto perfection. It is possible to be holy, like Christ. It is possible to walk with God, like Enoch. It is possible to bring forth one hundred fold.

Shield of Faith

I have not written in a while, but this is just a thought that God has placed in my heart recently. Since, I have not updated this blog recently, I thought I would share. The enemy attacks Christian many way to try to get us to falter in our faith and to doubt God. Sometimes he attacks us with physical ailments or try to throw temptations in our way to get us to fall into sin. Other times he attacks the mind. He tries to change the word of God, so that he can decieve us. Other times he tries to fill our mind with thougts of fear and misstrust in God word. I was reading a poem today and one of the lines said, "The shield of faith". Once I read that line, I immediately though of Ephesians 6 and how it speaks about the whole of armour of God. This is the meaning of shield- is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer. The word of God says that he has given every one of us a measure of faith. He also says that it is impossible to please God without faith and that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. The faith that God has delivered to his saints, God wants us to use that to block the spiritual attacks of the enemy. To be more specific, God has spoken so much to us through his word and even to our hearts. The enemy is always on our backs trying to get us doubt God. Especially when the situation looks bleak or you can not see the outcome of it, but that faith and trust that we have in the lord, should rise up within our hearts and say, "No, God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. What he said he will do and he will bring it to past". It may not be in my timing, but it will come to past. I may not see how it is going to work out, but I believe that God is going to direct my paths. But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Faith is so important as believers, it is the foundation of this Christian walk.

Intreat me not to leave thee...

I've been studying the book of Ruth lately and I've been intrigued with the willingness of Ruth to be obedient and to be committed to Naomi. The scripture that struck my heart was: And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Ruth 1:16. This is how I feel spiritually with the Lord. Before anything else, there must be a relationship with God. God desires for us to be close to him and when I look at this scripture, I think of a cry or prayer to God: "Lord, I'll follow you wherever you lead me. Don't Pass me by. Lord, I'm committed to you" This passage reminds me of when Jesus says to the disciples; "Will you leave also?" and Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life? ( John 6:66-67) This has to be the reality of this walk; that without Christ we are nothing. There has to be reverence and a fear to the Lord. Without Christ, there is no hope. We live because Christ lives within us.

Enoch walked with God

I haven't posted anything in a while. I was reading my devotion today in "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers and the devotional sums up everything that has been going on for the last couple of months. Here it is: Enoch walked with God . . . —Genesis 5:24 The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (see John 1:35-37 and John 3:30). It is painful work to get in step with God and to keep pace with Him— it means getting your second wind spiritually. In learning to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride, but once we have done so, the only characteristic that exhibits itself is the very life of God Himself. The individual person is merged into a personal oneness with God, and God’s stride and His power alone are exhibited. It is difficult to get into stride with God, because as soon as we start walking with Him we find that His pace has surpassed us before we have even taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. It was said of Jesus— “He will not fail nor be discouraged . . .” (Isaiah 42:4) because He never worked from His own individual standpoint, but always worked from the standpoint of His Father. And we must learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned through the atmosphere that surrounds us, not through intellectual reasoning. It is God’s Spirit that changes the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and then things begin to be possible which before were impossible. Getting into God’s stride means nothing less than oneness with Him. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give up because the pain is intense right now— get on with it, and before long you will find that you have a new vision and a new purpose.

Come Lord Jesus