Surrender

The word surrender means to "give oneself up to another." Jesus tells us in Mark, "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the Gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 8:34-36 Paul says, "for me, to live is Christ, but to die is gain." When we "deny" ourselves, it is not giving in to our selfish desires; it is placing Christ and His will for us first. This is not an easy thing to do, because we are selfish by nature-our bodies wage war against our souls....the flesh wants what it wants (worldly desires-immorality, impurity, greed hatred etc) and our spirit wants the things of God (peace, love joy, kindness, gentleness, respect etc). Paul speaks of the conflict we have in Romans..."For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work; When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" 7:19-25 I love the last part....thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord-He is the One that will rescue us and help us with the struggle. In order to do this however, we have to feed our spirit, not our flesh. We feed our spirit with the word of God, being around godly people, listening to godly music or reading books that speak life into us. Feeding our flesh involves watching programs that aren't healthy for us, listening to music that is filthy, hanging out with people who aren't living for Christ or simply giving in to our own desires instead of seeking what God wants for us. Friend, it will take the help of the Holy Spirit to overcome, but yes, you can overcome and not give in to your flesh. Paul tells us that "our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." Romans 6:6-7 Before we came to know Christ, we were indeed slaves to sin. Think back on your life and you will be able to come up with many examples-I know I can. One thing I don't want to do is forget is how God has changed me because I believe if I ever forgot, I would start becoming conceited or think I had something to do with it. And you and I know that is not the case! I think it is good for us to reflect (not dwell) on our past and what God has saved us from and how He has transformed us through His Son, my Lord and Savior Jesus. Thank God I am not who I once was! We should be able to look back on our life since God opened our eyes to the Truth of His Son Jesus and not only see a change, but see continual growth...in other words sanctification. God is continually changing us. He grows our faith, He molds us into the image of His Son, He teaches us day by day and none of this happens in an instant. It is you and me consistently seeking God's face and His will for our lives and consistently staying in His word. As we do these things, surrender to Him will come more naturally to us. We will want to do what pleases our Father. I did not say it was easy and you won't have times where you are fearful or have doubts, because you will. However, as God leads you, and you take a step of faith for Him, you will experience a joy and a peace as you seek to do His will. Remember that God lovingly and gently asks you to do something and it is always in line with His word and always for your good and the good of His kingdom. He will never coerce you or make you feel condemned and would never ask you to do something that is not in line with His character and His word. I love these words out of Colossians, "Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, WHO IS YOUR LIFE appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory." 3:1-4 Be blessed today my friend!

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