SURRENDER

The one true way of dying to self is the way of patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God. (Andrew Murray).

In one word...surrender.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we enter into a relationship that not only seals our eternal life, but also changes us inside to who we were meant to be...God's chosen ones.

If we will go to Him in all patience, meekness, humility, and resignation, we are admitting that we give up all of our self to all of Him. In essence, we surrender all.

Once we've realized the meaning, the importance, the spiritual value of surrendering our lives, agenda, and purposes to His plans for our lives, we will learn how to walk with Him closely. We will see His plans, not ours. And what really happens to us is that all He wills for us will become our own purposes.

Surrender. This is not an act of weakness, but one of great strength. It is hard for us to give up even the most visible sinful areas of our lives. But we can do this, simply by believing. It takes much more intense introspection, prayer, and determination to see, and then to confess to Jesus, all those 'hidden' secrets that we harbor in our hearts. We all have them. To surrender, we must regularly give them up to the Lord.

God will take all our faults, sins, issues, whatever we have inside us that inhibits our relationship with Him, and sweep them away. When He does this, our thanksgiving will bring us even closer to our loving Father.

It's a good word, a great word. Surrender. Please consider it, and make it a part of who you are, in Christ.

Blessings!

Rosebuds of Faith Devotional Series: LOVE * Loving God * (#3)

'Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.' Deuteronomy 6:5

All Christians love God....don't they?

Yes, of course they do! But do they love Him in the manner set forth by God Himself?

When Moses addressed the Israelites, and gave them God's commandments and law, this was probably the most important statement he made. Loving the Creator of heaven and earth and all that is on and in them is an absolute for His children. We MUST love Him! And we must love Him in all the right ways...His ways, not our ways.

Consider that God knew us before He formed us. He created a home for us to dwell in, the very earth. He made air for us to breathe, and the food we need to eat. He made provision for every single thing we could ever want for, and he did it with great perfection. Would someone who did not love us do that for us?

So...if God loves us that much, how do we come to love Him in the same way? Well, first of all, we have to realize we can't love Him in that way. We do not have the ability to understand all He is. He tells us Himself that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts...they are above ours. Therefore, we cannot experience emotions, such as love, to the same extent as He does. But He has given us His Word, that we may learn, and change, and become all He wants us to be. And through that Word, He will speak to us endlessly, if we will be still and know that He is God.

Since God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us to redeem us, we should want to surrender our very hearts to Him, and to His service. Christians should be willing to take a stand because of the love they have for God. We want to be strong enough that we could never deny Him, or His Son. And to do that, we must learn to love Him with everything in us. We must make our own sacrifices to reach our goal. We must be ready to pour ourselves out for the cause of Christ.

Allow your heart to open and expand as you take this journey. And talk to the Father. Let Him know that the desire of your heart is to know Him, and to love Him the way He wants you to love Him. Putting Him first in your life will bring you to that place. It will not happen quickly, and it will not be easy all the time. But learning about Who He really is, and being in fellowship with Him on a regular basis, will open the eyes of your heart. Literally!

Meditating on God and His great love for us only makes us want to know Him more. And once you realize that you do know Him, you will 'love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength'.

Blessings!