Surrendering it All

Although this not completely applicable to me yet, as I am not married, I’m still super passionate about it…

We always talk about surrendering our lives to God and letting Jesus direct our paths, but somehow we never seem to talk about that in regards to how many children we have. This makes absolutely NO sense!! Why aren’t we looking to God, and opening ourselves to having however many children he will give us? We’re talking about what life enters into the world; this is a HUGE deal!!!! This is not something we should be taking into our own hands!!

Yes…children are expensive and it’s is a huge sacrifice to have them. I’s painful, a lot of work… and a lot more stuff! But, Isn’t that what our life as followers of Jesus is all about, dying to ourselves and living for our Lord and Savior? God will give us the strength we need to get through whatever he has in store for our lives. We are called to be servants, not just with our friends or at work, but most importantly at home with our families! If we are unwilling to have kids because it’s too painful, too much work, or too expensive, I think we need to take a step back and look at what is at the root of all our motives. If these are our reasons… then it’s sin. It’s called selfishness, wanting what’s best and most convenient for us. It’s wanting to have things the way we want them rather than what God wants for us.

I have been through so many sermon series about how we should surrender our finances with regard to sacrificially giving to the church knowing that God WILL provide for our needs. This is absolutely true and is a wonderful thing that needs to be preached! However, I honestly don’t think I have ever heard this concept preached in the context of children. Although having children is expensive and is a huge financial sacrifice, we need hold out our money in an open hand to God and be willing to have kids, trusting that God will provide. If God will provide for a building project in a church, how much more will he provide for children!!!

Anyways… bottom line, we need to surrender everything in our life to God, including the amount of kids that He may want us to have. It’s not our place to make that decision ourselves! We have to give up everything, including that, and let Jesus take the reins in our life!

Putting on the Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-20

Finally be strong in the LORD and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take on the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all of this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all of the saints.

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should.

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This passage is sooooo good!!! Every time I read it I get something new out of it!

It is through the power of God and the Word of God that we can stand firm and fight against the darkness. It is through standing in truth and righteousness that we can withstand the attacks of the evil one. May we never forget this!

I Love the last part of this passage when Paul asks that every word that he speaks would be given to him by the Holy Spirit so that he would fearlessly declare the gospel. He is dependent on the LORD not only to endure persecution, but also in his spreading of the Gospel. He isn't spending his time trying to come up new techniques for sharing the truth...instead he is just following the Holy Spirit's leading. Each moment, he is speaking with the words that God gives him. I feel like I have gone through so many classes, bible studies, or sermons that have been centered around different techniques that are most effective for sharing the gospel...or where we are told specific things to say or do when confronted with a spiritual conversations. I have been given so many times what seems like a checklist for "how to evangelize." But...my question is, why do we keep trying to come up with our own strategies instead of relying on the Holy Spirit? If we really want to teach people how to spread the gospel, we need to be preaching the gospel and teaching what it means to be following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Because if we are all being led by the spirit, then we will be declaring the gospel boldly just as Paul did, not through our own strength, but through the Spirit's power. If we depend on our own strategies and techniques for spreading the Gospel, it will come to nothing. Instead we need to arm ourselves with the full of armor of God and rely completely on his Holy Spirit to direct our every step and provide us with our every word.

I have heard people comment on how the “God of the Old Testament” is so harsh in the way he sends judgments and allows His people to undergo severe suffering. But, isn’t the fact that God does do this only reveal more of the mercy and the love that God has for his people? He is bringing them back to Himself through the judgments; He is forcing them to trust in him through the suffering! Although it is so hard to see sometimes, all the hardships we go through and all of trials we face are such gifts from God. God, in his mercy is showing us that our joy is not found in earthly things; he is forcing us to look to HIM for our support and trust completely in HIM for EVERYTHING. THAT is Love!!! He is reminding us that what is seen in temporary, and therefore cannot be trusted. He is calling us to fix our eyes on the eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:18 - So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

And because we fix our eyes on the eternal, we can go out boldly and do what God has called us to do. Our reputation may be ruined, but that doesn’t matter…it’s temporary; we may lose those we love…but we still have Jesus; Our earthly bodies can be beaten and torn apart…but even our bodies are only temporary vessels in which we are serving God. No matter what we go through, we can rejoice because we are suffering for the name of Jesus!! Our circumstances may seem horrible, but even that cannot take away the Joy that we have in knowing and serving Christ! We can have Joy through EVERYTHING because our eyes our fixed on Jesus!!

God, whatever it takes keep me on the narrow path, keep my eyes fixed on the eternal, on the Glory of Jesus Christ. Do not let me put my trust in anything but you, do not let me find my happiness or joy in anything but you! Whatever it takes…don’t let me stray! I would rather be striped of everything that I have on earth, absolutely everything, if that what it takes to take my trust off of material things and put it in the only eternal God. Jesus, do not let me walk away from you!

Depend on Jesus

Psalm 124

If the LORD had not been on our side-

let Israel say-

if the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us,

when their anger flared against us,

they would have swallowed us alive;

the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us,

the raging waters would have swept us away.

Praise be to the LORD,

who has not let us be torn by their teeth.

We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare;

the snare has been broken, and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the LORD,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

We are nothing without Jesus. We can not stand on our own; we would be devoured. It is only by the Grace of God that we can stand firm; it is only by the strength that God gives us that we can endure. If we try to do it on our own, we will fail. If we no longer let God be our strength we will be swallowed up. We need to be in a state of compete dependence on God. He is our fortress; he is our Rock; He is our deliverer. It is in him that we trust.

Cling only to Jesus

Psalm 135:15-18 “ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”

Those who make idols and trust in them will become blinded just as the idols are blinded and will become deaf just as the idols themselves are deaf.

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There are a lot of big name pastors out there, and, naturally, people look up to them. It is soooo important, though, that in our minds we do not turn these pastors into an all-knowing, always-right being; putting our complete trust in them and accepting every word that comes out of their mouth without a second thought. These pastors are MEN, no matter how big of a church they have, no matter how good of a reputation they have, no matter how good they are with words…We CAN NOT put our trust in them. We put our trust in God, and in God alone. Even if a pastor seems to have the spiritual gift of teaching and prophesy, and seems to always preach the truth…he is still a man. And we do not put our trust in man. This is not to say that we shouldn’t listen to them; we should, and many times God works through men to bring us closer to him. However, we need to be holding up everything we hear to the word of God. Our priority should be the Bible, and that is where the majority of our time should be spent.

If, at any point, we begin to put men’s teaching above the teaching of the bible, then we are creating for ourselves an idol. And as Psalm 135 says, when make for ourselves idols and put our trust in them we become blinded. When we idolize pastors or leaders we become susceptible to any falsehood that may be creeping in. We become blind to any wrong teaching that may be going on because we have rooted ourselves in man’s word rather than God’s word. This is SO Dangerous, and that is why we NEED to be clinging to God’s Word as the only absolute truth. Because if we are not, it will be so easy for us to be deceived.

In contrast to this in John 8:31-32, Jesus says that, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” So when we make for ourselves idols, we become blinded to the truth, but when we put Jesus as our priority and follow his teachings, our eyes become opened to the truth. Let us cling only to Jesus and his word and let no man take His place in our lives so that our eyes and ears be open to the truth of the Gospel and to the instruction of the Holy Spirit. As 1 John 5:21 says, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Psalm 66:1-2

Let our mouths be overflowing with praise for our God! May our hearts never stop giving thanks to Jesus, the savior of our souls!

We are called to be joyful in ALL circumstances, not because we're never saddened by things around us or hardships that we experience, but because we know the LORD Jesus Christ. We know the one who gives our every breath and keeps our hearts beating. We know the one who gives life and takes away life; We know the almighty God! There is NOTHING in this world that compares to the unsurpassable joy of knowing Christ!

A close friend of my family just passed away this weekend and went home to be with Jesus. My mom was able to spend a lot of time with her in the days before she died and was able to witness what a beautiful saint of God this woman was. Even though she could hardly talk, the few words that she managed to get out were all praises to the LORD. She was the one in bad condition, yet she spent the last days of her life still focusing on others and encouraging her fellow believers in their walk with the LORD.

Some of the Last things said to my mom…

The LORD is so gracious and merciful...He is God almighty; Nothing is impossible. Nothing. Never Doubt. Never Doubt. Don’t ever give up on the LORD...God is watching out for you...The LORD will make a way.

This lady was so full of the Joy of the Lord. Even though she was in pain on her death bead, She could not stop proclaiming the goodness of Jesus to all who came and visited her!

I pray that I would never let the joy of my salvation grow old, but continue for all the days of my life, no matter what may come my way, praising, worshiping, and glorifying the Lord in everything I do.

A Call to Anguish - David Wilkerson