Total Surrender

Paul wrote, "Live by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your sinful selves want" (Gal 5:16). This is a simple recipe for a righteous lifestyle. We have a choice to make: we can live our lives by our carnal nature for pleasure and for self, or we can trust the Holy Spirit to lead us in ways to serve the Lord, regardless of the destination.

Resisting temptation is never easy. Even the apostles who traveled and lived with Jesus for three years weren't strangers to the power and pull of temptation. And even these eleven trusted friends couldn't be expected to achieve righteousness in their own strength. Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem until the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:4). And we, Christ's modern-day followers, can't be expected to create our own righteousness any more than the first-century followers were.

We must first accept the fact that it's impossible for us to live the Christian life apart from Christ before we can walk by the Holy Spirit. We will be hindered until we accept that as truth. If we depend upon ourselves, on our own strengths and our own experiences we face total failure. God's Holy Spirit works in us and through us. That's why it is critical that we submit our will to His power and guidance. And surrender isn't a one-time event; believers have to yield to the Spirit repeatedly and constantly. Every time we are faced with a decision we will need to look to the Spirit and obey His will. We willingly submit our wills to His will over and over again as we walk the Christian walk.

Total surrender takes discipline and courage. Our old nature screams for us to do the things that please its carnality. We don't much like it when we are faced with situations that are difficult but yet are just the thing we need to grow to be more like Christ. See that's the difference between those living by the Spirit and those living by the sinful nature. Every decision we make to follow the Spirit says No to the sinful nature. Total surrender is believing that the Lord Jesus Christ rules our lives. That nothing can happen to us today without it being first approved by God. And it's a submission to His will not our own. The Spirit allows difficulties and hardships to enter our lives to polish us into shining vessels poured out for Christ's sake. What an awesome God we have who can take us as we are and recreate His very own Son in us! If we surrender our will to His will we will be ever changed into a vessel He can use. If we don't surrender or submit to Him we are too full of ourselves for His righteousness to fit in. Emptying ourselves gives room for the Spirit to work out His will in our lives. As we say No to our old nature we say Yes to our new nature. As we are emptied, we are refilled with the Spirit of God to do God's will. And while the Lord can lead us to do great things, we mustn't be fooled into thinking that we must be "doing" something to be surrendered. God's will for us sometimes is to simply "be." Not to do Christian things, but simply to stand before the world as a Christian. We don't always have to "do." I am convinced that most of the time we are called to simply "be." To simply exist in a sweet union of our nature yielding to the nature of the Spirit. It is not so much that Christians "do." It is everything that Christians "be."

Total surrender is giving God the okay to live His life in and through us, regardless of what we desire for ourselves. Total surrender is loving God with our whole heart and mind and body and soul and strength. It is ever yielding. Ever being. Are we willing to submit to the Spirit if we are never called to "do" anything? If He asks no great deed of us, will we still live our lives in submission to Him? If we are never called to act will we rest in the life He has called us to live? This is total surrender: The giving up entirely of our own wills for His will. And regardless of where that will takes us, we are to be ever yielding, ever submitting, ever "being."

Living righteously is simply not natural for us. Being human beings we can't do it on our own, we need help and our heavenly Father has lovingly provided us with a Helper to enable us to live a life pleasing to God. We have to make the choice whether or not we will yield to His direction. Doing so leads to joy and peace. Failing to yield to Him leads to conflicts, uncertainty, and pain. May God grant us today the wisdom and courage to make the right decisions. And may we glorify Him as we yield our spirit to His Spirit; as we surrender totally our will to His will.

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Rain, rain, rain, rain here in the foothills. It started raining again about 1:00 this morning. So far we're not getting the copious amounts that were forecast for today but it's still early in the day. In fact they are now saying that it may continue to rain until Thursday afternoon and then clear up for a couple days and then start raining all over again. This is good. This is very good because we were beginning to resemble a drought pattern as far as rain goes. We're just not getting the big rains we usually do this time of year. We're supposed to be under a wind advisory too but I sure don't see any wind outside to speak of. I think sometimes they jinx us when they predict these big storms!

We'll have Christmas tonight at Ken and Tamara's across town and I'm excited. I love Christmas because it's all about family. Jesus was born so that He might die to bring us into the family of God. Isn't that amazing? I am absolutely blown away by the God we have. Have you ever thought about the fact that God could have spoken redemption into existence the way he spoke creation into being, yet He chose to allow us to play a part in it instead? Have you ever thought about that? He could have just snapped His fingers and recreated the world. I mean who could blame Him? Just wipe us all out in the very same instant that He recreated a new order that wouldn't even think about doing things for self. He could have done that but instead He chose to redeem us by involving us in the process. Our prayers matter to Him. Our obedience brings Him pleasure. He's allowed us to be a part of His plans. And even more amazingly He has given us every single thing we need to stand before Him, approved and justified and loved. Amen! What a God!!! He has empowered us with His very own righteousness that is found in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. And for all that, we exhale a breathless "Thank You." How can we not love a God who gave us one requirement ... to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, having total faith in what He has done ... and then given us the very faith He required from us in the first place! Nothing like stacking the deck in our favor, right? Any other god would have required something we had to work and slave for. But not our God. Our God reigns!!

I have no plans for today except to go over to Ken's later today. Otherwise I have no plans to go out in this mess at all. Although Michael told me this morning that we need milk but I'm not going to go out and get it today even if we need it. We can make do without as far as I'm concerned. There's enough milk in there for breakfast in the morning and then I'll pick up a gallon tomorrow when I go out to get the mail. I think the only thing I'll be doing this afternoon will be taking a nap after getting up before 6:00 this morning. I almost never wake up that early.

My card ministry is very rewarding for me. Finally something I can do! (And what did I write about "being" this morning? LOL!!!) I can't use phones but I can surely mail out cards. I'm trying to keep an accurate account of who gets cards and when and why so that I'll be able to evaluate the ministry. I mean, the goal for my ministry is to get people back into the habit of coming to church. We have so many church members that just don't come anymore. At one time they cared enough to become members so hopefully they'll care enough to come back once they start getting cards every month from the church. Sometimes a prompt is all they need. I had two or three people who hadn't been attending, actually come after getting my cards. I don't know, my cards may not have had anything to do with them coming to church but I'd like to think they did! People need to have their names removed from the membership roles if they are not going to be supporting that church for whatever reason. I think most of the time it's simply a habit one gets in to. Just not going. Some of these people may have moved away but I bet the majority by far have just gotten out of the habit of coming to church. Hopefully this card ministry will give them the nudge they need and they'll start coming again. I think it would just be wonderful if we could fill the pews every Sunday. Dan is good enough to do that, we just have to get people to come and discover that Dan can do that. Most of these people simply need to discover Dan, period! This church is totally different than it was before Dan came to minister to us. He brought so much life and excitement with Him when he came. He and Teresa have been such a blessing for our church.

Well, I think this'll 'bout do it for today (isn't it fun to play havoc with our grammar and spelling? I think it is.) Take care and until tomorrow ...