TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2, by Os Hillman
11-02-2009
"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12:24-26).
God is all about your death so that HIS success can be realized through you! This is why the Church is having such little impact - there are too many believers who have not yet died to their old nature so that Christ can live fully through them. When believers come to the end of themselves they will lose their lives to Him and live through the power of the Holy Spirit and begin to see the reality of a living gospel that impacts lives, workplaces, cities and nations.
"Much of modern Christian enterprise is 'Ishmael.' Born not of God, but of an inordinate desire to do God's will in our own way - the one thing our Lord never did," said Oswald Chambers. The psalmist describes what it means to live in our own strength:
"Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat - for he grants sleep to those he loves" (Ps 127:1-2).
How does one die so that Christ can be our all and all? It usually takes a crisis of significant proportions for most people to relinquish the control of their lives. It means we come to the end of ourselves and our striving to control the events in our lives and we finally come to the place where we can say, "Lord, I surrender. Please take full control of my life."
Have you come to this place with God in your life? Let go and let God make you a success His way.
8 comments:
Amen! This has been my daily prayer this year - Lord, I surrender. I give You every area of my life - even the parts I don't know I'm holding onto - show them to me so I can see and let them go. I trust You and desire to walk in the paths You have prepared for me.
Hugs and much love Amy!
You bless me!
Jill
This is exactly what our pastor shared yesterday...to have a life that can even be a witness we must be a 'martyr'..the greek word witness has three meanings, the first of which is what we get our word martyr from..we must DIE to self and be alive to Christ. Just for interests sake, the second meaning is a record (that others may look at our lives and see the record of something different in how we live) and the third meaning is a verbal witness. (how than shall they believe if they do not hear?) I was so blown away-and convicted. We must all die in order to truly live. Thanks for sharing this. darci
Excellent Devotion! Thanks for sharing. We, the church need so desperately to really hear this message and allow it to change us.
Lori
beautiful devotion, amy! I abosolutely loved the subject :)
Amy,
This is just what our minister talked about yesterday too. May the Holy Spirit fill us and help us all to understand. Thank you for pointing it out again today.
Mom
I LOVE that devotion. I LONG to understand the meaning of desperate surrender. Just when I have it all figured out--something happens and I have to start all over again. We never stop learning, hey friend???
Love you. Have a very blessed Monday.
Reading a lot of powerful words from God today....I am listening, thank you for sharing this!
Great devotional! And so relevant to me right now and so many others....trying to let go of EVERY area of my life and let God's will happen. His plans are so much better than mine!
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