SANCTIFIED IN THE BODY, SOUL AND SPIRIT!

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

"Do not extinguish the Spirit; do not despise prophecies, but put everything to the test. Retain what is good; body to be kept perfectly blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is faithful to you, and he will do it too. "

 - 1 Thessalonians 5.19-24 

Christ is the Lord, not you. This is the fundamental step. If you ignore this, then nothing will work. And the step is simple. Everyone enters the sanctuary of the heart and bends their knees for something; that something takes the place of supreme fidelity. Some bend their knees to what others will say. They look around before they act. They do not act; they just react. Their god is public opinion. "Everyone does it" is what decides for them.

Others bend the knee to themselves. Self-interest is paramount. His first reaction is, "How will it affect me?" Their god is the self. We can cite other examples: money, sex, ambition, fear - any one of them can be the center of loyalty.

Everyone bends their knees for something. In that case, I choose - I choose Christ. I am not God; he is! I whisper the internal consent, the consent of the abdication.

He orders; I obey. From that moment on, I no longer belong to myself. I give up the only thing I have - myself. I am free from self-control; I choose to be dominated by Christ.

I let him be in the center. Perhaps you are afraid to give yourself to God. A very mundane young woman, by the way, wanted to find God, and when I suggested that she give herself to him as a first step, she replied: "Now, if I do that, I will be at the mercy of God." She thought that God was looking for an opportunity to make her feel like a poor thing. She did not understand that God's will and her greatest interest were one. God's will is love in action - perfect love in action.

As Rufus Moseley, a saint of our day, says: "Jesus said to me, 'I am completely perfect and I will give you everything perfect.'" * But we don't believe that. We are afraid that God's will is side by side with what is unpleasant. A wealthy woman said, "I was afraid to give myself to God because I feared that he would expel my last cow from the pasture." But, in surrendering, she discovered that God's will was not only perfect love, but also perfect reasonableness.

All the cows remained there; the only difference now was that she and God were partners in creating and selling them. Life was a partnership, with God being the majority partner. She was released, she was free and she became effective.

He felt relief when he learned that he was no longer in God's role. O God, I release the burden of trying to be God. Because I am not. You are. Then I give you the throne. I abdicate the throne now and forever.

Am I relieved and released? I am. I am grateful, because I am no longer centered on myself; I'm focused on you. Amen. Affirmation of the day: I deliver nothing, except what was a problem for me: not having delivered myself. 

Source: internet