Thursday, August 25, 2016

The Essence Of Faith Is Also The Problem With Faith

My Utmost For His Highest
 
I have called you friends… —John 15:15
 
“We will never know the joy of self-sacrifice until we surrender in every detail of our lives. Yet self-surrender is the most difficult thing for us to do. […] When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, our greatest desire is to lay down our lives for Jesus. Yet the thought of self-sacrifice never even crosses our minds, because sacrifice is the Holy Spirit’s ultimate expression of love.  Our Lord is our example of a life of self-sacrifice, and He perfectly exemplified Psalm 40:8, “I delight to do Your will, O my God….” […] Beware of letting your natural desires hinder your walk in love before God.”  CHAMBERS
 
(Luke 22:42) “Not My will but Your will be done..”  Jesus said that to the Father as He prayed in the garden on the night He was betrayed. That is the essence of what sacrifice, laying down your life is, is all about.  Romans 12:1 says to “offer yourself as a living sacrifice”.  It is saying “no” to yourself and “yes” to God.  Just like Jesus did.  You face decisions of the will every day.  Do I choose what my flesh wants or do I put my faith in God and obey Him.  When you choose your own way, when you choose to be “conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) If you are reading this and are thinking … I want to choose God … that is the first step.  But it is the next step that is the hard part, the place where so many fail.  You must put your faith and trust in God and obey Him even if you can’t see how it can possibly work.  That is the essence of faith and that is the problem with faith.  (Hebrews 11:1) “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  The greatest temptation is to trust in yourself and go your own way.  We do that mostly out of fear.  It never goes well. Choosing your own way and rejecting God.  But we persist in doing it and insist that it will work somehow.  Two words for you.  Stop it!  CHARLEY
 
My Will – DC Talk
 
I'm setting the stage for, the things I love.  And I'm now the man I, once couldn't be.
Nothing on Earth could, now ever move me. I now have the will and, the strength a man needs.
 
It's my will, and I'm not moving.  'Cause if it's your will, nothing can shake me.
 It's my will, to bow and praise you  I now have the will, to praise my God
 
Complexity haunts me, for I am two men.  Entrenched in a battle, that I'll never win.
 My discipline fails me, my knowledge it fools me.  But you are my shelter, the strength that I need.
 
I'm learning to give up, the rights to myself.  The bits and the pieces, I've gathered as wealth.
 And nothing compares to, the joy that you bring me.  The peace that you've shown me, is the strength that I need.
 
It's my will, and I'm not moving.  'Cause if it's your will, nothing can shake me.
 It's my will, to bow and praise you  I now have the will, to praise my God

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