Lord, I will follow You,
but... —Luke 9:61
{CHAMBERS} “Suppose God tells you to do something that is an
enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do?
Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically,
you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through
sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will
come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the
true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in
total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this
matter, what about…?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me
doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the
dark.”[…] In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything
you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He
says. […] By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad,
but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your
spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. […] We act
like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to
invest his faith in the character of God.”
{ELGIN} In Romans 7, Paul describes a conflict of the flesh and
spirit. (Romans 7:15-23) “I do not
understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And
if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is
no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good
itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the
desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good
I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I
do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living
in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good,
evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but
I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and
making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.”
As we live our new life in
Christ – we struggle. Most of us have
hurts, habits, and hang-ups that are rooted in our old nature and the fact that
we live in a fallen world. We do the very things we know we should not and
often feel helpless to stop doing those things.
Even though we know that what we do is contrary to our new nature and
the will of God we feel compelled to not let them go. I think fear, in large part, is the
motivation. We want so badly to have things set aright, but can’t let go of our
old habits and thinking to grab hold of God.
That is where faith comes in. I
may want someone to make the right choices – to change the direction of their
life, but I can’t make them do it. They
must decide that they will – take the leap – and go in a new direction – trust in
God and not themselves. Maybe you know
someone like that. If you know someone –
pray for them – encourage them – don’t preach to them. More than likely they already know what to do
– they just don’t have enough trust to make the leap of faith. Or maybe you are someone like that. I don’t know who you are but God does. I pray that you will find comfort and strength
and peace and confidence in Him.
(GIVE ME JESUS) Jeremy Camp
In the morning, when I rise, In
the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise,
give me Jesus
Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus
You can have all this world, But
give me Jesus
And when I am alone, Oh, and
when I am alone
And when I am alone, give me
Jesus
Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus
You can have all this world, But
give me Jesus
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