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Pastor Chris White says to all of you: HELLO MY FRIENDS. May the Lord bless you today.
HOLA MIS AMIGOS. Que el Señor los bendiga.
This world is a
battleground. Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:17-19), the
world God created has been in conflict with Him (Romans 8:20-22).
Satan is called the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and
due to Adam’s sin, we are born on his team (Romans 5:12). John
Bunyan pictured this conflict in his allegory The Holy War. Prince
Emmanuel besieges the city of Mansoul to wrest it from the power of Diabolus.
Unfortunately, the citizens of Mansoul are blindly committed to Diabolus and
fight against Emmanuel, to their own detriment.
When we reach the age when we can make moral choices, we must choose whether to
follow our own sinful inclinations or to seek God (see Joshua 24:15). God
promises that when we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). When
we find Him, we have a choice to make: do we continue following our own
inclinations, or do we surrender to His will?
Surrender is a battle term. It implies giving up all rights to the
conqueror. When an opposing army surrenders, they lay down their arms, and the
winners take control from then on. Surrendering to God works the same way. God
has a plan for our lives, and surrendering to Him means we set aside our own
plans and eagerly seek His. The good news is that God’s plan for us is always
in our best interest (Jeremiah 29:11),
unlike our own plans that often lead to destruction (Proverbs 14:12). Our
Lord is a wise and beneficent victor; He conquers us to bless us.
There are different levels of surrender, all of which affect our relationship
with God. Initial surrender to the drawing of the Holy Spirit leads to
salvation (John 6:44; Acts 2:21). When
we let go of our own attempts to earn God’s favor and rely upon the finished
work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, we become a child of God (John 1:12; 2 Corinthians 5:21). But
there are times of greater surrender during a Christian’s life that bring
deeper intimacy with God and greater power in service. The more areas of our
lives we surrender to Him, the more room there is for the filling of the Holy
Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). When
we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we exhibit traits of His character (Galatians 5:22). The
more we surrender to God, the more our old self-worshiping nature is replaced
with one that resembles Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Romans 6:13 says
that God demands that we surrender the totality of our selves; He wants the
whole, not a part: “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument
of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been
brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an
instrument of righteousness.” Jesus said that His followers must deny
themselves (Mark 8:34)—another
call to surrender.
The goal of the Christian life can be summed up by Galatians 2:20:
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is
no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in
the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
me.” Such a life of surrender is pleasing to God, results in the greatest
human fulfillment, and will reap ultimate rewards in heaven (Luke 6:22-23).
Thank you to Got Questions Ministries
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