Thanks Be To God -- Wholehearted Commitment

 

Romans 6:17

But thanks be to God that you who were slaves of sin have now become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were committed.

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 8003

Wholeheartedly:  wholly devoted, whole, complete, blameless

Who we were and the sinful life we lived before we came to Christ is not who we are now. We were slaves to sin:we willingly obeyed the commands of sin on our lives: in our thoughts, in our bodies. We lived for ourselves. Now we live for Christ.

In our ignorance of the Truth of God's Word we followed the pattern of sin's teachings: do what makes you happy, follow your heart, everybody's doing it; there is no hell so how you live your life now doesn't really matter; there are many gods and you can follow more than one or none at all; disrespect life, it's only a fib not a real lie. And these are just the reasonings I have heard, I'm sure there are more out there. 

To be a slave to sin is to follow the pattern of lies which the devil has put forth into the world and therefore, we have grown up in and around. No one is born a Christian. We may be have been raised in Christian households but that is not enough. Each of us must make a choice to follow the pattern, the doctrine, of a resurrected life when we choose to follow Christ in our daily lives. 

I surrender all. All of me. All of my thoughts must I choose to surrender to Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:8 "...think on these things." All of my body must I choose to surrender to Jesus Christ. I cannot work the works of the devil with my hands and expect my feet to walk in the Word. What does that mean? For example, a person should not be out drinking on Saturday night and expect to receive a blessing from God on Sunday morning. It is a double-minded fool who believes such a thing to be so. 

I Surrender All 

1.  All to Jesus I surrender,

     All to Him I freely give;

     I will ever love and trust Him,

     In His presence daily live.

Refrain:

I surrender all, I surrender all;

All to Thee, my blessed Savior,

I surrender all.

2.  All to Jesus I surrender,

    Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;

    Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit,

    Truly know that Thou art mine. [Refrain]

3.  All to Jesus I surrender,

    Lord, I give myself to Thee;

    Fill me with Thy love and power,

    Let Thy blessing fall on me. [Refrain]

Written by J.W. Van De Venter in 1896, this classic hymn still rings true for many devoted followers of Jesus Christ. While not very much information is known about the songwriter, the song itself has become the anthem of true Christianity. For if a person is not willing to surrender all of themselves, as The Word tells us we are to do, then we are not saved from sin but still trapped in it. Romans 12:1 "Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship." 

Since the beginning of the year we have been discussing here what it means to be a born again Christian: how we become born again and how a born again Christian should live their lives as opposed to how we lived before we became born again Christians. What do we learn in this verse? 

(1) Thanks be to God. We give God the praise, we give God the glory, for what He has done in our souls: our emotions, our wills, our thoughts. Because we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord of All, we thank Him for turning our lives around; a 180-degree turn from living a life of sinful, willful disobedience to God's Word and turning to God through Jesus Christ to a life of righteousness, surrendering our will to God's Will, obeying the Word of Life and not the words of death. 

(2) Slaves to sin. In ignorance obeying the laws of sin and giving into temptation(s) which results in death. For the result of sin is death. Not just death in the body of a person, but death in the spirit and soul, as well. It is separation from God now and eternal separation from God after death. We cannot pray for a person to change after that person has died. Their soul is in hell and no one in hell can cross over to heaven nor back to this earth. The life we lived before we came to Christ we wholeheartedly lived for the devil and his lies.

(3) Obedient from the heart. It is our spiritual heart that puts the thoughts of our minds into action. Now that our heart is where Jesus Christ lives by the power of God's Holy Spirit, we choose to listen to what God has to say and we choose to make a choice in our every decisions to follow the teaching of God's Holy Word that we might become God's holy people. 

(4) To the pattern of teaching to which you were committed. The pattern of teaching, the gospel of salvation plus how to live a committed way of life that is completely different from the noncommittal life we lived before we came to Christ. The doctrine by which we live our lives now is separate from the doctrine we followed then. 

No Longer Slaves by Jonathan David and Melissa Helser (from their album I Will Not Be Shaken)

1 Corinthians 6:19. 20

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body. 

Dear Lord,

I surrender every part of me to You, to Your service. I surrender the way I think to the way You think. And, Lord, You know I have to pray this all the day long for my thoughts are under constant bombardment from the enemy of my soul. I need You every second of my life. 

I surrender the way I love to the way You love. No longer do I choose to love whom I will but to love whom You will and in the same way that You love me: with my whole heart, unconditionally; loving everyone with Your love. Help me to love people like You love people. 

I surrender the way I live the life You have given me to the life You want me to live. Help me to grow in Your Word as I study it, as I pray over it and commuse with You, as I hear it preached on Sunday mornings and taught on Wednesday nights, or any other nights I am able to be with Your people in Your houses of worship. 

I surrender the fears and doubts which plagued me to the Hope I have in You. Lead me and guide me through the storms and the trials which are set before me to go through. 

In Jesus' Name, I pray,

Amen.

All My Hope by Crowder (from his album Milk & Honey)

Shepherd of My Soul by Rivers & Robots (from their album All Things New)

Intelligent Worship -- Surrender To God -- Part 11

 Intelligent Worship brings us into the presence of God when we Surrender to God. Part 11.

This surrendering to God thing has to be done (1) Intentionally and (2) Daily. The flesh wants to be comfy, but the Spirit calls and the flesh must surrender what it wants in order to hear what God is saying, especially when the body is beyond tired and just wants to rest. 

Deuteronomy 10:16

Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks no more.

Jeremiah 4:4

“Circumcise (dedicate, sanctify) yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskin [sins] of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire [consuming all that gets in its way] And burn and there will be no one to quench it, Because of the evil of your acts.”

Romans 2:28-29

A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God.

It is the Spirit of God Who calls us into the presence of God, who keeps us there when we choose to honor God by being obedient to the call of Surrender.

You may wonder why these verses since none of them use the word 'surrender' but these are the verses the Spirit gave me when I first wrote the outline for this series. 

Deuteronomy, for instance, talks to us about not being so set in our ways, not being stubborn and not being rebellious. Jeremiah tells us to dedicate ourselves to the Lord; dedicate our services. Romans 12:1-2 speaks of 'presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord'. In other words, Surrender to God. 

Romans reminds us that we cannot save ourselves, we cannot wash away our own sins: only the Spirit of God can forgive sins and wash them away through the blood of His precious Holy Lamb, Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. 

Physical circumcision is painful and the anguish fades beyond memory for most who receive it. Spiritual circumcision is sacrificial but this sacrifice should not become a memory for the believer. This sacrifice is a daily offering we give to God when we completely, willingly, obediently set aside what we want to do and do what God wants us to do. 

Yes, I'd rather be asleep. But unless God brings me there it ain't happenin'. He has a work for me to do and getting today's study done is a big part of it. 

We sing this hymn at church, as I'm sure many of you do, called 'I Surrender All'. We'd better mean what we say because we will be held accountable. If we can't mean what we say in a song, then we'd better not be singing it. 

I SURRENDER ALL

--by Judson Van De Venter, 1896

1. All to Jesus I surrender,

All to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him,

In His presence daily live.

Refrain:

I surrender all, I surrender all;

All to Thee, my blessed Savior,

I surrender all.

2. All to Jesus I surrender,

Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;

Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit,

Truly know that Thou art mine. [Refrain]

3. All to Jesus I surrender,

Lord, I give myself to Thee;

Fill me with Thy love and power,

Let Thy blessing fall on me. [Refrain]

ALL TO YOU/I SURRENDER ALL by Don Moen

A Man Is Measured

A MAN IS

MEASURED

BY WHO

HE IS IN

HIS HEART

1 SAMUEL 16:7 

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.”

MATTHEW 15:18

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man.

It is for this reason that our hearts need changing, but this changing cannot be done on our own. We may do random acts of kindness, good deeds, charitable contributions and every other feel good thing: none of these changes the heart.

Our hearts must be cleaned by the blood of God's Lamb, Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son. It was for this purpose that Jesus died on the cross, for sin begins in the heart, ere it ever makes its way to the thought-chambers of our minds. We need to repent of the sins that are in our hearts, believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, and He will was our hearts clean with Himself. 

ROMANS 10:8-10, 13

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,”that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.

for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

It is only after we get saved, and our hearts are cleansed, that we can begin putting new items into our new hearts. While this process takes a lifetime to accomplish, the baptism of the Holy Spirit happens when we wait for Him to fall on us and fill us. Don't be impatient for this to happen. Just wait. The process of having a changed heart will be done daily as we read, study and pray God's Word into our lives. 

We can also stop putting the old garbage into our new hearts. The old way of life we lived before we asked Jesus into our hearts. We should not even want to live that way now that we have Christ in us. We allowed ourselves to get into the habit of doing certain things and it is these habits that need to be broken and discarded in our lives, whatever they may be. I cannot tell you. The Holy Spirit will tell you what you need to do and what you need to stop doing. 

To day is the day to make your hearts ready. 

Which Flag Are You Waving?

   

The day is coming, and now is surely upon us, when you and I must decide which is more important: freedom or salvation. Whom do we serve? The God of The Holy Scriptures or the god of this world? All across the airwaves I see unrest, upheaval and change; change that is seldom for the better only for the worse. And not just far from home, but right in home's backyard. And, yet, where folks used to turn back to God with repentant hearts, now there is the clanging emptiness of hardened hearts and hardheadedness striking its blows for empty freedoms.

     True freedom comes from submitting to God's will for our lives. We have the right, once we are saved through Jesus Christ, to Obey God's Word in our lives. We choose to surrender all of our rights, our desires, to God, that we might become the person God wants us to be, not the person we think we should be.
     The only weapons we should be concerned with are what we are given by God. The Sword of The Lord, The Word of God: It is our primary weapon. The other weapon we are given is Worship and Praise. It is a two-fold diversionary tactic; when wielded with a right heart, God is in that praise and it is He who defeats our enemies. Lip-service praise will not be heard by God; for it is empty and vain.
     The rainbow is a symbol of covenant between God and mankind. God created it and set it among the heavens to remind not only us, but Himself that never again would He destroy the earth with a flood.
     Our words have power. With a single word we can either build or destroy. The Bible tells us that 'the tongue is a flame' and can do much damage (James 3), so we should be careful of what we say. Not only because we can set in motion actions which cannot be undone, but because God holds us accountable for every word we speak. Therefore it is wiser on our parts to speak but little.
   America is country made up by many nations who came here seeking freedom from oppression in their own countries. Each nation within America uses self-promotion to obtain what they see as their inalienable rights. But in God's Kingdom, it is not self-promotion which gets things done, but a humble heart wherein God reigns that gets things done. We have no rights; everything we have, everything we are, we have and are because of Christ in us and The Holy Spirit moving in us, changing the course of our lives for the better.
    It is God who blesses us when we bless and honor Him. It is God who sets up kings and governments, not we ourselves. It is God who protects us with His strong and mighty arm, when we obey His Word. It is God who created the universes and everything in them. It is God who desires to be the focus of our worship and praise for there is no other god like our God.
    Idolatry is worship of something or someone who is not God. Turning away from God and doing whatever you want to do is not true freedom, it is the enslaving of one's soul (the mind, the will, the emotions) to a god, an idol.
    There will never be true religious tolerance. Though a one-world religion is nearly upon us, and a one-world money is imminent, these things will not bring world peace, nor will they allow inner peace to be in a person's heart and mind.
    True freedom, true peace, comes from knowing God intimately by having a relationship with His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. A true life can only be lived when The Truth of God's Word lives in us.

     So, which flag are you waving?
   

Diving into Surrender

Oh to be found in the favor of God,
Living the life He desires;
Surrendering daily  into His grace,
Enjoying the sweetest of times.


     While searching for photos or pic to align with this post, I stumbled across a NASA Science page on the colors of the ocean, with the help of the Holy Spirit. He is, after all, my Guide. See, I always thought that the deeper the ocean, the darker the green. I knew that some oceans were blue near the top, but I had believed that all oceans are eventually green after that. But the deeper you get into the ocean, not only is there less color, there is less light.
     Turquoise Plankton in the water reflect the light of the sun.
    Azure How many plankton living in the water decides what color the water is.
  Green Black Light Absorbed and light reflected.
Blue-Green Spiral  Type of plankton reveals color of water. In this photo, two types caused the blue-green effect. The spiral is because they are alive and in motion. Pretty cool, huh? This is my favorite.
     There is an emerald rainbow around the base of the throne of God. Revelation 4:5 "And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." Ezekiel 1:28 "As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake." John 4:24 "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
     In the previous verse, John 4:23, Jesus stated not only that the true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth, but that this is the worshipper God is seeking, or looking for. Am I that true worshipper yet? Are you that true worshipper God is seeking? What does it take to be a true worshipper of God?
     The true worshipper walks in the Spirit, not in the world. In other words, he walks the walk. Romans 8:4 "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.". 
     The true worshipper not only walks in the Spirit, but lives in the Spirit. Galatians 5:25 "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
     The true worshipper rejoices in Jesus, and trusts Him. Philippians 3:3 "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."
    The true worshipper has a circumcised heart and lifestyle. Colossians 2:6-23 and Colossians 3, but just let me whet your appetite with the first few verses in it. You can continue in your own Bible, okay? Colossians 2:6-11 "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. (7)Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. (8)Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (9)For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. (10)And you are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power: (11) In Whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 
     These scriptures are speaking to the Christian, the person who repents of their sins and accepts the forgiveness of God for such. So, we see here that the true worshipper to whom Christ is referring to in John 4:23, 23 is a Christian not just in name, but in heart and mind and spirit, which make up the soul of a person. In John 3:3 Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be born again. What follows in John 3:4-21 is Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus.
     As we have already covered what it means to be Christian, we will continue from here to verse 7 in Colossians 2. This verse tells us that the Christian is also not a newbie, or newly born again Christian, but one whose faith is visible to others, a Christian who is always thankful for everything in their lives. But it is hard to be thankful for every little thing, isn't it? Unless you determine to be thankful; having that "Gratitude Attitude". Verse 8 warns us to be careful, and not believe those who would turn us away from the truth of God's Word according to their logic and flattery. Verse 9 reveals to us without reservation that Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
      Verse 10 reminds us that we are complete in Him. Which is what He prayed for in the garden of Gethsemane, later on in this book: John 17:21 "That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, are in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." Finish reading this chapter through verse 26, it's really awesome how every Word of God comes together when the Holy Spirit is active in your Bible studies.
     Verse 11 tells the Christian that God circumcises the heart, not the body. Ezekiel 11:19, 20 "And I will give them a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh. That they may walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God." Ezekiel 36:26 "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep my judgments, and do them."
     The true worshipper is strong in the Lord, strong in the Spirit, strong in the Word. Their heart is focused on the things of God, not on the things of this world. The true worshipper reads their Bible for to profit the soul, not to seek monetary gain. The true worshipper surrenders not only their heart to God, but their whole life. And having surrendered one's heart and given one's life to worship and thankfulness, the next goal is to see the glory of God face to face. It is not just this side of heaven we are to worship God in, but the other side of heaven, also.
     Where are the true worshippers?


     
     
   

One More Person

One More Person

(written for my friend Brenda W)

My altars are empty

My pews are bare

My doors are closed and locked

No one is there.

But one more person

Has opportunity

One more person

Will give his heart to Me

One more person
Will walk through My Door

One more person

Will kneel on My floor

One more person

To call My Name

One more person
To take My Hand.

One more person

Will answer My call

One more person

Will surrender his all.

And though My pews are empty

My altars bare

This is My house

I am still here.