2025-01-03
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Today, the Holy Spirit is directing me to open a new subseries in this series of messages about patience and humility called “surrender and ministry.” The definitions for these two words will help illuminate God’s will for those who believe in Jesus Christ. Surrender means “to cease to resist to an opponent and to submit to the opponent’s authority” according to the Oxford Dictionary. JN 1: 10-12 comes to mind. “He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet all who did receive Him, to all who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” Ministry means in service to God, and minister means “servant.” Of course, there are other definitions in different contexts, but the one meant here is the spiritual context. God wants to edify others and bring them to spiritual maturity. And yes, it can mean in a formal career as clergy, teachers, apostles, evangelists, and prophets. But it can also mean recognizing a calling that is less formal but still serves God’s purpose stated above. EPH 2: 19-22 comes to mind: “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizen with God’s people and also members of His household, built on the foundation of apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief Cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him too you are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.”
Even if one is born and raised in a Christian household, there is no guarantee that this upbringing will bring him to true lifelong faith. Some will fall away, and some will find themselves on the road traveled to spiritual maturity in Christ. We must not omit those people who are raised in other belief systems than Christianity but either abandon those beliefs or add to them belief in Jesus Christ. MT 6: 33 is wise advice: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” God possesses the power to change how a person thinks, which is exemplified in PR 21: 1, “In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water that He channels forward all who please Him.” God can and sometimes does change the direction of the current of that stream. We learn in RO 8: 38-39 that nothing can separate us from the love of God. However, for His own righteous reasons, there are some of God’s human creation that won’t decide to be righteous in God’s eyes. It isn’t that God abandons us; it’s that some of us abandon Him. When this happens, it’s a great disappointment to our loving Lord. We have been commanded, in RO 12: 1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
No matter what our circumstances, we must go through a gradual maturing process that takes time and sometimes tests God’s patience. Some of us begin that process early in life, others later. 2 COR 5: 17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Our NT way of looking at this is found in RO 7: 6, “But now, by dying to once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” If this statement leaves you confused, what is meant here is that the old lock-step way of legalism found in the OT, is replaced by the leadership of the Holy Spirit. There is a freedom in this way of life not found by memorizing rules and not appealing directly to God [GA 5: 1]. God needed at first to gives us the Ten Commandments, and they still give us a template for behavior that pleases God, but now we can appeal directly to God, Who communicates with us through the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER: O Most Holy Father, we know that You are giving us an invitation to frequently visit the shelter under Your wings to listen and to pray. You want us to meet with You there and become closer than ever to You. PS 91: 1-2, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My Refuge and my Fortress, my God in Whom I trust.” The more time in an attitude of humility and with patience for His responses to it in this shelter, the closer to You our relationship becomes. We offer You thanks and praise for loving us the way You do and for sharing Your wisdom with those of us who ask for it. In Christ’s holy/mighty name we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded to discuss circumstances in the process of surrender and God’s power to bring it about. David is a tremendous example of one case of this surrender in a person who after all these years gives us just as relevant an example of surrender and gradual spiritual maturity that still benefits us today. He writes, in PS 73: 26, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the Strength of my heart and my Portion forever.” When one realizes that David lived (1040-970 BC), we can’t help but see the truth of LK 21: 33, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” How comforting it is to know we can always depend on God! Praise and thanksgiving be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
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