Greetings Brethren, you who are precious to our Lord,
How often am I deaf to what I read? What does ‘set apart Christ as Lord in my heart’ really mean? Warren Wiersbe defines it this way: “It means to turn everything over to Him, and to live only to please Him and glorify Him. It means to fear displeasing Him rather than fear what men might do to us. How wonderfully this approach simplifies our lives! It is Matthew 6:33 and Romans 12:1-2 combined into a daily attitude of faith, that obeys God’s Word, in spite of consequences. It means satisfied with nothing less than the will of God in our lives. (John 4:31-34). One evidence that Jesus Christ is Lord in our lives is the readiness with which we witness to others about Him and seek to win them to Christ.”
When ‘self’ acts correctly in difficult circumstances, it is the outflow of my pride, resulting in the sin of self-righteousness. (OUCH!) To have Christ’s righteousness flow through me, the Holy Spirit must hold my old sin nature in the place of death, at the Cross on which I died. I am crucified with Christ, dead to sin, buried, and risen with Christ, covered in His righteousness. Hallelujah!
Compassionate One, help me understand how to reckon myself crucified with You. Bolster me in Your Truth. Teach me to accustom myself, in everything that happens, big or small, as seeing it from Your hand, before I fix my focus on a person. Let me first recognize and surrender to Your will in it. Oh how far I am from living this Truth…change me. Teach me to be still and remember who You are, the Sovereign LORD. Impress on my heart and mind it is You who have allowed this trial to test my faith. And how amazing that as I trust You I bring You glory. Turn my eyes from man and circumstance, to You, for then even suffering unfairly is much easier. I rejoice knowing my sorrows are never wasted when I trust You. Thank You for being such an amazing God. I love You Daddy. I pray in Jesus most powerful, eternal name, amen
But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but [set apart] sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. I Peter 3: 14-17
Remember: Jesus suffered as the sinless One for the sinful. Now, my part each day is to ‘put off’ the old man, (Eph 4:22) and put on the new man (Eph 4:24). Daily, each moment, we are to live as crucified with Christ, allowing the Holy Spirit freedom to apply the finished work of the Cross to our life. (Rom 6:11) Realize the flesh is not necessarily repulsive or blatantly sinful, indeed it can be very nice, even adapting to church and good deeds. But it is alien and always will be alien, to new life in Christ. It belongs to another race and is not related to the life of the Lord Jesus. Read this amazing scripture and let it give you understanding:
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. Galatians 5:16-17
I remember striving to live this way for may years, until I realized it was only possible to walk in the Spirit as I reckoned myself dead, crucified with Christ. The Holy Spirit will render inoperative anything that is a hindrance to the life of Christ in me. I am called to cooperate with Him in this by ‘reckoning’, for only then will His life be manifested in and through me! This sets my feet to dancing and is creating in me a hunger to glorify Him
If
If
If I cannot give You glory, I have nothing to write!
If I cannot give You glory, I have nothing to say…
If I cannot give You glory, I know nothing of life’s purpose,
If I cannot give You glory, I am empty and without hope
O that people would hunger for You, love You, seek You,
Because of what I write, what I say, what I do…
For what is life without You?
I live to bring You glory
As I glory in Your Name.
az
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