The Surrendered Life.

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The surrendered life is God's ultimate goal for all people. It is that we are to relinquish control of our life to the Lord Jesus Christ. We call Him Lord, but in numerous instances He is not the Lord of us personally. We still make our own decisions in almost everything we do.

(5/6/2007) There is no better life than living in the rest of God, that is, in the place of abiding in Christ such that we continually are looking to Christ for all we think, say, and do. In fact, in which we constantly are praying that Christ would remove all desire from us that is not from Himself.

I hardly can write on this topic, it is so utterly important to all that takes place in God's creation.

Each one of us was created a little god with a will of our own. We have a throne room in us, and most humans, including Christians, are sitting on that throne. But that room in us has been prepared for the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and on then for us after God has been established firmly and eternally in us.

Where can I start? Perhaps with the Lord's admonition that we abide in Him and He in us. In order for Christ to abide in us and we in Him, we must be totally obedient to Him in every detail of our life. We find His will throughout the Bible, and then in His personal directions to us. If we are to find His complete will for us we must present our body a living sacrifice. This is to say, we must pray continually, giving thanks and letting our requests be made known to God at all times.

Christ Himself is the Resurrection from the dead. As we are dying to our own self-will, and learning to live in His will, we are living in resurrection life. Then, when the Lord appears from Heaven, our body will receive this same life that has been developed in our inner nature.

All sin comes from a desire to act outside of Christ. We may think of sin only as transgressions of God's moral law. But to act outside of Christ invariably leads to a transgression of the eternal moral law, and thus to sin.

Satan wanted to be like God, not in Character but in power to act independently of God. Satan brought his desire down to earth and infected Adam and Eve with the desire for power to act independently of God. The result was, as it always is, chaos.

Several recent doctrines added to Charismatic thinking, such as the faith, prosperity, and positive thinking ideas, on occasion have helped people. But they are attempts to put God-like power in the hands of the believers so they can act independently of God. To these formulas has been added the idea of seeking the spiritual bases of physical afflictions so we can heal ourselves.

The most important element of our life is union with Christ. From union with Christ proceeds God's image in us, fruitfulness, and dominion. Apart from union with Christ we are a dead branch, bearing no worthwhile fruit.

However, we cannot abide in Christ, cannot be in untroubled union with Him, except as we continually are looking to Him for His will in all of our thinking, speaking, and doing. I simply cannot overemphasize the importance of acknowledging God in all we do. This is the key to our very existence, as well as the opposite of our human tendencies.

Man was created to be the throne of God, that is, Heaven. Heaven is God's throne. Heaven is the place from which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit govern. When God's will has been established firmly and eternally in us, we are able to bring the best of Heaven to needy people.

Our prayer is that God's will be done in the earth as it is in Heaven. This is the Kingdom of God. As soon as God is on the throne of our life, we will be given the authority and power to compel God's will on the earth. This government shall be brought to earth with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How we wish today that we could change things in the world! We indeed shall be able to make such changes when the Lord comes from Heaven, but only if we are willing to surrender our own will to that of Christ.

Yielding to the will of Christ is not passivity. We have to struggle night and day to enter the rest of God, that is, into that place where we are ceasing from our own works and looking to the Lord Jesus for guidance. The key is faith. If we are to give to God the right to guide us, then we must believe in God's desire to bring us to the fullness of love, joy, and peace. We must have faith in God's Character—especially His unswerving faithfulness.

The problem from the beginning has been that of man attempting to have God-like power (wisdom)—to be "like God" without being part of God. This is Satan's desire and comes from Satan.

The world of today portrays to us the end of man trying to govern himself, to be "in control." Paradise cannot be restored until God's will and the Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ fill everything.

Such will and such Presence indeed shall fill the creation, including the earth. The Kingdom is being formed today as each of us cooperates with the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit directs us to put aside the actions of our sinful, self-willed nature and acknowledge the Lord Jesus in all we think, say, and do.

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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