So often I hear myself and others saying things like, "I want to", "I'm going to", "I have to", "I need to" do whatever... and for years now, I've had to stop myself and remind myself that "I" don't have any say about my life anymore. The "I have to do whatever because" was one that I used to say a lot before I was saved. I particularly remember saying it about work. I'd say that I "had" to go to work and couldn't take time off because I was sick, (even when I had pneumonia or should have been in the hospital, like my boss begged me to allow him to take me several different times!) because I couldn't afford the time off. Logical, isn't it? Not when we're saved it's not! The Lord showed me that right quick! He pointed out that I was to do what He told me to do, not what I thought I was "supposed" to do. He also pointed out that He was my provision, not my job or my boss or anything else. Then, not knowing the Lord was working with me on this, the elder who was discipling me gave me an assignment saying she didn't want me to come to work unless the Lord told me to. That I was to ask Him every morning and then do what He said. Talk about being under pressure! This was my job!!!!
I was terrified! What if I got it wrong??? What if it was my voice and not the Lord's I heard??? Well that certainly got me to pray and pray really hard for extended periods every day, let me tell you! I felt like I'd suddenly been dropped off a cliff and told to fly But with the Lord's help, through His Word and prayer, I began to learn to discern His voice and His Will, and began to really understand that it wasn't my life anymore, it was His to do with as He pleased. Don't get me wrong, I'm nowhere near perfect in this, even after all these years. I wish I was and with the Lord's help, I'm working on it though.
I think there's a huge lack of understanding about this though for many Christians because many churches don't bother to teach what the Bible says. They teach about Salvation being a "free gift", as though there was no cost to us, as though we can continue to live as before and still be saved. At least that's how most seem to view it. That's just not true though. While we can't earn our salvation, there IS a cost to us and Jesus tells us to count the cost before we make our decision about belonging to Him or not. That cost is making Jesus the Lord of our lives - no longer doing or saying what we want to do or say, but instead, doing and saying what He wants us to do and say. Even our thoughts are to be what He desires, not what we want. Not just on Sunday's either, but every day of the week, and every decision of every day.
Look at all the times we're told in His Word that the disciples and apostles were servants of Christ, and all the times we're told that we are to be His servants too. Like in 1 Peter 2:16 where we're told: "Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God." Jesus humbled Himself and came here and served us. Now He asks us to humble ourselves and serve Him by allowing Him to be the Master of our lives.
One thing I've seen many do instead of asking the Lord what He wants them to do and waiting for an answer, (and did myself at first) is deciding that if something happens, then it's what God wants us to do. But that's really just a cop out. God wants us to talk to Him, and He really wants us to listen to Him. It's the listening part that we tend to have the most trouble with though, and that's what the elder who discipled me helped me learn to do. We listen to Him the same way we'd listen to anyone else, only we have an added advantage which is His Word. He will often reply to us through His Word, so the better we know it, the better we will become at hearing what He has to say to us and doing His Will each day. No, there's no verse in the bible that says, "go to work today" or "buy a car" or "get a job" , but you'd be surprised at just how God can answer those very kind of questions through His Word! Of course, He also answers by His Voice. That's usually the hardest thing for us to get used to. What helped me was remembering that Jesus said that we (His sheep) would hear His Voice, not that we would try and that we might get it right sometimes. It also helped me to remember that in relation to hearing Him, the Lord often says throughout His Word that we need to "be still", "be patient" and "wait on Him".
When we give Him control over our lives, He changes us and we will find ourselves serving others for His sake. We'll find ourselves forgiving the unforgivable, and loving the unlovable, over and over and over again, just like He did. We'll find our anger replaced with compassion, our fear replaced with Trust in Him, and our hate replaced with love. We'll find the Joy of the Lord, even in the midst of great sorrow or trials. We'll find we need a lot less then we thought we did and that we can give a lot more then we thought we could. So while there's a cost to us, the rewards of choosing to pay that cost are so high, and bring so much joy, that no other choice makes any sense.
My prayer for all of us is that He will help us all to live lives worthy of His calling, and that others will see Jesus in each one of us.
Matthew 16:24–25 —Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. *For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. *
I was terrified! What if I got it wrong??? What if it was my voice and not the Lord's I heard??? Well that certainly got me to pray and pray really hard for extended periods every day, let me tell you! I felt like I'd suddenly been dropped off a cliff and told to fly But with the Lord's help, through His Word and prayer, I began to learn to discern His voice and His Will, and began to really understand that it wasn't my life anymore, it was His to do with as He pleased. Don't get me wrong, I'm nowhere near perfect in this, even after all these years. I wish I was and with the Lord's help, I'm working on it though.
I think there's a huge lack of understanding about this though for many Christians because many churches don't bother to teach what the Bible says. They teach about Salvation being a "free gift", as though there was no cost to us, as though we can continue to live as before and still be saved. At least that's how most seem to view it. That's just not true though. While we can't earn our salvation, there IS a cost to us and Jesus tells us to count the cost before we make our decision about belonging to Him or not. That cost is making Jesus the Lord of our lives - no longer doing or saying what we want to do or say, but instead, doing and saying what He wants us to do and say. Even our thoughts are to be what He desires, not what we want. Not just on Sunday's either, but every day of the week, and every decision of every day.
Look at all the times we're told in His Word that the disciples and apostles were servants of Christ, and all the times we're told that we are to be His servants too. Like in 1 Peter 2:16 where we're told: "Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God." Jesus humbled Himself and came here and served us. Now He asks us to humble ourselves and serve Him by allowing Him to be the Master of our lives.
One thing I've seen many do instead of asking the Lord what He wants them to do and waiting for an answer, (and did myself at first) is deciding that if something happens, then it's what God wants us to do. But that's really just a cop out. God wants us to talk to Him, and He really wants us to listen to Him. It's the listening part that we tend to have the most trouble with though, and that's what the elder who discipled me helped me learn to do. We listen to Him the same way we'd listen to anyone else, only we have an added advantage which is His Word. He will often reply to us through His Word, so the better we know it, the better we will become at hearing what He has to say to us and doing His Will each day. No, there's no verse in the bible that says, "go to work today" or "buy a car" or "get a job" , but you'd be surprised at just how God can answer those very kind of questions through His Word! Of course, He also answers by His Voice. That's usually the hardest thing for us to get used to. What helped me was remembering that Jesus said that we (His sheep) would hear His Voice, not that we would try and that we might get it right sometimes. It also helped me to remember that in relation to hearing Him, the Lord often says throughout His Word that we need to "be still", "be patient" and "wait on Him".
When we give Him control over our lives, He changes us and we will find ourselves serving others for His sake. We'll find ourselves forgiving the unforgivable, and loving the unlovable, over and over and over again, just like He did. We'll find our anger replaced with compassion, our fear replaced with Trust in Him, and our hate replaced with love. We'll find the Joy of the Lord, even in the midst of great sorrow or trials. We'll find we need a lot less then we thought we did and that we can give a lot more then we thought we could. So while there's a cost to us, the rewards of choosing to pay that cost are so high, and bring so much joy, that no other choice makes any sense.
My prayer for all of us is that He will help us all to live lives worthy of His calling, and that others will see Jesus in each one of us.
Matthew 16:24–25 —Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. *For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. *
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