Tag Archives: deliverance

Christian Apologetics, Christian Living, Inspirational, Motivational

WHEN SURRENDER IS GOOD

riskWHEN SURRENDER IS GOOD

It was the summer of ’91 and my best friend and I entered the long days of June, July and August. In actuality we were only a few weeks past the close of the school year but somehow we had managed to exhaust our entire list of “things to do” and now found ourselves out of ideas. Bored, and with our imaginations running on empty, I pulled out a game we had never seen before but the cover and tag line were perfect to fuel any young ego: RISK: The Game of Global Domination. Suffice to say my friend I were hooked and day after day we engaged in epic battles of global conquest. Sometimes I would win and other times I would suffer humiliating defeats. But no matter how bad either of us were loosing one word was never voiced from of our mouths: Surrender.

Surrender is not natural to any person. Certainly there are people who are more laid back, than others, but even the most compliant person has a point to where they will refuse to willfully surrender. It should therefore not surprise anybody when we struggle with the thought of surrendering our will to the will of the Father. While we all face different challenges I am convinced there is no greater crisis than the surrender of our will to Jesus. Unlike my “merciless” friend (humor implied) God never crushes our will into surrender. Likewise Jesus never begs us to give up all we have and follow Him. What we read from Scripture, and have seen played out through countless lives, is He always waits until we surrender our will to His. I have discovered once you truly surrender to Jesus that is one battle that you never have to fight again. But why should we surrender our will to Him? Here are two thoughts for you two consider:

1. Surrender for Deliverance. “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.” It is after we have begun to experience what freedom, from sin, is like and what salvation means we gladly surrender our will to Jesus for rest. The burdens of sin and cares of this life are heavy and weighted with guilt, shame and bondage. But like Christian, in Pilgrim’s Progress, when our perplexing heart or mind responds to His “Come unto Me” our voluntary surrender results in our burdens falling and rolling away never to return.

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So you may ask, What happens after surrender? After surrender the whole of life becomes a goal for unbroken communion with God. While such a journey, with the Father, is a lifetime of learning and growing it is also one that you have been lovingly invited to partake in. Here it must be noted with every journey there is a starting point and at the beginning of communion, with Jesus, starts our surrender to Him.

Grace and Peace

Joshua 

Christian Apologetics, Christian Living, Inspirational, Motivational

DEMOLITION MAN

demolition_manDEMOLITION MAN

Growing up in the 80’s America had a certain do it yourself attitude. I remember watching weekday cartoons where GI Joe was the “Real American Hero” and after twenty-five minutes the good guy always won. Of course living in the 80’s was far from perfect but the shades of gray were never the norm; and matters of right and wrong were understood in black and white terms. Another 80’s phenomenon was the era of super-action hero. Unlike our genre of Marvel comic hero movies today the 80’s gave us Rocky, Rambo, Tango, The Predator, Commando and the Demolition Man. In the movie Demolition Man this sci-fi action film pitted a frozen, but now thawed, killer against…you guessed it a frozen, but now thawed, super cop. By now you are probably trying your hardest not to fall out laughing but I never said the 80’s were the best in everything. That being said, I would like to borrow this popular action movie title, Demolition man, and apply it to the Christian walk regarding the trials, struggles and battles we have with a real life adversary: Sin.

St. Paul exhorts the first church to “Cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.” (2 Cor. 10:5) This bold command speaks loudly to us as we face the same struggles from the fall of Adam to today. Just as with the believer in Paul’s day we too must be determined to demolish those things contrary to the Word of God in our own lives.

Let me ask you to think on something? Sometimes we tend to confuse our earthly nature from the nature of sin. By default the nature of all humanity is born under the curse of sin. However, this does not mean everyday life is filled with hopeless sinful outcomes. What you decided to eat or wear (for example) need not become an eternal battlefield of personal sin versus righteousness. Likewise deliverance from sin is not deliverance from human nature. Within human nature there are deposits of God’s common grace we can enjoy such as love, friendship and charity. But there are things in human nature, such as prejudices, that the person who lives in the progressive pursuit of Christlikness has to demolish through proactive action. (i.e., by the Divine strength imparted by God’s Spirit) Furthermore, there are other battles over which we are not to fight, but to stand still in and see the salvation of God. It is here to I want to insert a strong word of caution and reminder. Despite my or your personal theologies anything that erects itself as a stronghold, against the knowledge of God, needs to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, through His Holy Spirit, and not comforted, accepted or welcomed as some type of inner compromise.

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So be as the Demolition Man and target the sinful, not natural areas of our life. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit He will provide you with the proper balance in life. But once that “stronghold” has been revealed do not compromise or give it sanctuary…tear it down and allow the Father to build a great fortification to His glory in your life.

Grace and Peace

JOSHUA