We are still on the “surrender” theme…
Oswald:
God's Total Surrender to Us
John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the experience of personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God means being completely delivered from myself, and being placed into perfect union with Him… It means that the Spirit of God has brought me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself. And as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself…
…If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the One to whom we surrender… In our surrender, we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself for us --- totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him.
Wow!! Lord, you KNOW how badly I want to get THERE… but you also know just how FAR away I am! Lord help me to be content with the day to day, inch by inch growing closer as I surrender and help me to keep my EYES ON YOU and not the journey!
The True Vine
“ Apart From Me Ye Can Do Nothing ” - John15:5 “What a plea and what a call every moment to abide in Christ! We have only to go back to the vine to see how true it is. Look again at that little branch, utterly helpless and fruitless except as it receives sap from the vine, and learn that the full conviction of not being able to do anything apart from Christ is just what you need to teach you to abide in your heavenly Vine. It is this that is the great meaning of the pruning Christ spoke of—all that is self must be brought low that our confidence may be in Christ alone. “Abide in me”—much fruit! “Apart from me”—nothing! Ought there to be any doubt as to what we shall choose?
Lord, this truth is such a stark contrast to what the world teaches! We are taught from the beginning to be “self-sufficient” and trust in NO one… Lord, I want to “bear much fruit” in YOU… please give me the strength to have my “self brought low” and have confidence in you alone!
Intimacy with God study:
Jeremiah 29:13-14 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity…
Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24
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