Losing Our Lives and Surrendering to JESUS!
You Are Not Reading This By Chance – It Is THE WILL of GOD for You!
Penned by Brother Jimmy Molands
Inspired by The HOLY SPIRIT
“And when HE had called the people unto HIM with HIS Disciples also, HE said unto them, Whosoever will come after ME, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow ME.” (Mark 8:34)
Mark says, “Whosoever loses his life for MY sake, and the gospels, shall save it.” (Mark 8:35)
If we are to understand the great need to lose our lives, then we must realize the importance of why. Man was given a solemn responsibility to care for his life. Being made responsible for it because of the decision of Adam and Eve, we find ourselves in complete control of the outcome.
GOD would show man that he was unfit to be king by experiencing firsthand the consequences of the decisions he made.
Hopefully, this teaches us that we cannot rule ourselves and must seek out a new governing power to rule us.
Have you come to that conclusion? That you are unfit to rule over your own life. Have you made such a mess of it that it is out of control? Maybe you have problems with a certain sin. No matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to get the victory over it. I will let you in on a little secret: if GOD is not ruling over you, then something else will.
We are designed to be ruled by GOD. If not, then we are the servants of something else, in which case, sin.
“JESUS answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” (John 8:34)
Another passage that is relevant:
“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.” (Romans 6:16)
What can we do to no longer be under the lordship of sin? If I am designed by nature to be a servant, to submit to some kind of authority, then how can I be free of its dominion? By relinquishing the rights to my life and allowing it to be ruled by another.
We must lose our life, the one we want to control, but can’t because we are servants by design, and let GOD take over that life.
How, might you ask?
If my life has been placed in my hands, then the reasonable conclusion is to get it out of my hands and place it into HIS – JESUS.
By giving it to JESUS, I relinquish all responsibility for my life and place the responsibility where it belongs.
From that moment, HE decides where you go, where you live, what you will do, and how you will be raised as a vessel fit for HIS Glory. Everything that happens will be designed to conform you to the image of HIS SON.
The key – We must Surrender our Lives to THE LORD and HIS WILL.
Amen
Pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for THEE, O my BELOVED. (Song of Solomon 7:13)
Penned by Minister Charles Spurgeon
Inspired by The HOLY SPIRIT
The spouse desires to give all that she produces to JESUS. Our hearts have “all manner of pleasant fruits” (Song of Solomon 7:13), both “new and old,” and they are laid up for our BELOVED. At this rich autumn season of fruit, let us survey our harvest. We have “new” fruits. We desire to feel new life, new joy, new gratitude. We wish to make new resolves and carry them out with new labor. Our hearts blossom with new prayers, and our souls pledge themselves to new efforts. But we have some “old” fruits, too.
There is our first love. What a choice fruit! JESUS delights in it. There is our first faith. It is the simple faith by which, having nothing, we became possessors of all things. There is our joy when first we knew THE LORD; let us revive it. We have our old remembrances of the promises. How faithful GOD has been! In sickness, how softly HE made our beds! In deep waters, how placidly HE lifted us up! In the flaming furnace, how graciously HE delivered us. Old fruits, indeed! We have many of them, for HIS Mercies have been more than the hairs on our heads. Old sins we must regret, but then we have had times of repentance that HE has given us, by which we have wept our way to the cross and learned the merit of HIS Blood. We have fruits this morning, both new and old, but here is the point – they are all laid up for JESUS.
Truly, those are the best and most acceptable services in which JESUS is the solitary aim of the soul, and HIS Glory, without any addition whatever, is the end of all our efforts. Let our many fruits be laid up only for our BELOVED. Let us display them when HE is with us and not hold them up before the gaze of men. JESUS, we will turn the key in our garden door, and none will enter to rob YOU of one good fruit from the soil that YOU have watered with YOUR Bloody Sweat.
Our all will be YOURS, YOURS Only, O JESUS, our BELOVED!
And I am my BELOVEDS and my JESUS is Mine!
A Grateful Heart
Penned by Brother Jimmy Molands
Inspired by THE HOLY SPIRIT
What does it mean to have a grateful heart? I mean when you think about it what does having a grateful heart mean? Does it mean I am happy because everything is going right in my life? Does it mean that I am happy because life is good? Does it mean this is the only time that I am grateful when I am happy? What does grateful mean? And why would I feel grateful?
According to the web dictionary – Grateful is defined as Feeling or showing appreciation of kindness, thankful, appreciative, filled with gratitude, obligated, and beholden.
So, being grateful is a feeling. A feeling of appreciation for kindness. Being thankful and appreciative. To be filled with gratitude for someone.
Can I say I am grateful because I have another day in the land of the living? I am grateful because the worst thing that happened to someone yesterday was not me. Can I say, I am grateful, because I have a personal relationship with JESUS that many will never know? Can I say I am beholden by such a Magnificent, Mighty, Amazing, and only True Living GOD? Can I say, LORD, I am grateful because where would I be without YOU? LORD, my gratefulness is not dependent on a perfect “good” life, but it is dependent on YOUR LOVE for me, YOUR goodness toward me, YOUR Compassion upon me, YOUR Everlasting Mercy, and YOUR Amazing Grace throughout my entire life – even before I knew YOU as my LORD and SAVIOR.
The Bible tells me that I should be grateful at all times – in the good times as well as in the bad times. 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks for this is the Will of GOD in CHRIST JESUS concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice evermore.” 2 Corinthians 4:15, “For all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the Glory of GOD.” Psalm 34:1, “I will bless the LORD at all times. HIS praise shall continually be in my mouth (2) My soul shall make her boast in the LORD the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. (3) O magnify the LORD with me and let us exalt HIS NAME together.”
The Bible tells us that we should always have a grateful heart, no matter our circumstances. We should always show our appreciation to GOD and be obligated to HIM always.
Our gratefulness is not dependent upon our circumstances, but it is dependent upon the True Living GOD and HIS love for all of mankind. HE is GOD and worthy of all we have and our gratitude day by day.