My Life by the Spirit – Surrender

The life of the Spirit led believer is a journey intended to reveal to us our God given identity in Jesus Christ!

Part 1 – Surrender
Part 2 – Appointed Times
Part 3 – Identity
I recommend a brief opening prayer to you…

Lord Jesus, your Word commands me to be filled with the Spirit and, in order to become a son or daughter of God, to be led by the Holy Spirit of God.  Lord you know I cannot do this on my own, please help me.

My prayer, for this new series of posts, is that the Holy Spirit would work through my testimony to give you a renewed hunger and thirst for Jesus.

Before I begin, I would like to share some assumptions I’m making while writing this series.  My first assumption is that the reader has already, through faith and not works, decided to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior for the forgiveness of their sins.  My second assumption is that the reader is painfully aware that the life they’re currently living is not the life Jesus wants to give them.  My final assumption is that the reader has reached a point where they’re willing to do things differently, as the Holy Spirit alerts them to areas of their mind He wants to renew.  Why is there a focus on the mind?  Well, the Word of God clearly teaches that the way of transformation starts with a renewed mind as a result of reading the Word of God often.  Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:17-23

These assumptions may seem trivial, however, if all three are not true of the reader, this series will ultimately result in the reader attempting to accomplish a spiritual transformation using soul-ish, fleshly, external and carnal methods.  Spiritual transformation using anything earthly is IMPOSSIBLE and will only lead the reader to disappointment, frustration, feelings of defeat, hopelessness and condemnation.  None of which will bring about transformation in the life of a believer desiring to be led by the Holy Spirit as a true daughter or son of God.

Identity

Many people I know aren’t aware of the reality that God the Father has an extremely detailed plan for their entire life on earth and throughout eternity.  I ask you, are you aware of this?  Think about this for a second, if the opportunity arose for you to have a physical person with you every minute of the day…every day of the week, to guarantee that you never make a wrong choice on the way to success, would you take the opportunity…I would!  Well, consider this, if it’s true that God in fact has a very detailed plan for our lives, wouldn’t it make perfect sense for us to be led by either God Himself or someone who knows His plans for us?  Romans 8:27

The evidence of sin in our lives and the guilt producing lies of Satan causes many of us to continue to struggle accepting our identify in Christ.  Jeremiah 1:5-8

Our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ is all about Jesus revealing to us who we are in Him.  However, for the process of growing in Christ to be successful, we must know what Jesus already did for us versus what we’re responsible for doing.  Here are some truths I recommend you consider.

  1. We have ALREADY been forgiven for all of our sins – Colossians 2:13 – This covers all past sins up until this moment.  However if you’re willing to continue confessing your sin to Jesus, on an ongoing basis…and you’re willing to maintain right fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ…the blood of Jesus will continue to cleanse you from all sin – I John 1:7
  2. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God where Jesus is the King – Colossians 1:12-13
  3. We have been commanded to rule in the earth NOW! from the Kingdom of God and by it’s principles – Romans 5:17
  4. We have NOT been commanded to defeat Satan…we are commanded to enforce the victory Jesus has already won over Satan – Colossians 2:13-16
  5. Whenever we attempt to achieve righteousness by keeping ANY set of laws or rules, as opposed achieving righteousness through GRACE by FAITH ALONE in Jesus Christ, SIN will have dominion over us.  Righteousness is not acheived by keeping a set of rules but by entering into perfect union with Jesus Christ – Romans 6:14, Genesis 15:6
  6. We are no longer GUIILTY of violating the Mosaic law because Jesus nailed the Mosaic law to the cross – Colossians 2:14, Ephesians 2:14-15, Romans 3:20, Romans 6:14, Romans 8:14, Romans 10:4, Galatians 5:18
  7. We are the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ – Philippians 3:9

Now that we know who we are, let’s go on to how God cultivates a relationship with us.

Appointed Times

I am thoroughly convinced, proven throughout the Word of God, that God the Father sets appointed times for everything He does in heaven and in the earth.  When these appointed times occur, it causes all of the divine resources and forces in heaven and in earth to spring into action to fulfill all that is purposed in God’s heart.  The challenge is whether we, as God’s children, are willing to surrender to what’s in the Fathers heart for our lives.

That said, in my walk with Jesus, the Holy Spirit has made me aware of many appointed times.   Each one of them set by the Father long before I was ever brought into the earth realm.  These appointed times have dramatically marked my walk with the Lord.  Dare I lie and say that I’ve always made the correct choice at each of these appointed times, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, I have chosen correctly on many of them.

What I would like to do in this series is share some of these appointed times with you.   My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will give you the power to recognize these times in your life as well.  It’s vitally important that you recognize these appointed times in your life because there’s ALWAYS a choice to be made at the appointed time.  The passage below clearly tells us that God desires to lead us, by His Holy Spirit, into making the right choice at the appointed time.

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.  Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track  Proverbs 3:5-6 (MSG)

Choosing to Surrender

I’d like you to consider something.  Since you were created in God’s image, even though you have the Holy Spirit living inside you, did you know that you can over-power the leading of the Holy Spirit with your human will?  In other words, instead of obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, you choose to obey your emotions, your own beliefs or your own understanding.  Consider the following passage.  If we’re going to live a life where the Holy Spirit leads us into the truth of who God created us to be, we MUST CHOOSE to do it God’s way.

“How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?  If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you.  But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,  since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke,  I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you–  when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.  “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me.  Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord,  since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke,  they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.  For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them;  but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm  Proverbs 1:22-33 (NIV)

Power to Surrender

In the church I attend, we’re currently teaching out of Watchman Nee’s book…Release of the Spirit.  The book correctly posits that we are our own worst enemy.  It’s not Satan, it’s not wicked men and women, it’s not racism, it’s not economics or anything else outside of us, it’s the person inside of us that we’ve been commanded to mortify or think of as dead, that’s hindering our spiritual growth and productivity.

In my post on Family Restoration I shared something I heard a wise man of God say, “the root of all sin is rebellion“.  How true is that statement?  I mean from Genesis to Revelation the  unwillingness of mankind to simply obey a loving God, that knows the exact plans for our lives, is evident.

So then, the question becomes, how exactly do we get to the point where we can obey God.  I mean, Dwight, you must be aware that sin is the reason we can’t obey God; right?  WRONG…WRONG…WRONG.  Think with me for a second, was sin in Adam when God commanded him not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?  The Answer is…NO.  So sin wasn’t the issue…then what was the issue.  Rebellion didn’t originate with Adam and Eve, it was transferred to them the very moment Eve allowed the serpent (Satan) to introduce thoughts into her mind without making them subject to God’s commandement.  These thoughts were seeds of rebellion that if not destroyed at the time of their planting, would eventually yield a crop of rebellion.  I ask you, do you see clear evidence of a crop of rebellion against the commandments of God?  Lastly, while we’re on Adam and Eve, think about this, Adam didn’t start having children until after him and his wife became rebels against God.  Rebellion is simply attempting to do ANYTHING on our own, without God’s involvement.

I said all that to say this..and it’s really simple.  If you want to live a life that is led by the Holy Spirit, you must, when presented with the opportunity, make a choice to do it God’s way.  Remember what I said above?  God has already set up appointed times for you.  These times are designed to give you the opportunity to choose to do it God’s way or your own way.  Now, each time you choose to do it God’s way, you move further along the path towards the very detailed plan God has already laid out for your life.  Every time you choose to do things your own way, you take steps further away from the plan of God for your life.

Okay Dwight that sounds good, but I really don’t have the power to make the right choices.  You are 100% correct, please read on…

for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose Philippians 2:13 (NIV)

I mentioned before that God has an extremely detailed plan for you.  God didn’t make your success dependent on your strength, your will power, your intelligence, your good looks or anything else.  The God that loves you and I is the very same God that gives us the actual supernatural power to actually want to obey Him and the power necessary to resist the temptation to do it without God’s influence.  This is a different topic, but the scriptural term for this power is called the Fear of the Lord.

The choice to surrender our wills and abandon all that we know and have learned, the people around us and the world system determines the rate at which the Holy Spirit is able to reveal to us the true nature of who we are in Jesus Christ.  It’s important for you to know that God does this one choice at a time.  Each individual choice you make on a day to day basis, builds your reputation in the spirit realm as someone on the path to a full understanding of who God created you to be, or someone going in the opposite direction.

What’s Next?

In the next posts, I’m going to share some details about three specific appointed times in my walk with the Lord over a 16 year period.

  1. God’s plan for my life.
  2. God’s plan for my identity.
  3. God’s plan for me as a member in the body of Christ.

I recommend a short prayer to you…

Lord Jesus your Word says you know the thoughts you have for each and every one of us, thoughts of peace and not evil to give us an expected end.  Help me each day to recognize the appointed times in my life and empower me to will and do of your good pleasure.  In Jesus name I pray.