Yielding Our Will

In reality we may choose to follow any decision of our own. This privilege was gained when the first two humans ate of the tree of knowledge. Along with the knowledge of good and evil came our privilege of choosing which one we wanted to follow. We normally choose whichever suits our circumstances at the time. The problem is that every choice not made with God’s approval is evil and is in violation of the righteousness of God. Most of us have learned that Jesus came to earth in order to save us from our bad decisions. The obvious question is “How does this happen?” The decision behind our choice is called our volition. The way Jesus saves us is to gain control of our decisions after we yield our spirit to Him.

We have been taught for years that one decision is all we need for salvation. This is not understood by many people. The “one” choice of Salvation is to yield all our decisions. Paul says that YOU are slaves to sin, which leads to death, OR to obedience, which leads to righteousness. Rom 6:16 Here is the same old question again. Who will control our choices as we walk through this life? When we received the right to make our choices, we did not receive the power to make all our choices good ones. This leaves us with only one choice that can save us from ourselves. We must yield our volition to someone who can always make the right decisions for us.

No one wants to be a slave. Unhappily, we have all been born a slave because oddly enough it is the price for our free choices. As seen in the verse above, our eternal choice is to live a life leading to death or a life which leads to righteousness. This is very frustrating to many people. They want to choose a life of fun and parties because a godly life seems to dull to them. However, the righteous life is necessary if we want to live with God. Paul also said that we must know that our old self was crucified with Him. (Rom 6:6)  We accept this fact into our life by faith and live every day doing our best to make this truth real.

Church people like to say, “We believe, therefore we will live with God”.  Many of these same people do not want to say, “We believe, therefore we have died to this world”. One of these statements is just as true as the other. The scripture says it this way, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him”.( Rom 6:8) These two beliefs do not stand alone; they are part of each other. We must accept them both or the Spirit cannot lead in our new life. Our baptism was a public statement of these very things. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that…we too may live a new life. (Rom 6:4)

The fact that we are dead to sin only applies when we are living in Christ. When we fail to yield our decisions to the Spirit and make our own choices, we are no longer dead to sin. The remedy is to immediately confess our sin and Jesus will forgive us because we are repentant. Remember that the old life is nothing like the new life. Making our own choices is being buried in the old life but yielding to the choices of the Spirit is being resurrected into life. We must learn to say “no” to people around us. Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.( Rom 6:12) There will always be temptations but we can beat them by asking the Spirit to show us the righteous way to go.

So many believers are struggling to live for God. The truth is that when we are doing it correctly it is very easy. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. (Gal 5:1) For several reasons the Church will begin to place burdens upon a believer. Some have said that it is necessary to give work to people in order to keep them from wandering back into the world. Instead, we should be teaching people to rely on the Spirit rather than the Church. The Spirit will remind people when they wander. Jesus said that his burden is light. When the Spirit is motivating a person to fulfill a task it is done with joy and gratitude which makes it a light job.

Trusting God is the secret to a successful Christian life. All things work together for good to those who love God. (Rom 8:28) This verse does not apply to the general public that claims to love God. This only applies to those that are walking in the light by yielding their volition to the Spirit. People that give their life to the Savior have placed all their eggs in one basket we might say. We make only the decisions that He gives us. Our Lord does not want us to have a back-up plan. Give everything in our life over to Him no matter how much it hurts to do it. The sooner we get started trusting Jesus with our entire life the sooner we will enjoy the rest of God.

Adam

One day a long time ago, God came into the Garden of Eden to visit with His good friend Adam. God was disappointed that Adam and his wife were not there to greet Him in their happy and loving way. So God began to call out for them. This is the actual account: The man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” Gen 3:8-9 (NLT) We know the story, how that the first two people had decided to disobey God and now they were aware of their nakedness. Adam and Eve were hiding because of the awareness that they were now sinners. Every person since that time, who develops to a certain point, will suddenly realize that they are also disobedient. At first we don’t understand our guilty feelings but we know something is not right. Some people will try to deny this truth but their sin is impossible to hide from God. After all these years of history; God is still calling out to the sinners who think they are hiding from Him. He is saying, “My lost souls, where art thou?”

Sin is a bad thing but our greatest tragedy is the broken fellowship with God. How wonderful it is when some soul cries out to God, “here I am!” This sounds easy enough but we always have our hang-ups. When people take a good look at themselves and the creation around them, they are aware that someone has created us. Unfortunately, they begin to think for themselves: Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Romans 1:21 (NLT) Confusion is a condition that is difficult to overcome because we just can’t think straight. No matter how intelligent people are, confusion can easily keep them in the dark. Many people believe they are hid from God because of their confusion but there are other terrible conditions. Some people in America are living in their belligerence toward God. They are not hiding but are actually foolish enough to get in God’s face.

This brings up the fact that everyone in this world is living in exile. When Adam disobeyed God we all had to be put out of the garden of fellowship. This is the Scripture: So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. Gen 3:23 (NLT) We live “outside the Garden” while we are on this earth. It means that people’s behavior will always become very ungodly. Humans are not capable of any other life. Paul described it for us: People will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. 2 Tim 3:2-5 (NLT) This is the way it has become in the world today. It is obvious that we need to call out to God for His help.

Church people always say “that is a description of people outside the Church”. They may be right but consider some things that this world is doing to people in the Church. For example, we all try to “keep up with the Jones'”. When we don’t possess the same things as everyone else, we will be considered losers. If we don’t make enough money then how can we acquire what everybody else enjoys? So we end-up spending most of our time struggling for money and success. Of course, we never get enough but in the meantime we do not spent time in fellowship with God. Others of us just want to improve ourselves. We are not good enough outside the Garden so we attempt a list of self- improvements. We could make a long list here but you know it. Once again, no matter how much time we spend bettering ourselves, it is never enough. God is continually calling for us to fellowship with Him. Even when we don’t have all these worldly activities, there is still another problem. We all want this life be about us and our problems. What great lengths people will go to in order to be the center of attention. We don’t like to admit it but we all have wasted time trying to get the world admire us.

No matter how good we are, we still stand in need of a new relationship with God. To please God by becoming a member of His family we must call out for help. We cannot continue to hide from the things God has for us. Failing to yield ourselves to him will lead to our eternal death. When God takes us into His family we become a new person. A new relationship will give us our identity and life will have great purpose. We were created to have a relationship that always worships God. The most natural thing in the world is to submit to our great God to happily and freely worship Him. Scripture says: But joyful are those who have God… as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever. He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly. Psalms 146:5-8 (NLT) It is wonderful to have a relationship with the Creator of everything.

Because we were made in the image of God it is possible for us to please Him greatly. The purpose of our life should be to reflect the image of God back to Him. That is what really pleases Him. This kind of behavior requires us to be “in tune” with His life. The way we treat other members of the church is how we reflect the image of God. He is even building a special home for the people that serve others. The Bible says: For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Heb 6:10-11 (NLT) My friends, please come “out of hiding” and ask God to teach us His ways. Say to the Lord, here I am, use me as part of your plan. Then we will not hear Him say “Where art Thou?”