Monday, July 26, 2010

the safest and soundest thing to do…

you may still be under the illusion that you are in control of your life. but one day something tiny is going to happen in your finances or your family or your relationships or your health or your career, and it’s going to get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger until finally you are confronted with the fact that you are not GOD. and you’re not in control of your life. and the safest and soundest thing to do is surrender yourself to your CREATOR and say, “JESUS CHRIST, YOU be at the driver’s wheel. YOU be in charge. YOU call the shots. YOU be the director, the chairman of the board in my life.” i hope you won’t wait until that happens and humble yourself before GOD.

some of you, possibly, have been in church all your lives. and you’re really a “good” person. you’re religious, and you know the prayers and the terminology, and everybody would think you’re a CHRISTian. but you’re not really because you’ve never really surrendered your total life to JESUS CHRIST. that’s why GOD brought you here to the front porch today, so you could do it. there is not a better time than right now to make that surrender. life is so much more focused when you do that. what would keep you from that? only one thing – arrogance, pride. “i’m going to call the shots. i’m going to be my own god.” and that is a fatal mistake. it puts you in opposition with the ONE who loves you, died for you and created you. why don’t you surrender your life to HIM right now?

today, you’ve realized you’ve never really surrendered your life to CHRIST. maybe you’ve even realized there’s a little more pride in your life than you thought. which of these four habits do you need to work on this week? how quickly do you adjust to the needs of others around you? do you give deference to their preference? how eager are you to listen and to learn from correction? do you get defensive? how quickly do you admit it when you are wrong? have you ever done that? it takes courage to be humble. how willing are you to surrender your plans to GOD? GOD says, the people that I treasure the most are the humble. if you want GOD’s blessing in your life, would you pray this prayer?

dear GOD, i want to be the kind of humble person that YOU can bless. i admit that i often do things out of selfishness and pride and what other people might think of me. i ask you to help me this week to practice these habits of humility. help me to give preference to others – their needs, their interests. help me to not always have my own way. help me to be open to correction and even criticism. help me to admit it when i’m wrong. today, i surrender all my life and plans to YOU. i want YOUr will for my life. help me to have a realistic view of both my strengths and my weaknesses. JESUS CHRIST, i turn over the controls of my life to YOU. and i humbly ask YOU to be the director of my life. i want to depend upon YOU from this day forward. in YOUr name i pray. amen.

just a thought from the front porch…

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