His Will

“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”Matthew 16:25 

Christians are commanded to lose their lives. This means they ought to deliberately release their lives to God and His kingdom. One of the greatest hindrances to your being on mission with God will be your view of what constitutes your “legitimate rights”—that is, those things that you feel you have a right to experience and enjoy. It's not difficult to turn over to Christ those things that are not a sacrifice or that you would prefer to do without anyway. Rather, it is the things that are good and that are dear to you that may stand between you and God's will.  - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day

Nate and Sherilyn enjoyed their stop at an omakase restaurant while visiting New York City. Omakase is a Japanese word that translates, “I will leave it up to you,” which means customers at such restaurants let the chef choose their meal. Even though it was their first time to try this type of cuisine and it sounded risky, they loved the food the chef chose and prepared for them.

That idea could carry over to our attitude toward God with our prayer requests: “I will leave it up to You.” The disciples saw that Jesus “often withdrew to lonely places” to pray (Luke 5:16), so they asked Him one day to teach them how to pray. He told them to ask for their daily needs, forgiveness, and the way out of temptation. Part of His response also suggested an attitude of surrender: “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

We can pour out our needs to God because He wants to hear what’s on our hearts—and He delights to give. But being human and finite, we don’t always know what’s best, so it only makes sense to ask with a humble spirit, in submission to Him. We can leave the answer to Him, confident that He’s trustworthy and will choose to prepare what’s good for us. Our Daily Bread for November 11 2019

You pretty much have to have lived in a place cut off from the world to not hear what the world tells you that you deserve this or that.  That our feelings matter to the point where others must be forced to accept them. That we deserve this benefit or that perk in life.  That we deserve the best. When you come to Christ, you let go of your rights.  You let go of what you think is best for you. 

To be accepting of His Will over our own is to submit to the truth of the Bible. Not the truth of the world. 

To be honest that piece from Our Daily Bread was very interesting.  It reminds me of an interaction with Jesus "Lord, you know." 

Yes, He does know.  I have heard both information and accusations concerning what is called pride.  At its heart, yes, pride is what caused Adam to sin, even if he didn't know what it was.  But pride isn't the reason for the fall of every person in the Bible.  It's sometimes much more. 

People, and I certainly am no different, tend to get what they think are all the facts and jump into a situation.  They, we, think we understand it enough to make either an informed decision or judgment without asking God. 

There's where it falters  

If it's His will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven then before we entertain thoughts of what to do asking Him should be where we go first.  I fail in this every day.  We all do.  A Disciple follows what their Master says to do.  He doesn't get ahead of Him. 

The Gospels are replete with times when the Disciples got ahead of Jesus.  How did that go?

Leaving choices up to Jesus tends to bring far more satisfaction than we remember each time we are having a prayer answered.  We literally have the attention span of a Spiritual dog.  Having great things happen and God has been talking with you...all the sudden...something happens...squirrel! An off we go forgetting just what He was saying or teaching. 

It was in due time that the Disciples learned.  So it is with you and I.  We may be fascinated by the things happening in the Spiritual world but we forget it took God time to get that person to that point in their walk with God.  Quite a few generations have had it way too easy in getting what they want when they want, faster than their parents did.  It's poisoned the Church!

The Church has done so much in the last 70 years to be sure in the advancement of the Kingdom of God yet at the same time so-called Churches have spread Satan's schemes throughout and have so watered down the Gospel that people don't think God has a problem with their sin anymore. 

Come in and feel good!  We won't tell you that if you don't come to Christ that you won't go to Hell. We won't make you feel uncomfortable. We will show you just how inclusive we can be!

Look at the warnings of Jesus to the 7 Church's.  By no means is it the same message. 

We are called to lay down our lives. To take up our cross.  To love the Lord Jesus with all your heart, mind, soul and Spirit. To do that which is His Will for us. 

We shouldn't be so close to the world that they can't tell we are a Christian.  We hear all too often that we shouldn't judge.  That is a teaching of Satan.  Indeed we are to evaluate others as to where they are in relationship to the cross. We are not to throw our pearls before swine. We are to make Godly decisions in Spiritual matters. That calls for making judgments.  

Prayer. We should indeed pray for His will to be done.  We may not like what His will is, but the wisdom behind it is more than we can understand.  We do indeed get God's best when we leave the choice to Him. 

Idols. People need to wake up and realize we live in a world drowning in idolatry. It's everywhere and in everything. Corporations want you to idolize their name above all other companies.  Television wants to tell you what to believe and do. Movies want to distract and distort the truth of God. You can't drive through a city and not find something or someone trying to persuade you to compromise and come in their place. Sports are the worst at idolizing things. They stir up and abuse passion and anger between people.  It is a cause of death every single year. Someone is so incensed against someone bashing their team that they commit murder over it. In the physical world and the Spiritual.  Jesus said if you thought that way in your heart so have you done it. 

His will be done.  Look in the mirror.  Is it Jesus that is in the reflection or is it you?

Can the world tell that Christ is in you?