“OUR DEVOTION TO GOD REQUIRES SACRIFICES” 16-7-17

 “Sacrifices = are anything given up for the sake of others”

(Romans 14:8 NKJV) “For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord.  Therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

(Deuteronomy 6:5 NKJV) “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your might.”

(1 Peter 4:1-2 NKJV) “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”

(2 Corinthians 5:15 NKJV) “And He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”

“This is the life we are called to live by, to dedicate our lives to Christ Jesus who is the beginning and the end of all our endurance to be the person He created us to be willing to cast all our problems, worries and concerns onto Him, and then He enables us to do the sacrifices which will benefit others firstly, then ourselves, to glorify Him in all our doings and sufferings against doing what our flesh desires, to resist the devil by fleshly words of opposition, into the will of God to “let go of the situation at hand which is causing strife and anger, and unrest, and let God!”

Cast your cares on the Lord, and He will manage all of life’s difficulties for you in a way you could never know or imagine possible, for an outcome for your good and the good of others, by stepping back and sacrificing what we want for what God knows best.  This is hard when faced with ridicule or misbehaviour on the part of others, but if we stand back and “let go of it all and let God” miracles happen when we are silent and allow God!

I know too well this life, and I can vouch that “GOD IS AND GOD WILL PROVIDE” for so many circumstances which were beyond any human reasoning of a way out.  But God knows all things before they happen, and He never allows more to come upon us than what we can handle, so with that confidence, I can believe and trust in Him in all the occasions when I need to sacrifice my words to Him in being silent and not speak negative words which could inflame the situation, but give Him the honour and the glory in trusting Him to defeat the enemy’s attacks, and he will flee from the situation at hand.

Love is unconditional, and we give without wanting anything back but to be loved as well.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16), this is what true love is and requires our love back to God as He has requested in (Deuteronomy 6:5) “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Here is a prayer to enable your confidence to be sound and based on God’s Word, that “God is and God will provide” as Abraham placed his trust in God (Genesis 22:1-14):

*”Lord Jesus, I thank you for the sacrifice you paid for my sins on the cross at Calvary.  I look to you for my strength in the times when I am in a position of not knowing what to do, to remember to cast all of my problems onto you, and not to dwell on them by speaking out negative words of fear and doubt, but to leave and let go of all problems to you, who will bring the outcome to a peaceful and satisfying conclusion.  I am sorry for all the times I have not done this, and took the matter into my hands, which was stressful and hard.  But I have learnt through those past events, that only you Jesus are my resolve to any solutions still outstanding, and I thank you Lord to strengthen me to remain sincere and to sacrifice my silence for your glory and not mine in the awaited event’s finality for the common good in my life and the life of others.  I thank you Lord for giving me your gift of peace which surpasses all understanding, at and during confrontations, to speak only positive words of truth to uphold my faith always in you, to let go of it all, and let God on it all!  Amen!

I am truly sorry for all the times of my doubting you would do what you have said you would do for me, and taken matters into my own hands.  Please wash me with the precious blood you Jesus, shed for me on the cross at Calvary, and renew in me a right spirit through the Holy Spirit’s entering me as (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) declares, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own.  For you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”  Thank you Jesus for your love and mercies to me, which are  new every morning, and I devote my life to serving you with the sacrifices I face in my daily living by offering them up to you, for God is and God will provide!  Amen!  So be it Lord Jesus to do it!  And I draw the bloodline of Jesus over the whole lots.  Amen!”