...so submit to God!

"The devil is trying to steal from you and destroy you, and make it look like it was all your idea.  So, girlfriend, submit to God."  -Beth Moore


Have you cringed yet?  I have.
Submit.  Ugh, what a dirty little pesky word.  What good could come of it for us, really?  It sounds so weak, so innactive, so passive...(probably nothing that this prideful, independent minded woman wants anything to do with)  


But wait. Maybe the opposite is true.


What if submission meant giving yourself and your life the best chance?  What if it meant allowing God to do Exactly all He intends and hopes to do, IN you, and THROUGH you?


"Satan doesn't have to convince you and me to do his will for our life.  He only has to tempt us to demand our own.  God has something bigger for each of us than our human minds can hug.  Something eternal.  Something that will still matter when our bones have turned to heaps of dust."

*God is always looking out for your ultimate good and takes your hurts personally.  So submit to God.
* He knows when your motive was right but your mouth messed up.  So submit to God.
* He knows exactly how to work terrible into good.  So submit to God.
* He loves you completely and unconditionally and will never let you go.  So submit to God.
* He knows the well-deliberated plan for your life and how all things must fall into place for you to fulfill your destiny.  So submit to God.
*  He will never put to shame those who trust in Him.  So submit to God."  -Beth Moore


"But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." -James 4:6-8

faith, hope, love

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. -1 Corinthians 13:13

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" We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. " 

-1 Thes. 1:3

 Work produced by faith....

When have you last had to take some steps forward in total reliance on the Lord?  Without a visible safety net?  Is God urging you toward something that doesn't feel "safe" but would require complete and total faith in Him?  When we do that, we're entering into a faith walk...this is where faith is measured, and this is where faith begins. This is where faith grows.  Faith is, after all, trusting in what we cannot see. And the work produced from this kind of faith is able to fulfill God's plan in a mighty way!!  When we put total trust in Him for each step, for the details, for the big and small stuff,  He is able to do far more in us and through us than we could ever imagine.  

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?  Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  -James 2:14-16

Labor prompted by love...

There is no more pure expression of the spirit of God than to serve out of love.  This is the epitome of the person of Jesus and the heart of our Father.  

 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

-James 1:27

This reminds me of what I remember of my mother. She had the kind of spirit that thrived on being poured out for others.  Like being poured out is what made her heart keep beating.  I want my life to be just like that.  One looooong series of acts of love, one after another after another.  A pure love that gives without expecting gratitude or recognition, love that is unconditional, love that reflects the life Jesus died to give me.  Love that urges us to reach out to a stranger. Senseless, selfless love.  Love for the lost, for the poor and rejected, for the sinner, for the outcast, for the broken hearted....this is why we were created. To be God's "hands and feet!."  I know better than to think I can possibly live this kind of life if I rely solely upon my own strength and imperfect, selfish nature.  I have to be committed to dying to myself daily, and letting His spirit in me reign. 

Labor prompted by love saves lives.  And gives life and purpose to ours.

 Endurance inspired by hope in God....

Hope in God actually PRODUCES endurance. It is what allows us to keep going when our own flesh wears out and gives up...achieving His will for your life depends on it!   It's what takes a regular bunny and turns it into an energizer bunny!  There's no limit to what God can do through a person who has surrendered their efforts and energy to Him, to be poured out to be used to fulfill His will. 

 "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not grow weary.  So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people...."

-Galatians 6: 9-10 

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."  - Hebrews 12:1-3