Jesus Christ is Lord of All

Monday, August 27, 2012

Notes to Self on Submission/Respect/Obedience


Notes to Self on Submission/Obedience/Respect
to your Father, parents, future husband, etc.

1.     Define your desire for freedom. You are prone to desire freedom without laying down your terms. What do you mean when you claim to desire freedom? Freedom for what and freedom to do what? What is it that you truly want in life? You want freedom to obey. You want freedom to live and act in the imputed righteousness of Christ. The freedom you desire is a freedom of soul to remain in a state of peace and joy in the midst of any yoke, gentle or harsh, that God has placed over you. What do you want freedom from? You do not necessarily want freedom from oppression or pain. You want freedom from the wickedness of your own sinful nature. In the submission of yourself, rather than becoming constrained or restricted, your soul will be set free. In obeying you will not become enslaved, rather, you are entering the domain of Spiritual freedom. Outside of this domain, your soul will be nothing but imprisoned to despair and guilt.

I shall run the way of Your commandments,
For You will enlarge my heart. Ps 119

2.     Remember that His will is good, acceptable, and perfect. You will never be apart from His will in submitting to the authority that He has placed over you. Though you may feel that you are Spiritually hindered by something that you are commanded to do, remember that His will is good, acceptable, and PERFECT. He will never have you to sacrifice one item of righteousness to fulfill another. His narrow way consists of pure obedience and you cannot falter at any point. He is able to sustain you and provide for you in ways that you cannot imagine at the present time.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Rom 12

3.     In your attitude of respect, do not forget the grace that you stand in. Remember that you are forgiven regardless of what is conveyed to you through others. In the midst of condemnation you may remain quiet just as Christ was like “a sheep before her shearers is silent”. Remember that God will defend you. Christ intercedes for you. Jesus stands at your right hand to save you from those who judge your soul. Love, respect, and obey, but never forget that there is no condemnation for you because you are in Christ Jesus.

30 With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the Lord;
And in the midst of many I will praise Him.
31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy,
To save him from those who judge his soul. Ps 109

4.     Love your authorities. Obey the higher law of love. Not only must you obey, but you must seek Him and wrestle with Him until He gives you an unconditional love for your authorities. Continually pray for your authorities. You must continue to watch and pray otherwise you will surely fall into temptation. You need Him every hour. You must keep praying and seeking for God to correct the attitude of your heart. And once it has been corrected, you must continue to let the Spirit purge your soul in this regard. The agape that the Father grants you for your authorities will form a solid foundation for your obedience. Without love, submission is tremendously more difficult. Communicate your heart whether or not your feelings are treated well. With unconditional love, do not be aloof or non-communicative, but pour out your heart in love and humility.

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Rom 13

5.     Know that the benefits of the conformance of yourself into the Image of Christ far exceed any temporary pain of obedience.The pain of the flesh during submission is a figment of the effect of pride on your mind. This pride will lock your mind and behavior into rebellion unless you allow Him to crucify it immediately as many times as you need to. The internal resistance to obey and respect and the resulting external flippant disrespect are easily washed away if only you will choose to deny self and remember His work on the cross. Your obedience is far less painful that you imagine it to be in the midst of your pride. The feeling of the breaking of pride is all in your head. The obedience and time afterwards will be an easy downhill journey. The breaking of the deception of your pride is the most difficult part. The minutes of momentary struggle are achieving for you a lifetime of peace and contentment in Christ. Once you overcome, remember the tremendous benefits to your character.

But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— Col 3

6.     Look for His hidden gifts and be gladdened by them.He will always encourage your heart with a special blessing and a “mercy for each hour”.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written,
      “ He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor,
His righteousness endures forever.” 2 Cor 9

7.     Remember that God will administer His justice in His time. When your authorities are His children, the Father is infinitely more concerned with their holiness and righteousness than you are. He is at this very moment laboring on behalf of your and their progress in the faith. He is working to achieve true justice for all of His people so that their knowledge of Christ will be so great that regardless of what trials and temptations come their way, they will be hidden in the love, joy, and peace of Christ. For those yokes who are still in darkness, the destruction that awaits them is incomprehensibly terrible. View this even as a driving force for you to submit, knowing that His Gospel may be revealed in your submission so that they may escape this destruction by the knowledge of His great salvation.

21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; I Peter 2

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...