Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday November 10, 2009

For several months in the course of my pastoral preaching I have been teaching strongly on a few areas of life that used to be preached or ranted on much more often than now. As a result some folks who mistake the true gospel for the warm fuzzy cyanide of modernism are a wee bit out of sync.

Alan Redpath who would never in a million years be considered a "Red Necked Fundamentalist" summed the essence of my recent sermons several decades ago when he commented:

"Before we can pray 'Thy Kingdom Come,' we must pray 'my kingdom go.'"

I could not have said it better myself which is why I quoted Dr. Redpath.

I read many articles and listen to mind numbing sermons on the subject of the importance of modern saints learning the rudiments of Spiritual Warfare. The idea being that we are in a constant battle against the powers of darkness warned about in the book of Ephesians among others. This is certainly a big and important battle. Today I write of one that may be of a little more importance, a battle that is dealt with on nearly every page of the New Testament and most of the sayings of Jesus Christ Himself.

Alan Redpath's statement puts the cards on the table and essentially says for us to "put up or hush up."

The toughest battle you are ever going to fight is the one between you and Christ and the nature of the battle is simple: Who is going to control your life, you or Christ?

Do you recognize the Empire of Christ as your ruling authority or are you still attempting to, while carrying a Bible, assert full control and think in your mind and heart the thoughts of Henley proclaiming, "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul?"

To join with Redpath and honestly pray from our heart, "my kingdom go" is a watershed experience in our journey toward truly walking with the Lord Jesus. It is the accepting as our own the words and meaning of Jesus when He prayed in the Garden as recorded in Luke 22:42:

"Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2009 Use with credit

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