Christian Living

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Surrender-the Key to Victory Aug 8, 2007
By: Rick L. King

Do you think that you have things in your life that need to be different? Do you have struggles that seem to never lose power or stop no matter what you do? Do you have desires that you believe are unpleasing to the Lord, yet you can’t seem to change? Do you lack power in your walk or do you never sense Gods presence? Do you find yourself unable to pray or really know what to pray that is effective and brings results? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this article could revolutionize your life.

Years ago, the Holy Spirit told me to do something that He wanted me to do. I tried for five years, yet it never seemed to come together no matter what I did. I finally got frustrated and gave up. Then, one Sunday in Church, the Holy Spirit told me that I was striving. I thought striving? How was I striving? The Holy Spirit then told me about what He had asked me to do. He said that yes, He wanted me to do something, yet, I wasn’t to do it without Him. This was a valuable lesson for me. It is not about me doing something for Him. It is about Him doing something through me.

Often I see how we as the church have missed it. God gave us His Word and the Holy Spirit, yet more often than not, we try to walk the Word in our flesh. God gave us His Word that we might learn about Him. We can have our head full of what He said, yet never know the one that wrote the Word. I can write something, yet unless I spend intimate time with Him, I will not really know Him. Jesus desires for us to become intimate with Him and get to know Him; not just have knowledge of what He said. Yes, we need to know the Word of God, but we also need to learn to allow the Holy Spirit to show us what to do with it. He will lead, guide, and direct us to where, to what, and to when we are to use it and how. With His leading, it is His will and we will be empowered and anointed. It must be His leading. Many people memorize the Word. They may not even be saved. The devil knows the Word. The only one that can and will anoint Gods Word, is the Holy Spirit at His leading, not ours.

I have heard many ministers tell us to love and forgive others. I have heard many say that the way to change is memorize God’s Word, confess it over and over and things will change. Though there is an element of truth to this, it is actually not scriptural. The Bible says in Romans 8:8; “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God”. The word “flesh” in the Greek means, carnal mind. Here is the real issue. We are told in Galatians 5:16 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh”. The word “flesh” also means carnal mind. According to this scripture, we can either walk in the Spirit, or by our carnal mind. This indicates that we have a choice. This also agrees with the scripture in Philippians 2:5 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”. We must choose to walk in the Spirit. If we truly desire to walk in power and gain revelation knowledge of Gods desire and will, and then we must learn to become intimate with the Holy Spirit. We must choose to have the mind of Christ. So then how do we do this?

When we do things without the leading of the Holy Spirit, we are doing things through our carnal mind or our flesh. The problem is we cannot please God by our flesh. We can only please Him by our spirit. This becomes a focus issue. When we try to change our self or others, we are doing so by the flesh. I have found that when I have done this, that first the thing I want to change seems to get worse, and then I end up just being frustrated. I cannot change myself. I cannot change others. The Holy Spirit once told me that what others do is not my problem. My job is to bring others into His presence, and He would change what He wanted changed. My job is to just be obedient to what He asks me to do.

When I focussed on a problem I had years ago, the Holy Spirit talked to me. He asked me if I could save myself, to which I had to answer no. He then said, so then how do you think you can deliver yourself? If you could do it then you would never need Me. I had to come to the realization that God knew the good and bad that I was doing, at least from my perspective of what was good or bad. I had to accept me for me. If I was to be different, then it was the work of the Holy Spirit that was going to bring it about. He would change me in His time and way, not by mine. My efforts always brought frustration and failure, as I wanted God to do what I thought I needed, rather than finding out what He thought or desired. I was unknowingly trying to make God my servant, rather than me being His. It wouldn’t work. Thank God! My job was to just focus on getting into the Spirit, and just let Him change what He wanted changed, when He wanted to do it. He alone is the deliverer and Savior, not me. Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord”. It is what He does, not me. Once I learned this lesson, I found a freedom that I never knew. I learned that if I focussed on the problem, it never got solved; but, if I focussed on Jesus, I found that more than not, there was not a problem at all. All pressure was gone that tried to put me into works to change. My job was to seek Him, worship Him, and do what I knew to get into and follow His presence. Being in His presence will always bring change.

Behind all this is one major problem that we all must deal with. We must surrender. When we are in control, God isn’t. We must learn to give up our control and give total control to the Holy Spirit. When we give up our control, the Holy Spirit can do things with us, through us, and for us. When we try to do it, we fail. The Word says in Romans 7:18, “ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not”. If there is no good thing dwelling in our flesh, then how can a no good thing fix or change a bad thing? Our power won’t change us. Even if it could, then who would get the Glory? God or us?

Here is now a great comparison. Religion or a relationship. Religion pushes us doing things in the flesh. A relationship with the Holy Spirit causes us to do things in obedience to His leading and wishes. Religion leaves out the Holy Spirit. Just before Jesus left to be with His Father, He had spent much time with His disciples. I’m sure that much conversation took place back and forth with Jesus. They had an intimate relationship with Jesus. Jesus told them that it was expedient that He went away so that He could send the “comforter”. The comforter was the Holy Spirit. Consider this. After Jesus was crucified and went to be with His Father, then what happened to the intimate fellowship the disciples had with Him? The fellowship stopped! The disciples knew what Jesus had taught them, yet they had no fellowship. Fellowship with God was not restored until they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Comforter had come that Jesus had promised. Once again they had two-way communication with Heaven. They were now empowered to pray, walk, and be led by the Holy Spirit to do what God the Father wanted them to do. Many may not like this statement, but yet I firmly believe it to be true. Without a relationship and intimacy with the Holy Spirit, it is our flesh running things, which makes us only religious and unpleasing to God. Our works mean very little. Jesus said that He came not to do His will, but to do the will of the Father that sent Him. He came to do God’s will not His own. The mind of Jesus was actually the mind of God the Father. Jesus let God’s mind be in Him instead of His own. We must do the same thing.

This issue continues also in another area. Often we ask God to do what we want to do instead of our getting revelation as to what God wants to do. Jesus did only what He saw or heard from the Father. The Holy Spirit only does what He hears from the Father. We must do the same. Somehow we have a misconception that it is about what we want or our desire. It wasn’t for Jesus and shouldn’t be for us either. If we are really crucified with Christ and it is not us living but Christ living within us, then it should never be about what we want. It should always be only about what God wants. We must stop asking God to come into agreement with our will, and start finding out what His will is and coming into agreement with Him. The only way to know what He wants is to go into the spirit and hear from Him. Paul states in 1Co 2:14, “ But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”. Revelation and spiritual knowledge come only through the Spirit, not the carnal, fleshly, natural mind. It is about laying down our life and our control and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead, teach, and empower. This is when and only when that God is pleased with us as He alone gets the Glory.

This is not a sugar-coated message. To surrender, will cost you something. To gain intimacy with the Holy Spirit, will cost you something. It will cost you your natural, worldly life. It will cost you everything. You will have to give up your own will and kingdom desire, for His. Mathew 16:25 says, “ For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it”. Jesus did it as an example for us that we may know what we are to do to please the Father. If you will lose your life for Him, you will find the greatest life beyond your dreams that will be powerful and actually fun with Him. Remember that Isaiah stated:

Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Lets all get the mind of Christ and gain Gods thoughts instead of our own. Truly, God has a better life and way for us if we will go His way alone.


Copyright © 2007
By: Rick L. King
No portion of this may be reproduced or used without written permission from the author.
Please contact me at [email protected] if you have a need for this writing. Thank You.

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