surrender – Practical Insights, by Dr. Annette

Three steps to walking in God’s Power and Might?

Ephesians 6:10 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”

What does that mean? How are we to be strong in His power and might?

What does the words might and power mean?

Vine’s expository Dictionary Dunamis: power, used relatively, denotes inherent ability, capability, ability to perform anything. Note: Dunamis, power is to be distinguished from exousia, the right to exercise power.” Eph 6:10 “Ischus “denotes might, strength, power inherent and in action as used of God”

Power: “Kratos is translated ‘power’ strength”

2 Chronicles 20:6 and said: “LORD, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.”

Jeremiah 16:21 NLT “Therefore I will teach them— this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the LORD.”

Since it is his strength and might, what are the ways we apply his strength and might in our lives?

First by faith which means trusting God in every situation. This would enable us to lean on his strength and might. So often we brush past this verse and jump straight into what we are supposed to put on but without faith in God how would you be able to put on that armor and withstand. We are strong in Him not us.

Exodus 14:14 “The lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

We must remember in Colossians 2:15 “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” Therefore, trusting God’s power and might we are subsequently enabled to overcome.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” V6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Psalm 27:1 “The LORD is my light and salvation; whom shall, I fear? There is a song I don’t remember the name, but it states, “the things I’m afraid of are afraid of you” It’s true that the things we fear, God does not fear and are afraid of him.

Secondly by surrendering or yielding to God’s leading and ways. True surrender will lead to perfect obedience. One of the sure-fire ways of losing your favor is in our attitudes and actions. Moses is an example for us his anger got in his way of going into the promise land, we cannot think we are exempt from the consequences of our attitudes or anger getting in the way of blocking our promise either. I think of it as a detour when our attitudes are grumping, snotty, snobbish, or angry, distant etc. Attitudes affect other people and God cares about people. We must repent for our attitudes, anger and actions.

Colossians 1:10-11 “That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and long suffering with joy;” This scripture shows us we can be fruitful when we are fully pleasing Him in our walk. We are to walk in the spirit not the flesh.

Thirdly by obedience: There are blessings in walking in obedience. God honors what we do unto Him and through him. When He calls it, he performs it. God honors his word. That you can trust.

Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

Blessings of obedience Deuteronomy 7:12-26; Deuteronomy 8:1-18 Although we live in the New Testament all the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus.

The Prophet Samuel told King Saul ‘It is better to obey than sacrifice’ that sacrifice represents doing things your own way.

Jesus said in the book of Mark 12:29 “The first of all the commandments is: Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 30 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself there is no other commandment greater than these.”

This is the type of obedience we are to walk in this love produces fruit, because we are walking in the Spirit.

“Our God is a Mighty God ~ His power and greatness are far beyond our comprehension. He alone is worthy to be praised and adored, and we can always trust Him! Our God is all Powerful. God is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient. Our God is mighty to save. His hand is never too short, and nothing is too difficult for Him.” Microsoft search

Gods power is Omnipotence which means the quality of having unlimited power. Omnipotence means God is all powerful. This means God has supreme power and has no limitations.

Omniscience means God is all knowing. This means God knows everything, including the past and future. Omnipresence means God is everywhere at all times.

When we trust God and yield to His way through obedience to what He commands you will walk in His power and might. Because He will enable you to do what He calls you to do. Trust, yield and obey…

The promise is in the wait.

waiting…

There is renewal in waiting when you’re waiting on the Lord. It is how we wait and endure that defines the renewal. If we lose sight of who we are waiting on disappointment, discouragement, or depression can creep in. This passage in Isaiah gives us hope as we wait it shows the way Jacob and Israel thought, it exposes for us how are thoughts can affect us. There are promises in waiting on the Lord, don’t lose sight and heart in the wait.

Isaiah 40:27-31 “27 Why do you say, O Jacob and speak O Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord, And my just claim is passed over by my God? 28 “Have you not known? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary, His understanding is unsearchable 29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”

We wait on God not man, so often we put our expectation on man looking at man as the one who gives us what we need and then our focus becomes distorted because man is just a man, but God wants us to wait on the Lord.

When you wait there is strength in the wait for you. Therefore, let your focus be aligned to God not self, man or the circumstance. That does not mean you just sit still and do nothing it means your spirit, soul and body is trusting in the Lord for the promise He gave you.

They shall mount up with wings ‘mount up’ preparation for flight effortlessly not striving. Mount up means to increase in something. As you wait you are increasing in the fruit of the spirit, Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control if you are waiting on the Lord with an expectancy from God. When our eyes get on man or earthly outcomes we can slowly slip into flesh. The flesh has fruit too, but it is rotten fruit adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries let us not think one is worse than the other their all fleshly, carnal and sin.

‘They shall run and not be weary’ running the race before you with renewed strength to endure. The race of life is not competition, comparing or cheating, but running daily the race of life is Kingdom living. Putting God’s Kingdom and ways first, with a heart to love the Lord with all your heart and mind and love your neighbor as you love yourself. You can run the race of life without the Kingdom of God, but it will account for you eternally as nothing.

They shall walk and not faint your walk with Christ is first private, then public if your private walk is not maintained it will affect your public walk eventually. We cannot walk on two different paths and maintain our walk with Christ. Waiting on God takes time, it is not a waste of time to wait, because in the wait we are renewed, refined and fired by the heat of the furnace of life.

God gives power to the weak and to those who have no might He increases strength. Those who wait on the Lord are promised renewed strength. If you are feeling worn out or frustrated, because it has not gone your way, it is time to surrender your disappointments, frustrations, and wait on God. Let the Spirit of the Lord renew you as you surrender your plans to Him. God has perfect timing.

What seems like a suddenly for someone really is God’s timing they have been in a ‘waiting on Him’ without anyone knowing. I have heard it said God is never late and never early or in a hurry. I don’t know if that is true, but I think at times it feels like it may be true. We must trust God in our life situations. Only He knows the outcome for all. When we keep our eyes on Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith you can rest assured, He will work in your life and bring about His plans and purposes.

It is good to have goals and plans I personally like organization; I like everything to have its place, but life can throw curve balls that are unexpected and hard to navigate. Trusting God in these times can bring a sense of calm even though in the natural, it is crisis. But God’s word gives us promises to hold onto. But those who wait on the Lord shall be renewed, the bible says, and I have experienced in my life renewal during hard and disappointing setbacks in delays. I have seen God take a mess and create peace when I surrender it to him.

Today if you are waiting in uncertainty put your trust in the Lord, He will take care of you.

Three Things to Ponder in the Garden Experience?

Recently while reading in John G. Lakes devotional, I had this impression. In the garden Adam surrenders his obedience by choosing to disobey and eat of the fruit of good and evil. On that day he died spiritually, his will choose his own way, not God’s way.

But Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane laid down his will to choose the Fathers will. Three times he prayed to the Father, for the cup to pass and three times He said, “not my will, but your will be done.” In the garden Jesus wins back for us what Adam gave up. On the cross Jesus dies for us, for our sins. He carried the sins in his body as he died for us on a cross, tortured, beaten, bruised, and blooded he walked to His death on the cross.

So, the question for us is what is your garden experience? Three things to ponder what is God asking you to surrender?

First, when we surrender something to God there is an exchange although we may not realize it at first but there is an exchange. So often we get focused on what we want that the surrender becomes more about what we are giving up than what we gain.

But if we do as this scripture shows looking unto Jesus who surrendered it all we too can surrender whatever God is asking us to give over to Him.

Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” He sits at the right of the Father, and He is coming back for His bride.

Secondly, a garden experience can reveal not everyone with you is for you. The pain of rejection can affect us all differently, but one thing is sure we all experience rejection in one form or another. Who better to understand this than Jesus? It was in the garden He was betrayed by a friend’s kiss. If you are experiencing the sting of rejection, give it to Jesus who understands the sting and pain rejection causes. He heals the brokenhearted.

Thirdly, a garden experience can reveal ourselves. Times of surrender or trails can show us what is inside us and how we think. It is not a time to self-condemn but a time of self-awareness. Which means it can be a time to recognize our weaknesses, faults and allow God to change us. This becomes a time of growth.

We see Jesus’ character come through the garden experience of surrender, betrayal, and false accusations with humility, silence and willingly went to cross.

Let the garden experience of life grow you in your walk with Christ. Choose God’s way and not your own.

How to Abound in Life and Godliness

What does abound in life and godliness mean to you? How do we live in abundance of life? To be plentiful in life and godliness comes through God’s grace and peace. Being plentiful is not always about money, fame or status. Money is a good thing we need money to buy food and shelter. To me being plentiful in life is walking, living and abiding in the grace and peace of God. I know when I live in this manner I am led by the Spirit of God and He supplies what I need for all my life situations and the grace and peace to wait, lean and surrender in them. This is a daily provision not a one-time occurrence. Jesus gave us abundant life.

How do we walk in His grace and peace? Through surrendering our control of situations. Through God’s grace which is His empowerment to enable you to do what you need to do. His grace and peace are supplied as you surrender to him and abide in Him plus, He increases it as you ask for it.

God’s word tells us In 2 Peter 1:2-4 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3)as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4)by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Through these promises we are given everything needed to live in and by his divine nature, that lives in us through Christ Jesus. We are joint heirs with him. This abundant life is not about prospering financially but does not seclude it either. It is spiritually, soul (mind, will, and emotions) and physically. God has supplied grace for us and will give us more grace as we need it to do what he has called us to do.

Recently, I taught on how to apply 2 Peter 1:5-8, our pastor ends his message weekly with ‘let’s do the Bible’ and this was the passage, 2 Peter 1: 5-8 says, “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness love, For if these are yours and abound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We need His grace and help. We are overcomers in Christ Jesus, but you must be willing to walk and live it out! Walking out the Word of God produces growth.

We need to be willing and must want to grow and see our need for it. So, with all diligence we are to add to our faith…

First, we are to add to our faith virtue. Virtue means “behavior showing high moral standards” it also means moral excellence, strength and courage. How do we apply add moral excellence in our lives? We can apply this through surrender to the Spirits chastisement, leading, reproving. Being thankful when corrected by Him because you are growing and learning His ways.

Moral excellence is a daily walk of listening to the Holy Spirit’s leading so that if you were to go in a direction that is not holy, He will warn you. It is when we don’t listen to the Spirits leading that we usually get ourselves into compromising situations.

Moral excellence starts in the heart and its fruit shows up as you walk it out. Outward appearance is not moral excellence although modesty will be seen in our appearance when we live in moral excellence according to God’s word.

Second, add to our virtue knowledge. Knowledge means “an understating of facts, information and skills acquired by a person through experience or education, the theoretical or practical understand of a subject.” I believe we apply adding knowledge by being teachable. We can always keep learning. As we learn the word of God through reading and studying it ask The Holy Spirit to open your understanding. Ask Him to teach you if you seek knowledge, you will find it. Learning something new is good for our brains.

Third, add to knowledge self-control. What does self-control mean? It means “The ability to control oneself, one’s emotions and desires or the expression of them in one’s behavior, especially in difficult situations.” (self-discipline)

It is interesting that self-control is the fruit of the Spirit. Therefore, if you are a child of God, you have self-control. We apply this in our lives by yielding to God the Holy Spirit. Giving Him the right of way to lead you instead of allowing your emotions to run wild. I choose to speak God’s word out loud when I’m facing situations I don’t like or understand. Speaking God’s word out loud helps us to hear it, believe it, and receive His help.

Fourth, add to self-control perseverance. What does perseverance mean? Perseverance means “persistence in doing something, despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.” “Continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failures or opposition: steadfastness.”

Tell yourself you can finish, encourage yourself you can do it. By the grace of God, we can finish what we started. Do not allow yourself permission to quit. Speak God’s word to your spirit soul and body. Anyone who has carried out any challenging task understands the struggle you are facing but they did not give up and neither will you! You are becoming an overcomer!

Fifth, add to perseverance godliness. Godliness means, “The quality or practice conforming to the laws and wishes of God.” Is this in outward behavior only? No, it is inward and then comes outward in our behavior. God deals with the heart motives, and He shows us where we are at, which is conviction so that we can repent and change.

Therefore, verse three is so important it says, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” It is wisdom to live in godliness, which is reflecting the nature of the Kingdom of God during everyday life. When we live in godliness Christ Jesus nature is reflected in our actions and decisions.

How do we apply this? By being willing to let God search your heart. Then be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading. Being sensitive to God means listening to God the Holy Spirit He will quicken His word in you and then follow His peace. This affects how you live and interact with others in the world around you, with your families and in the body of Christ.

Sixth add to your godliness brotherly kindness. What is brotherly kindness and who is your brother? Brotherly kindness means the love of brothers “kind affection for one another.” “Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous and considerate.” All humans are our neighbors…

We apply this by humbling ourselves to the leading of God putting others first. Who is our brother? I believe it is our families, church families and neighbor. Jesus put it best as to who our neighbor is. Read Luke 10: 25-37 the parable of the Good Samaritan. Following the Master’s example is best.

And finally add to brotherly kindness love. I Corinthians 13: 4-8 says, “love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices I the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”

How do we apply this to our lives? By asking God to show us where we are at in our love walk and asking for the grace to love with His love for one another, for family, and neighbors.

I love that God supplies us with the ability to add to our faith as we surrender to His will and ways.