from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church http://bit.ly/2w0SWtB
via IFTTT Who sent you? Paul makes a point to open this letter to the church at Galatia with a bold statement. "Sent by God". Not by man nor the agency (decision) of man, but but God Himself. That is quite bold! Yes, and that is how we are called to live. Did you decide where to go yesterday? Did you decide who to talk to? Were those minutes you spent under your control, or God's? Be honest when evaluating, honest with yourself. How dare we steal back from God? When we accept Christ as saviour, when we give our lives to God, do we then take back control ? Do we remain the master of our day? Are we in fact free to choose? Well, did you lie? Did you tell Jesus that you give your life but not mean it? How can we claim to be "saved", if we run our own life day to day? How are we back in control of those minutes? How is the choice ours? One of the biggest problems I see in the church today, is it is a numbers game. We count how many "accepted Christ" at the last revival, how many came to the alter. But ... Did their lives truly change? Did those numbers of people wake up the next morning, and every morning thereafter actively yielding control of their day to Jesus? Accepting Christ is not a formula, it is not words we speak, it is not ceremony. That's the old convenant of works. Jesus calls us to "take up your cross and follow", Paul calls us to "die daily to our own desires", Jesus calls us to depend on God for our very breath and food daily as a little child. Simply said, if your salvation is real, you no longer choose your life path. You no longer decide what to do with your minutes. Do you want to go fishing? Is that what Jesus would do? Do you want to watch that TV show? What would Jesus do? Do you want to relax? What would Jesus do? Do you want that drink, that pill, that whatever? What would Jesus do? Do you want that new job? That raise? That car? What would Jesus do ? Yes, extreme! That is who we are called to be... The extreme, the salt, a peculiar people! A Christian should never "fit in", but stand out like a sore thumb. Christians are to be so obvious that there is no doubt who they follow. Paul was sent by God. Powerful words for a powerful life. And you are sent by God in the same way. He has a plan for you. Yield to his plan, daily. Stop thinking that you have choices to make. You truly have only one choice... Follow the Holy Spirit in each moment as you promised, or not. That's it. Every decision we face then becomes simply.. what would Jesus do, our decision making becomes "Lord, what would you have me do here". The beauty of this way of life is... Trust and peace. If you submit to Jesus leadership of your life, if you truly give control of your day to Him, then relax. Rest. Stop fretting. Trust that He will honor that act and actually guide you. That brings perfect peace! Peace is not found in chooseing the right path for yourself, it is found in giving up control to Jesus and letting the Holy Spirit guide you every day on every way as Jesus promised. Trust that if you make a mistake, it's ok too because He can turn mistakes into gold. Just keep following Him. Paul was sent by God.... And so are you.
