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Come Closer

Romans 11:36 (AMP)  For from Him [all things originate] and through Him [all things live and exist] and to Him are all things [directed]. To Him be glory and honor forever! Amen.

God is the originator of all. It is because of Him that we live and exist, and it is for Him we live and exist. This is why He is to be honored and glorified. We live in a world that only wants to worship when they receive. How about it is because of who He is. The next verse comes in Romans chapter 12. It is connected to the above scripture.

Romans 12:1 (AMP) Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. 

My act of worship is not a song I sing before the preaching starts. It is not the few minutes I give God in my day to pray. My life is an act of worship. Now this does not mean that I quote scripture ever other breath. This is an invitation from God that I can walk continually in His Presence. When someone is in our presence, do we ignore them? We check in and acknowledge them.

James 4:8 (AMP) Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your [unfaithful] hearts, you double-minded [people].

What does it mean to be double-minded? I look at it that we become self-focused and self-driven. We are double-minded in that we care more for our well being than anyone else’s. Part of my worship is how I treat others. I do not live for other’s approval, but I am to live is such a way that people do matter. This does not mean I subject myself to abuse or put myself in places that people can manipulate me. It does not mean that I only seek out relationships that can benefit me. My prayer this year has been for God to increase His love in me so that it is all that flows out of me. This requires patience, because I am not always going to get it right. This is why I have a deep need for Him.

John 15:7 (AMP)  This [is what] I command you: that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another.

John 15:10 (AMP) If you keep My commandments and obey My teaching, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.

Jesus walked in Oneness with the Father here on earth. Why? He stayed close to Him. In His humanity He showed us how to do this. His life on earth was that of worship to the Father. That is why He could just speak and deliverance, healing and people were raised from the dead. I do not believe Jesus spent so much time with God so that He could do those miracles, the miracles were a by product of His time spent with God. How many of us seek God for the blessings, when the blessings should be an outflow of the time we spend with Him. The Kingdom of God cannot help but to prosper. Your mind cannot help but to be renewed. Your emotions cannot help but to be put back in line. He is desiring us to draw near to Him.

My life matters. My eternity started when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I am not fearful of losing my salvation. That is not the point of this life of worship. The point is that we should not treat His Presence as common (the opposite of Holy). He is still the God of the beginning and the end.

Romans 11: 33-35 (AMP) Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and decisions and how unfathomable and untraceable are His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it would be paid back to him? 

No one is like the Lord. In His Presence is fullness of joy. Why would you not want to be there? He is inviting you to come closer today. Lay it all down. Surrender whatever that you have been holding onto. Surrender the worry. Surrender the doubt. Surrender and let faith draw you near. The width and length and height and depth of His love (Ephesians 3:18), let it surround you. We are learning a new song at church called Surrounded By Holy. I love this part of the song that says, “The more that I enter in, You consume all I am, I lose myself in the One who’s holy.” There is no one more Holy. Come closer.

Father, Elohim, Creator and Lord, You are all that is and all that will ever be. You are Holy. We honor You today in our worship. Thank You for sending Your Son to restore us back to right standing with You. Thank You for the Holy Spirit, the third person of the God head, that dwells within and with us. We thank You for the throne room of grace and mercy. We are no longer bound to the outer courts. We repent for the times we have only sought Your face for when we needed something from You. We do not seek after Your blessings. We seek after You. We are choosing to love like You love. We want to see the best in others and to live unselfishly in love. We surrender our hearts and minds to You. We desire to present our whole selves as a living sacrifice to You, holy, as our act of worship to You. We want to draw closer. We are making a choice to forgive freely. We choose love today. We choose hope today. We choose forgiveness today. We choose joy today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Power in Release

James 4:7 (AMP) So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you. 

This scripture is found under the section titled Friendship With the World in my Spiritual Warfare Bible. When we realize that our thought patterns and our actions not lining up with God means we are lining up with the world (Satan), then it will change how we approach situations. When I make excuses for why God has to accept that in me, I have made friendship with the world.

James 4:5-6 (MEV) Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “He yearns jealously for the spirit that lives in us”? But He gives more grace. For this reason it says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

When I was eighteen my husband proposed to me on the day I graduated from high school. His parents gifted us a trip to California, as they were speaking at a Camp Meeting (week long church services that are held morning and evening) that summer. That was the summer that God made Himself real to my husband-to-be, and him surrendering to Christ. What did that mean for me? He was changing, and I did not understand it. Before that we attended the church, but lived how we wanted.

Psalms 45:11 (NIV) Let the king be enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.

I wanted to be loved so badly. Rejection had taken root in me as a child and grew in my teenage years. I looked to my husband-to-be to fill that need. Looking back, God saved our marriage before it even started. In relationships when one has a hero complex, that they rescued the other, there is unsatisfaction felt by one or both because of their dependence on the other. We were never meant to fill that place. Only God. That is what God told me one Sunday as I am watching from the back of service. My husband-to-be was testifying of the surrendered life he was now living, how God had made Himself real to him. God told me that I had put John on a pedestal that only He was supposed to be on. God told me that He was enthralled by me. My desire for love could only be satisfied in Him. I gave my life to Christ that day.

“He yearns jealously for the spirit that lives in us.” Twelve years ago I never would have dreamed of speaking in front of people. Actually, I never wanted to. Teaching was easy to the preteens. To the adults, not a chance. It was at a Joyce Meyer conference that I had a conversation with God. I was talking to Him about the fear of speaking in front of people. I was wresting with the Word that was inside of me. All of a sudden I just released it. I gave it all back to Him. The first Sunday back I spoke. What had been planted He brought it out.

James 4:1-3 (MEV) Where do wars and fights among you come from? Do they not come from your lusts that war in your body? You lust and do not have, so you kill. You desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have, because you do not ask. You ask, and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your passions.

Five years ago was another milestone moment in my life. I was fired and my character tarnished. I wanted to fight, and I could have throne some pretty big stones. Instead I went to God about it. I did not ask for vengeance nor vindication. I asked Him to check my heart. The path I could have chosen would have probably led me down the road of bitterness. I did not want that in my life. That is what the body lusts after, for me to win, for me to get the victory, for me to shine in all my glory. I would have taken on a murderous spirit, slandering those that had hurt me. I would have been trying to fight my own war. Instead, I chose to release it. I asked God to take it. I wanted to grow forward in Love. In return, revelation of His Word started pouring out like never before.

James 4:7-8a (AMP)  So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you. Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you. 

That is why I say that there is power in release. Release it back to Him. When I try to work it out my way, I have become friends with the world (Satan). God is jealous for that which is within us. Release it to Him. Us trying to fix it on our own just makes it worse. How many times have we tried to fix what was wrong in us? How many of us try to fix what does not match Him in our own power? “You desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have, because you do not ask.” Ask Him to take it, release it to Him. Our lives in Christ starts with surrender. Do you not think that our growth in Him continues with surrender?

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (AMP) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom]. And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.

Adonai, our Creator, our Father, our Lord, we stand in awe of Your Glory and Majesty. You are Holy. Thank You for sending Your Son to live, die and be the Resurrection Life. Jesus lives so that we can have this new life. Thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Your Word comes alive through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. We repent for trying to work out our salvation apart from You. We repent for keeping parts of ourselves separated. We thank You that at the moment of release, You empower us to succeed. It is through Your great love for us that we release control. We release our desire to live on our own terms. We release our thoughts into Your perfect thoughts. We cannot do this without You. We choose to surrender today. We choose to forgive today. We choose love today. We choose joy today. We choose hope today. We choose to release it all to You today. In Jesus Name, Amen.