“Our Daily Bread”     http://odb.org/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht   

“Homily Grits Devotional”   http://www.homilygrits.com/

James 4:7-8…  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God and He will drawnear to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  (NKJV)

My thoughts for today are drawn from Dr. Charles Stanley’s 20 minute audio sermon for June 27, 2013, that he titles…“Unconditional Surrender – Part 1”…  You can listen to Dr. Stanley’s sermon, by going to…

http://www.intouch.org/broadcast/audio-archives     Party 2 was yesterday, but I have not listened to it yet…

I can’t think of a better piece of opening scripture to use in writing about total surrender to the Lord, than this scripture penned by the Apostle James (Jesus’ half brother)… 

Yesterday, I wrote about unshakable faith…  It takes total surrender to the Lord, to become a Christian to begin with…  But how many Christians go on to really live their lives in total, unconditional, surrender to the leading of the Holy Spirit ??  This unconditional surrender to the Lord, doesn’t allow the Christian to hold on to any of the sins that will keep the Christian from living a life that is totally obedient in every possible way to please the Lord…

We can’t pick and choose what we will respond to, when the Holy Spirit urges us to do, or not to do something…  The Holy Spirit is given to the Christian by God (John 14:26) to guide them in a way that God will approve of…  When we are given clear instructions from the Holy Spirit not to do something…and we decide our way is better…well…we are grieving the Holy Spirit, and living in disobedience to the Lord’s will…

For those that don’t seem to be hearing the Holy Spirit, day in and day out…I spent a day writing about…“Positive Response to the Holy Spirit”, that you can go back and read by going to www.Godsmanforever.wordpress.com and typing in 6/03/2013 into the search window… Dr. Stanley speaks about why some people believing they are Christians, cannot hear the Holy Spirit speaking to them…

All Christians are suppose to be being conformed into the image of Christ…Romans 8:29…  But how is God going to mold and shape His children, if they won’t listen to His directions  ??  Unconditional surrender to the Lord means that the Christian must relinquish total control of their lives in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit…  The Apostle Paul calls this “Walking in the Spirit”, in…Galatians 5:16…    I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall notfulfill the lust of the flesh.  (NKJV)

Some people say it’s just too hard to live for the Lord…  They believe they will be missing out on all the good things in life, if they totally submit their lives to Christ…  I am here to tell you that just the opposite is true…  Life with God in control just can be any better…  God will reward those that diligently seek Him…Hebrews 11:6…  But oh so much more important…eternal life with Christ in heaven will be forever…

I hope you listen to Dr. Stanley’s audio…  Listen to this 80 year old man of God, who is filled with spiritual wisdom beyond belief…who will clearly spell out how a Christian can live a life that is unconditionally surrendered to the Lord; and how living for Christ will provide fulfillment in every area of the Christian’s life…

Heavenly Father, I pray that Christians who have never totally submitted their lives to You…will consider re-evaluating their priorities to align with living a life in total obedience to the Holy Spirit…  I pray that all sins will be confessed, repented of, and turned from…through reverent prayer to You with a truly repentant heart…1 John 1:9…  I pray for this fullness of Christ in all of our lives, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen… 

Blessings in Christ,  bruce r mills