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Surrender to God Means Victory
by Cheryl Rogers You can't make me. It's my life. Have you heard those words before? Probably so. You may even have said them yourself... The words often come in anger and rebellion. Understandably so, because we all learn to guard what is ours: our children, our husband or wife, our stuff and of course, our very lives. Usually, that's a good thing. But there is something more important than the here-and-now: that's eternity. None of us knows exactly how long we have on Earth. No one lives forever, at least not on this Earth in the flesh. Jesus didn't. He died and after rising again he ascended into heaven. Methuselah, known for his longevity, only lived to be 969. Adam lived to be 930. All we know about Enoch and Elijah are they were raised bodily. In Genesis, the Bible tells us Enoch, Methuselah's father, lived 365 years. "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." Genesis 5:24 Elijah was taken before Elisha's very eyes. "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." 2 Kings 2:11 So, pretty much, we can expect to die or live somewhere else. We can also expect to be somehow different. "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 While we are alive we are expected to make a choice: Do we want the loving God who made us to take care of us, to be our spiritual father? Or not? Let's look at the alternatives. Well, we can run our own lives. Right? I know I tried for awhile, a long while, to do just that. But somewhere along the way I learned I couldn't succeed by myself. You know why? We are made weak, so we will need God. Like the Bible tells us in the parable of the girdle described in Jeremiah 13, we can't do anything without God. David acknowledges it in Psalm 142: "deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I." In Ephesians 6:12 we learn we are fighting not man, but "principalities," "powers," "the rulers of the darkness of this world," and "spiritual wickedness in high places." So, what are the choices, honestly? God or the devil. The Bible shows us in Genesis how the devil tricked Eve and got her and Adam evicted from the Garden of Eden. They never had it that good, ever again. God is on our side. I can relate a little bit to Zacchaeus, that short guy or climbed a tree to see Jesus. He messed up in life, but at least he recognized Jesus and his goodness. And he was rewarded for that... "This day is salvation come to this house," Jesus told him in Luke 19:9 It's similar with us. We could say we are losers, that we were defeated because the devil overpowered us. But when we surrender our lives to Jesus, the word of God, and invite him into our spiritual abodes -- that is, our hearts -- we are winners. In our defeat, comes our victory ... because when he comes we are connected to the one who created us and can do all things. The Bible tells us Jesus came to give us victory. "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it." Isaiah 25:8 God indeed "giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57 Cheryl Rogers is a writer and singer/songwriter specializing in Scripture songs and Scripture-based columns, stories, and artwork. Free resources are posted at http://www.SongsfromtheWord.com Copyright by Cheryl Rogers, Tampa, Florida Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |