Monday, May 19, 2014

Hands up: Surrender, Obedience and Worship.

Obedience, at its core, is simply a step in the right direction.  It needn't feel like you are required to move the mountain, pick and ax.  Instead, think of it like being buried alive and deciding to reach your hand out of the soil.  That is obedience, and it is God's good pleasure to lift you out.  But he cannot do so if you decide to remain in the dark, thinking yourself too bad or too good to make an effort.  Maybe you don't think enough of Him to hope that he will rescue you.  Faith is evident in the action.  Though efforts are not the same as believing, you can hardly express the simplest of beliefs without some sort of effort.  Belief stirs to action, even the beginning of belief.  A seed laying dormant pokes it's leaf out of the soil and to the light to grow.

Much like the Mustard Seed of Faith, it only takes a small amount for Christ to work.  In some cases, obedience is simply to stop moving in a direction that you know is leading you to destruction.  Let yourself be found!  Give him a chance to rescue you!  

You are being called, his Spirit is crying to you, into you, reverberating throughout your bones, rattling you from the inside.  His voice is calling you out of the darkness, raising you up to something greater.  There is an evil voice at work as well.  This condemning spirit of Satan bids you to stay put, to dig yourself deeper.  He tells you that you cannot be loved, you are not worthy or worse yet, telling you God is not Good.  

Which voice will you respond to?  It is not easy to take that first step out of darkness, out of comfort and seemingly out of control.  But in that moment which you realize you cannot do this alone, reach for him in hope and faith and you will not be disappointed.  Simply calling on the name of Jesus is enough.  An out-stretched hand will find the warmth of the Savior who has been there waiting for you all along.

James 2:15
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

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