I came across some thoughts this morning that I had scribbled in my journal from a book called "Surprised by Grace". It might sound weird, but reading the old entries encouraged me, so I thought I would share some of these thoughts. The words in italics are from the book.
"Obedience that honors God flows from a heart that loves Him...And yet, although Jonah's obedience was so flawed, God still used him to accomplish His purpose in Nineveh."
Although we should be running from sin and a repentant people, we must not hold back our obedience to God's call because we are afraid of failing. Do we really think that our mistakes are great enough to ruin the plans of the Almighty God? Don't let fear of failure keep you back from what God has clearly called you to..."Believing fully that salvation belongs to the Lord means that you place ultimate trust in Christ's efforts, not your own." God doesn't accept you because you read your Bible, pray and go to church. He accepts you because Jesus took the wrath of God upon Himself, which you accepted when you had faith in Him. Yes, you don't deserve this ministry position. You will never be worthy of it. But God sees Jesus and considers it right. Jesus' blood and life covers you. Jesus is why we are saved, why we are accepted by God, why we can enter into fellowship with Him.
"Submitting self to God is the only real freedom--because the deepest slavery is self-dependence, self-reliance. When you live your life believing everything (family, finances, relationships, career) depends primarily on you, you're enslaved to your strengths and weaknesses. You're trying to be your own savior. Freedom comes when we start trusting in God's abilities and wisdom instead of our own. Real life begins when we transfer our trust from our own efforts to the efforts of Christ."
If your life is dependent on your own abilities, you will only be as strong as man. If your life is dependent upon Christ, however, the possibilities of what you can do through Him is inexhaustible--you are limited to what GOD can do.
