Submitting Your Will to God

We try so hard to control our own lives. Relinquishing our own will and accepting God’s will for our lives is probably the hardest thing we can ever do. It seems every one of us must go through a lot of pain and sorrow before we get to that point.

Being alone has always been one of my hardest struggles. When I was younger I did a lot of wrong things to fill the void. I went to bars and hung out with the wrong people and got myself into several abusive relationships. I began to wonder if I had a sign on my back saying, "abuse me." It took a very long time of heartache and pain before I finally stopped trying to do things my way and submitted my will wholly to God.

I knew in order to do that I had to sincerely desire His will for my life no matter what it might be. There were a few things I desired that were pretty hard to let go of, but when I looked at the mess I was making doing things my own way, I was a little more willing to hand it over to someone who knows better. It was my first lesson in trust.

The hardest thing I had to lay down was my desire to have a good man in my life. I was never good at relationships and I longed to have a good man to share my life with. Now I was faced with whether or not I’d be able to accept spending my life alone. I wasn’t sure if I had enough trust. Did I really believe God knew better than I did what was best for me? Then I was reminded of how God tells us His ways are not our ways. While I was thinking of being loved by a man, He was trying to make me see that He loved me more than any man on this earth ever could. He was offering me Perfect love and I decided I wanted it and it was enough. That’s when I knew I had truly submitted my will to Him.

In my favorite book “Hinds Feet on High Places” by Hannah Hurnard, the main character, Much Afraid, goes through many trials and tribulations before she is finally able to submit her will. The book portrays her trials as a journey through treacherous terrain and when she finally lays down her will it’s portrayed as pulling her flesh heart out of her chest and laying it on an altar. That’s pretty much what it was feeling like to me.

I’ve been alone for a pretty long time now and I still don't like it, but I try to fill my time reaching out to others. He never fails to bring someone into my life that needs encouragement or some kind of help. I'm always busy doing something. I still get lonely and sometimes I get discouraged and maybe even a little resentful. It seems I’m always taking care of someone else and my life is not my own. It just doesn’t seem fair sometimes. But then it hits me and I have to smile. My life is NOT my own, (thank God.) I remind myself how, left to my own devices, I bring nothing but heartache and pain on myself. My life is HIS, it's in His hands, and I’m so very thankful.

There are always going to be hard times. People will try your patience and things won’t go right. But, no one is perfect so try not to come down on yourself too hard if things start to get to you. Every hard time you go through has a lesson for you to learn, whether it’s patience or endurance, or just an invitation to lay it all down and give it to God. He’s there with you always, loving and guiding you, even when you don’t acknowledge Him. He’s just waiting for you to reach out to Him.

Is It Possible To Be Without Sin?

If it were possible for us to be without sin, we would never have needed a Savior, it would make Jesus’ death on the cross null and void, and we wouldn’t have to fight so hard to avoid temptations every single day. The Apostle Paul said he was constantly warring against the flesh and the things he knew to do good he could not:

“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature, for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” (Romans 7:18-20)

The Bible is full of examples of how the flesh, which is our home for now, is constantly warring against that which is spiritual. The most we can do as long as we’re in our human bodies, is to strive to follow Jesus’ example and live our lives as close to His example as we can. Even Paul had to do that, and you can see how much of a struggle it was, even for him. No matter how much we try to do good, we are constantly warring against the flesh.

The Bible says:

“There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Romans 3:11-12)

There are many such examples in the Bible of how impossible it is, on our own efforts, to obtain perfection and how vital it is to submit our lives to God and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us. Even with that, we still need to make a conscious effort every single day, not to quench the Spirit by giving in to sin and temptations. It's a daily struggle within all of us.

Putting aside the examples of Paul, the Bible verses, and even Jesus, let’s look at another reason why it’s impossible for us to be without sin. If it were possible for us to be without sin, this world would have outgrown the need for God a long time ago. As more and more people become sinless, the world itself would eventually reach perfection, with no more wars, murders, or other crimes. We all know this is never going to happen until Jesus comes. The very fact that all these things are still in this world and escalating, proves that sin is rampant.

There has only ever been one man on this earth without sin, and that was Jesus, only because He was born of God and was one with God. We, on the other hand, are born of the flesh and are one with sin. All we can really do is try to follow His example and live our lives as close to His as possible. It is not possible to reach perfection as long as we are cloaked in the sin of our own flesh. Only when we come to the end of our journey, and our souls are freed from the flesh that hinders us, can we ever be one with God and be without sin.

Are Angels Real and Can You See Them?

I believe there are angels all around us and I do believe we can see them, but I don’t believe they appear to us as creatures with glowing wings and halos. They may very well look like that in their celestial state (who really knows?) but I believe they appear to us in the form of ordinary people and sometimes even animals.

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13: 2)

This verse from the Bible claims that any stranger we happen to meet could very well be an angel so we should we should be careful how we act around them. This pretty much convinces me they do not appear in a celestial form, but more likely as someone we probably wouldn’t even notice on the street. I’m positive I have had several encounters in my lifetime and believe we probably all have and might not know it.

My first encounter was when I was about 11 years old and I had just started going to a new school. The buses were on strike so we had to walk the 2 miles to get there. I was a very timid child and the thought of having to walk by myself to a strange place was a little frightening, but the way was straight, with no turns, so I felt I would be fine.

I made it to school with no problem and when it was time to walk home I was feeling very brave and confident. What I hadn’t realized during my walk to the school was, the road forked right at the intersection where I had crossed. I hadn’t noticed it then, because the road was still straight going up to the school, but now on my way back, there it was looming ahead of me.

I immediately panicked. I wasn’t sure which way to go because both roads were practically side by side. I hesitantly started to walk down the one I thought looked the most familiar. It wasn’t long before I realized this road had all kind of bends and curves I didn’t remember being there on the way to school. I came to a bridge I knew I hadn’t passed in the morning and when I turned around in a panic to go back, I was faced with yet another fork in the road!

I literally began to shake because, not only was I helplessly lost, but I had been given strict orders to come straight home from school and I knew if I was late I would be in big trouble. I began to cry because I had no idea which way to go. Then I remembered a Sunday school lesson I had learned about having faith. If you pray, believing with all your heart that God will hear and answer, He will give you your desire.

With the pure, unwavering faith of a child, I closed my eyes and prayed and asked God to please send someone to show me the way home. I believed with all my heart, He would. I had no doubts, whatsoever, that when I opened my eyes someone would be standing there.

I opened my eyes and there stood a little brown dog looking up at me. He started walking away and without hesitation I followed him. I had no doubts whatsoever that God had sent him. I wasn’t in the least surprised when we came to the same intersection where I had first gotten lost. The little dog looked up at me again and then turned and scampered back the way we came. I remember getting goose bumps because I knew in my heart I had just been with an angel.

My second encounter was about 6 years later. My younger brother and I had always been close and he had run away from home. He had been gone about a week and we couldn’t find him anywhere. Back in those days they didn’t have Amber Alerts and the local police weren’t much help in finding runaways. I was worried sick over him and hadn’t slept that whole week. I was exhausted and had an ache in my heart that just wouldn’t go away. I had been praying earnestly for God to protect him and somehow let me know he was alright.

I was on my way to work and had come to the trolley station where I took the trolley every day. There was always a wait of about 15 minutes so I sat down on the bench as I always did. There were people sitting next to me on the bench and people walking around. The station was always busy in the morning with people going to work. I sat there and silently continued my prayers.

I was interrupted by someone tapping me on the shoulder. I looked up to see a very old, kindly looking gentleman looking down at me. He had the kindest eyes. No one else seemed to even notice him standing there, because no one turned their heads as he spoke, and it was almost as if everything around me suddenly stood still.

All he said to me was, “Things are going to be alright,” and then he turned and walked away towards the road. I sat there stunned for a few seconds, and then I jumped up to run after him to ask him how he knew, or why he said that, but he was gone. I looked up and down the long road. There was nowhere he could have ducked into or went, except for either up the road or down the road. He was a very old man so he couldn’t have gotten very far in those few seconds, but he was gone! I got goose bumps again, just like I had years earlier. I got on the trolley and, during the ride to work, I once again knew I had encountered an angel. I also knew, without a doubt, I would see my brother that day.

I worked for the telephone company and I had only been at my station about an hour when my supervisor plugged in behind me and told me I had a visitor down in the lobby. It’s so strange when something like this happens, because it’s as if you know exactly what’s happening, but logic is telling you it’s impossible. Regardless of that, here it was. I knew I was headed down to the lobby to see my brother.

When I got down to the lobby, there he was, dirty and disheveled, and looking so scared and lonely. He wanted to go home but he was afraid of getting punished for running away. I promised to go with him and stand by him, and gave him some money to get something to eat and told him to wait for me to get done work and then we went home together.

I have had other experiences where I was sure I had been visited by angels, but none of them stand out as much as these two experiences. I have to admit there may have been a little room for doubt in some of my experiences, but not these two. I am absolutely sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a little dog and a very old, kindly gentleman were not of this world.

Why Is There So Much Disagreeing In The Christian Faith?

There seems to be so much disagreeing among Christians it leads you to wonder if there’s anything they actually do agree on. How can there be so much disagreement when we all worship the same God and read the same Bible? There has to be a reason why there is so much division among Christians.

Even though we all read the same Bible, I believe one of the primary causes of disagreement among Christians is a lack of understanding of scripture. Even with all the study helps available, people still seem to derive different interpretations and persist to argue over the meanings of words. This ultimately results in confusion and division. I have personally witnessed the breakup of many Bible study groups and even churches over this kind of conflict. In my opinion, the primary reason for all the different (and new) denominations of today is because of too many people having their own personal interpretations of the Bible, and each one believing his is right.

I’m sure all the struggling over the meanings of words is an honest attempt to gain deeper knowledge, but we seem to forget it’s impossible to know the ways of God through our own understanding. God said the only way to have true understanding is through the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, this concept appears to have gotten lost in the shuffle with the numerous Bible study resources available to anyone who wants to gain knowledge. Who needs the Holy Spirit when you have all that?

There are many Christians these days, who pour through every book they can lay their hands on and listen to every “reputable” pastor they can find. They consider themselves to be true Bible scholars and are eager to plant their seeds of knowledge everywhere they can. Unfortunately, they are the ones you’ll usually find lashing out at anyone who doesn’t agree with them and the ones lording themselves over everyone else in churches and Bible study groups. You won’t find much in the way of love and kindness because that can only come by the Holy Spirit.

God warns us in the Bible this is exactly what happens when people lean to their own understanding so it’s really not surprising. He also says leaning to our own understanding is prideful:

“He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,” (1 Timothy 6: 4)

I admit this isn’t an easy concept to grasp because our logic tells us there’s nothing wrong with an honest quest for knowledge. How could it be harmful or prideful, and how else are we supposed to learn if we don’t ask questions and seek out answers? The reason it’s prideful is because there is definitely an ego trip involved. Who of us hasn’t had a sense of pride after finally achieving a goal through our own efforts and hard work? Doting about questions and striving over words is certainly hard work.

The second part of the verse tells us all this puffed up knowledge will eventually lead to envy, strife, railings and evil surmisings. Why? Because pride will, undoubtedly, cause us to flaunt it. We just can’t help ourselves, we’re human. If you go to any online Christian group, you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. It’s not easy to be humble when we work hard at something and come up with amazing results.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

These verses sum it all up very nicely. We need to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, especially in matters of understanding. This means submitting our wills (and our egos) to Him. How many people are truly doing this when studying His word? From the looks of it, I wouldn’t guess many. If we could all just learn to rely on God to give us understanding instead of trying so hard to understand on our own, “our paths would be made straight” and maybe we could finally be in agreement.

Reflections on Psalm 23

The Lord Is My Shepherd

Does the 23rd Psalm remind you of death and funerals? It should, because it’s one of the most common passages of the Bible recited at funerals. Maybe it’s the thought our loved ones “walking through the valley of the shadow of death, fearing no evil” that brings so much comfort. This thought is indeed, very comforting, but somehow when I read it I don’t think of death at all, but life.

Our life here is a journey and sometimes we must travel through rough terrain and dark valleys. Sometimes those dark valleys can be so difficult we feel as if we’re traveling through the very “shadow of death.” This is because when we’re faced with trials and tribulation we usually feel so apart from God. Some call it “the dark night of the soul” and it truly is. But the 23rd Psalm is a reminder to us to “fear no evil” because Jesus is always there to give us direction and guidance, no matter how dark it may seem. He is there beside us and “His rod and His staff will comfort us.”

In the Bible, Jesus is often referred to as a shepherd and we, as His sheep. He watches over us the same way a shepherd watches over his flock. A shepherd always carries a rod when he’s tending sheep to clear away rocks or anything in the way that could possibly harm his sheep. Sometimes he might even use it against wild animals that threaten his flock. The staff he carries has a crook on the end of it and is often used to steer wandering sheep back to the flock. Sometimes it might be used to rescue a lamb that has fallen in a crevice or gotten itself stuck in some bushes. When we think of Jesus as our shepherd, keeping harm away from us, it’s certainly a very comforting thought. We don’t even know how many times He may have used His rod to push Satan away from us. And how comforting it is to know His staff is always ready to guide us back to His fold when we have strayed.

God provides for us and gives all that we need. Sometimes we have trouble believing that because our idea of what we need is usually completely different than His idea. Have you ever wanted something really bad and prayed and prayed, but it didn’t seem like He was listening? He’s listening, but He doesn’t always give us what we want because He knows better than we do what’s good for us. We need to learn to accept whatever it is He wants for us and trust it is for our good. “We shall not want” for anything we need.

Life can be hectic at times and we feel as if we have the weight of the world on our shoulders. Traveling through dark valleys can really tear us apart both physically and mentally. It’s very important for us to try to set aside a time for prayer and meditation. As we shut out the world and all our problems and quietly commune with Him, “He will make us to lie down in green pastures and lead us beside the still waters.” As we do this more and more “He will restore our souls and lead us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.”

In the midst of all our troubles and all the evil influences of the world, He is always there beside us. “He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies.” His Spirit of love and compassion envelopes us as “He anoints our heads with oil. Our cups runneth over.” When we follow Him He assures us that “goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives.” And when our journey here has finally ended, “we will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”

This is what I see when I read the 23^rd Psalm, a step-by-step guide in all areas of our lives. Maybe my view of it is kind of like the adage, a cup half-empty vs. a cup half-full. While some people seem to only associate it with the comfort it brings in death, I am so thankful for the comfort it brings in life.