Yielding Your Life

19 years ago I was faced with a dilemma, a crisis of faith. I had been walking with the Lord for 6 years, studying, listening, learning and praying. I thought I was leading a victorious life for Jesus. Life circumstances changed and I found myself laying in a hospital bed near death for the first time in my life. As I took stock of my life I became profoundly aware of something that shocked me. God showed me that although I was his child and had been doing the things Christians do, I was in fact trying to “do my own thing’ and asking God to bless it rather than seeking that which He had planned for me to do. I thought that by experiencing worldly success I would then be able to afford to venture into Kingdom endeavors. Like many others, I spent most of my prayer time asking God to bless what I was doing so that I could reap the benefits. As my heart tenderized to the truth, I began to yield my life to the point that I uttered these words for the first of many times “I will go wherever you tell me and do whatever you tell me to do, I belong to you.” My life and my walk with Jesus changed forever that day. Set your plans and expectations aside…yield your life today. Try it and watch what happens.

Check our own hearts God.

Two weeks have passed since the historic election of the first African American to the office of President of the United States of America. As a kid who remembers forced integration and curfews during the infamous Detroit riots, I have to admit that I didn’t think I would witness this in my lifetime. Personally, a part of me is proud of my country. I hope that an African American President can bring healing to the American soul…a soul that still suffers from our past sins...a soul that needs to step away from the rhetoric that inflames black and white bigotry and racism. God please heal us.

As I have thought about the issue of slavery over the last week, I can’t help drawing a parallel between that great human tragedy in our nation’s history and the great human tragedy of abortion today. Sure, you’ve heard that before but the slant I want to look at today is something I haven’t heard before. Slavery is based in a concept that elevates a group of people and their philosophies above another group or groups of people to the extent that the superior group imposes its will on the subordinate group(s). To the extreme, the philosophy of superiority takes command over the lives of the subordinate group, even to the point of death.

Today, the “group” of people who believe their philosophies to be superior are those who contend that it is the right of a woman to decide whether she will terminate the life of her unborn child without regard for the right of the unborn child to live. Additionally, even the right of the father must be subordinate to the philosophy of this superior group. So, two groups of people, fathers and unborn children, are now subject to the imposed philosophies of the superior group. In other words, the unborn child is in effect the slave of the mother and subject to her will, even to the point of death.

In the past, the slave owner had ultimate control over the life and the death of his property. If that property was an inconvenience or posed and economic burden to the slave owner, he was free to get rid of his property or even have it put to death. Haven’t we learned that no one person or one group of people have the right to impose their will unto death over any other group of people. And haven’t we learned that a primary purpose of government is to make sure it never happens? If what I have just touched on is true, then aborting children with the governments blessing is morally equivalent to slave owners imposing their will on another group of people (slaves) with the government’s blessing.

How can this country ever be healed of the ravages of slavery when we continue to operate with the same heart today? Only a great move of God in the lives of his children will bring about the healing the soul of this nation needs. We must give up our selfish superiority and the thought that our philosophy can be imposed on anyone. Only a willing participant can set themselves aside and regard all others as greater than himself.

How can we change the country's direction?

We have recently experienced our national presidential election. In preparation, thousands gathered to pray for our country and for a spirit of repentance for this nation. For a number of years, we as Christians have been crying out to God to change the course that the US is on…to reverse the deterioration of the family, the increasing ungodliness and violence, the corruption in politics, the ongoing killing of the unborn. Yet these things continue in spite of our prayers. It seems as if God isn’t hearing us. Could it be that we are the problem, that we are what needs to change? It’s hard for me to understand how we can pray for the repentance of a nation or the ungodly at all. It seems a bit arrogant that we think God will make wholesale changes in a heathen society when they have no power to change; all the while allowing those who have the power to change to remain unchanged. At the times in my life that I have been overwhelmed with the Spirit of repentance, I can assure you that I couldn’t see any of the faults or shortcomings (sins) of those around me. All I could see was my desperate need to turn from my own sin and be swept up in God’s forgiveness. My own tears kept me from seeing anyone else. I can’t help thinking that one reason we find ourselves at this place in history is because God’s own children have blamed the ungodly for our circumstances; circumstances born from the compromises Christians started making generations ago. Godly repentance needs to overwhelm us, the children of God, before we can expect any significant change in the society around us. Try it and watch what happens.

Giving from our lack not our abundance

There is an interesting principle in God’s Kingdom that is 180 degrees from the way the world works. Have you noticed that whenever we are lacking something; finances, resources, energy, encouragement, friends, confidence, etc., our primary objective is to “get” whatever it is that we lack. Self help books by the millions are sold for this very reason. The world says if you are in need then get out there and get what you need. As Christians we do the same thing but we try to “holy it up” a bit by talking about our need in prayer meetings and occasionally even praying about it. We even try to sanctify our approach by using nice ‘Christian’ terminology and language. But underneath it all we are really living a “woe is me” life; the need is our obsession and we remain obsessed until the need is met. Our focus is primarily, if not entirely, on ourselves. As we turn our attention away from ourselves and trust God to be true to his word, we can then focus on others…others who are in the same desperate needy state that we are experiencing. As we give to them from the very need we are experiencing, we experience God working 2 miracles; he supplies their need through you and he supplies your need through giving from your poverty rather than your abundance. The greatest gift you can give is one given from your need. Try it and watch what happens.

Why should we be Spiritual Life Coaches?

Today we see ourselves as contributors to the success of our family, our business and our church community. We measure our worth by the demand that is placed on our abilities and capabilities. If people are asking for our help or asking us to contribute our talent, we have a sense of value and it causes us to feel that we are exceptional human beings. After all, God did give us our abilities and our gifting and he does want us to use them, doesn’t he? The gifting and talents that God has given to us were never intended to puff us up. Those abilities and capabilities were invested into us so that we can use them to build others up, not ourselves. Like transferring funds from one account to another, God’s intention is for us to transfer the deposits of him in our lives to the empty and overdrawn life accounts of those around us. Our satisfaction comes from watching that transaction take place, not in the part we have played in it. As a leader, make an account transfer today. Move some of the gifting and talent deposited into your life into the life of someone that God has placed around you for just that purpose. Try it and watch what happens.