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JimfromOhio

I am happlily married with 5 kids. I am an accoutant and worked in an accounting field for over 25 years. I like to make a habit of writing down whenever I have deep thoughts about God (so I won't forget). I really into Reformed Theology that is connected to Presbyterian Church in America.

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Location: Columbus, Ohio, United States

I enjoy having deep thoughts about God and put down what I actually think about (so I won't forget).

Monday, December 05, 2005

Living Sacrifice

I am sure we all know what it means when we are to present our bodies "as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God." When you give your body, you give everything it contains within your body. That means giving yourself completely to God and if you don't, God may not be able to use you or do anything for you. This is like the story of the potter and the clay, which illustrates the law of submission. The potter (God) has soft, yielding clay (us), but if the clay does not submit, the potter may not be able to do what we should be able to. The potter still could make anything except for useful and beautiful (spiritual fruitful) out of an unyielding blob of clay. If God is going to make those kinds of vessels out of clay (us), however, we are going to have to yield to the spiritual law of surrender. Give ourselves to God as a living sacrifice and let Him have us--all of us. Remember, it was disobedience that brought about the ruin of the race. It is the submission of faith and grace that brought us back to God. God will teach us His way, one way or another. Are we walking in His truth? Unless our hearts are divided, without full heart commitment, God will not be able to use us fully. Truth is, the Holy Spirit that can grasp our inner being only when we submit completely which will allow the Holy Spirit teach us, lead us mysterious and divine where we ought to go. Remember, since God is love, therefore, we must surrender to love or we can never know the truth of God. "Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." — Psalm 86:11

God is in Control

Do our selfish interests collide with Christ's Lordship? Jesus means Savior; Lord means Sovereign; Christ means Anointed One. There are many Christians do not truly believe in God's sovereignty. How can any Christians not be aware of the sovereignty of the God? It is amazing that there are some who deny any God's divine involvement in our lives. Sovereign God is the absolute, infinite, unqualified ruler in all realms in heaven and earth and sea. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. God takes no orders from anyone and He has already planned out our tomorrows and holds the world in the palm of His hand. God possesses what no creature can—an incomprehensible power, potency that is absolute. God have not created us to be robots. God is not a dictator while at the same time, He uses His resources to direct us according to His will. Within certain areas of our lives, we are free to choose. Even though we are free to choose, there are times that God is involved in the direction of human history and directing us to specific, predetermined God's plans. God governs the world (Isa. 40:22-24), the nations (Isa. 40:15-17), and us (Proverbs 16:9). God have His plans and no one will be able to change them. If God sees anyone trying to change, He will divinely change the course. God does not want any to perish but if we want to do so He will allow it. Human pity is both a beautiful and a dangerous emotion. In the same way uninformed and unreasoning sympathy tends to take sides with the fallen and rebellious people against the God whose name is Holy. Biblically, it is very clear that no one seeks God on their own (Romans 3:11) and God calls and saves us by the Holy Spirit, not according to our works but according to His own Will and Grace which were granted us in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 1:8-9). God chose us and gave us saving grace (Eph. 2:8-9). Ungenerated people have no capacity to understand God's spiritual truth; instead they created God in their own image that they are calling God's truth foolishness (1 Cor. 2:14). They are spiritually blind (2 Cor. 4:4), spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1) and spiritually ignorant (Eph. 4:18).