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Sacrifice the price of obedience Sacrifice, how many of
us are prepared to sacrifice all that we are in obedience to Christ? Sacrifice: (Webster’s In all the years that I
have been growing in Christ, I think sacrifice is the hardest hurdle I have
had to over come. Living a self-less life instead of a self-ish life. Our nature tells us we
need to take care of ourselves. Our nature tells us to do for ourselves
first, then others. As soon as we were able to walk and talk we began telling
others "I can do it myself." This ideology never left us. We go on
through out our lives figuring out how to do it ourselves. We hit our teenage
years through adult hood and we want everything our way. We want sacrifice to
mean YOU sacrifice to make my life enjoyable and enriched. When I go to the
store I want YOU to sacrifice to make sure everything is easy for me, my
groceries are bagged and put in my car for me. When I go to a restaurant I
want YOU to sacrifice to make my meal perfect and if it is not, I will
complain until it is. Why is it OK for
everyone else to sacrifice for us....and yet we struggle with sacrificing our
wants, needs, desires, ambitions, pleasures, possession, time etc. for
others? For Christ? Sacrificing your life
for Christ means giving up your life. God doesn't want you to stop
living. He doesn't want you to stop dreaming and living out those dreams.
But, Sacrificing your life to Christ means being willing to give back to Him
what He has already given to you. Every single thing you have is of Gods
creation and His gift. Let’s make some
examples here. Time: God has granted us 24 hr days. Lets
say we only give ten percent of each day back to the Lord, that would be
2.4 hours a day that we should devote to our Lord. This can be done in many
ways. *Reading Gods Word *Sharing His Word *Praying *Worshiping *Giving Thanks *Meditating *Showing others
kindness in Gods Name *Edifying fellow
believers *Making that phone call
to your mom you have been putting off (honor your mother and father) How many of us give
that 10% of each day to the Lord? Do you realize that your time is one of the
most valuable possession you have? You are only
given so much of it. Then you die! You don't know when you will die, so each
and every precious moment must be used in a way that is pleasing to God
Almighty! Do we give our time to God? or do we snub
our noses and live our lives for ourselves? Possessions: I am not going to go with 10% here, The Lord
wants us to be willing to give up everything we own to follow Him. He isn't
going to make you, but He does want you to be willing to. If our possessions
are more valuable than the work of the Lord, then our possessions are our
God. If we say we can not live without this or that possession, then that
possession is our God. As we grow in the Word,
we need to come to a point that we can honestly say,
I am willing to walk away from everything I own and follow you should you
call me to. Desires: Our desires in life should never come before our
desire to be in the will of our Lord. The will of our Lord is that we obey
Him. Our desires are OK so long as we are in full Obedience with Gods Word. Sacrificing our lives
means being willing to give up what the world has to offer you in the way of
happiness, pleasure, satisfaction, greed, earthly possessions, money along
with self-control and self-ishness. By
Self-control I mean making yourself God. Not needing
Him in your daily activities. "I can do it myself." Sacrifice is the price
of obedience. Obedience means living your life according to Gods Word with
Love. *Love your God with all
your heart and all your soul and all your mind. (Put
Him first) *Love your neighbor
with all your heart and all your soul and all your
mind. (as you love yourself) Be a servant *Live your life as
Jesus did! He is our example. Christ was our pure
sacrifice! He came to this earth to live as a servant, not to be served. He
came to be a life giving sacrifice! Who are we, to think we are better than
Christ? Are you living a life
of sacrifice? Are you living in Obedience? God Said: Luke For the measure you
use, it will be measured to you. Are you ready to get what you deserve? We have been blessed
with Free will and freedom to make our own choices. We can chose
to sacrifice now the minuscule things of this world for the right to be co-heirs with Christ. Meaning we
get EVERYTHING he gets. Or we can chose to live
our lives saying "I can do it myself" Living for
ourselves only to lose everything we have gained in this
world at death to receive exactly what we deserve and asked for, eternity
without Christ. Father God Almighty,
Holy is your Name, give us the courage, strength and desire to sacrifice now
the things of this world that hold no value compared to the richness in glory
that we will receive in living a live in obedience to your Word. Fill your
children with your love and power and a deep indwelling of your Holy Spirit
that they might find life! True life in You. Dieing to self that they might
be rich with Christ. Glory, Honor and Praise
be to Your Name, In Jesus name, Amen In Christ: Lisa |