02/02/22 ALIGN WITH GOD

02/02/22 ALIGN WITH GOD

Psst, c'mere.
If you get into a fight with the devil, don't be shocked if he does not fight fair or if he takes advantage of your weaknesses. If you play games with him, don't be surprised if you lose it all, since he plays for keeps (as in "playing for all the marbles").

When it came to providing us with salvation, God did not hold back. HE GAVE HIS SON; HIS SON GAVE HIS LIFE. God does require human response to His salvation.

If I mean business with God:
I will repent,
I will confess,
I will believe,
I will follow,
I will love Him and
I will obey Him because I love Him.

Don't let anyone make you think that exercising your will in obedience to God is sinful or futile, or equate it will the five "I wills" of Lucifer.
His "I wills" (Isaiah 14:12-15) were diametrically opposed to the sovereign will and power of God.

Isaiah 14:12-15
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

TO WILL THE WILL OF GOD IS FAITH IN HIS SOVEREIGNTY
When a human exercises his will, in obedience to God's commands, it is an act of faith and submission.
It is not rebellion or dependence on human effort.
We are saved BY GRACE, THROUGH FAITH. Faith in Christ is not a fleshly attempt to justify one's self. It is trust in God's salvation.

Remember (or realize for the first time), God designed humans to have and to exercise human will in submission to God.
Don't hold back on God.
Don't hold back on trusting God.
Don't hold back on obeying God.
Don't hold back on resisting the devil.

Make total commitment and follow through with it.
Probably most people fail at total commitment because they want to hold on to something that God wants them to turn loose.

Giving up something we love or want is disturbing.
It causes angst, disappointment, anger, resistance, rejection or it causes sorrow in the person who understands the cost of discipleship.
When a person is considering the cost, he weighs the loss.
During the time of cost counting, all of the parts of the human nature are involved; Reason, Desire, Emotion, Conscience, and Will.

Matthew 5:3-12
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

This is why Jesus said, in the Beatitudes, that the blessed are: those who realize their spiritual poverty, those who make the great sacrifice, those who humble themselves, those who are spiritually hungry.

To be conformed to the likeness of Christ (Righteous, Merciful, Pure, Conciliatory, and Willing To Die In Service To God) the person must be broken from self-dependence, self-gratifying, self-aggrandizing, self-serving. The way to victory is through the valley of self-denial.

Also, consider the path James gave to victory.
James 4:1-12
Enemies Of Spiritual Peace
1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
The Cost Of Spiritual Peace
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
God Provides Deliverance
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

God's Directive
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Pay The Price
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

Trust In God
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

The Way Of Peace
11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

Do you see it? We must come to the realization that our distance from God, the absence of God's power, purity, joy, purpose, and fulfillment in our lives is because we are not internally aligned with the eternal God.
God calls such self-orientation, spiritual adultery. God expects our total commitment and dependence on Himself.
To have another focus in our lives, rather than God Himself is seen as unfaithfulness, infidelity.
It is not simply a preference of loyalty, it is a rejection of the only One worthy of our devotion.
There is only One Who is our Creator and only One Who is our Savior. Flirtations with the world indicate hatred toward God.

Nonetheless, God seeks to woo us to Himself and He is ready to forgive and restore. His grace not only covers our multitude of sins, but His grace in us also changes our heart of selfish pursuit and enables us, enlivens us to love God and desire Him above all others.

A right attitude, a right relationship with God is evidenced and advanced by Submitting to God, Drawing close to God, which results in Cleansing the sinner (life, conscience, past), and Purifying the heart of the Double Minded.

This relationship of rightness, regeneration, redemption, restoration comes to the person with a contrite heart, the person in true repentance.

Salvation comes to the person who honestly faces his own sinfulness, his own unworthiness, and submits, draws near, cleanses his way, purifies his heart, humbles himself, recognizes his affliction, mourns his condition, exchanges surface joy for heart-wrenching misery.

Think about the condition associated with repentance and seeking God; spiritual bankruptcy, great sorrow, humility, great spiritual hunger, compassion, affliction, mourning, weeping, awareness of personal weakness.

Only as a person comes through the valley of self-denial, death to self, the world, and sin will God lift them up.