A FRESH TESTIMONY TO THE GLORY OF GOD.
Aging is an interesting process, that seemed to creep up on me initially, and then started to really make it presence felt. With many aches and pains, tiredness, medical problems etc. I want to share some personal experiences in this blog today, not to spotlight myself but to share some keys and tools I am seeking to use to assist me in my daily walk with the Lord. Perhaps the first thing i need to say is that just as we must CONTINUALLY be surrendering to the Lord, so these keys must be used continually if we are to keep walking in victory and positivity.
Paul tells us in Rom. 12:1-2 NKJV I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
AMP.N.T.I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].
PASSION Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.
Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.
N.L.T. And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
MESSAGE So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Presenting our bodies, includes so much more than our physical body, it means BODY, SOUL, SPIRIT.
We know in our physical body are our drives (hunger, sex and survival), in our soul there is our mind, will and emotions, and in our spirit, there is our conscience, our spiritual intuition, and our ability to commune with God, and as a Believer we must seek to let THE LORD RULE AND REIGN IN ALL THESE AREAS OF OUR LIVES.
We know the MIND IS THE BATTLEFIELD OF THE SOUL, and we must learn to put on the HELMET OF SALVATION Ephesians 6:17. to protect our minds, as we can start to yield to worry and concern when all the negative things begin to develop in our bodies, we must do as Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:7 NKJV casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. (And keep on casting them on the Lord). If we don’t learn to keep casting them at Jesus feet, Paul tells us that it can become a STRONGHOLD in our mind and rob us of our peace and joy.
That is why we must not only casts our cares on the Lord, and by His grace leave them at His feet, Paul tells us in 2 Cor.10:4-6 NKJV For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Unfortunately, Paul also tells us, the enemy (Satan) will also seek to get his grubby hands on our mind, and we must also recognise that part of our inheritance in Christ, is that we can as James 4:7 NKJV tells us Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
On the basis of our continued surrender to the Lord James says SUBMIT (CONTINUALLY) TO THE LORD, and we can RESIST THE DEVIL, using the many keys, tools and weapons that God has made available to us, such as: I suggest.
- Doing as Michael the Archangel did in Jude verse 9 and say “The Lord rebuke you.
- Remind him the Blood of Jesus is against him
- The authority and power that is in IN THE NAME OF JESUS is against him
- The Word of God is against him.
The devil has no choice but to withdraw and flee, he knows he is defeated but will continue to seek to take territory that is not his, and so again we must continue to resist, and he will flee, and we can walk under an “open heaven of blessing and victory”.
I am not suggesting I have got it all together, but am seeking to do as I have written above, and I trust this may help you especially if you are now in your senior years too.
I am confessing every day Psalm 91:15 NKJV
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”
May this be your prayer and experience too.
