Devotional reference: My Utmost for His Highest, December 10, 2013 entry.
Scriptural references:
Romans 7:15; John 8: 34-36.
I am going to be real.
December 9, 2013 was a bad day for Vacirca the Christian. It was a day right out of the scripture of Romans
7:15, where Paul states exactly what I was feeling. He says, “For
what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not
practice; but what I hate, that I do (NKJV).
It was a day during which I went everywhere I said I wouldn’t
go; did everything I told myself I wouldn’t do (again); and had conversations
and quarrels I promised I wouldn’t get involved in (again).
It was a day of failure, if you ask me. So what have I learned to do with
failure? I took it all back to the
Cross. To summarize two hours of prayer, I asked God why I continued to do what
is natural to me, when by now, I should be able to walk in the supernatural and
avoid foolish things. I begged Him to
help me. As always, when it is His will,
God answers.
This morning, the Lord threw me out of bed. Before I could even wake up fully, I was already
grabbing my phone, logging onto my Facebook account, and clicking on my daily
message from Utmost.org—the website for my favorite devotional My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald
Chambers. It posts on Facebook daily.
Of course, the message was a clear response to the issue I
had been petitioning the Lord about for the longest—as well as the night
before. It was a message discussing what
to do with my so-called natural
tendencies.
You see, as a relatively new Christian, I can rejoice that I
am not where I once was. However,
knowing that sanctification, by the Spirit of God, takes a lifetime, I have to
admit that I am not where I long to be in my walk either. Several times through the day, I have return
to the Throne of God to petition for grace, and mercy, and forgiveness, and
strength. Then I am back, petitioning
for more forgiveness, and a smidge more mercy, and a dash more of grace, until
finally, the day is over and I've made it through.
And daily, I am faced with the issues that rise up as I go
through the challenges that come.
And daily, I find myself dealing with the issues using my natural
tendencies. That, at least, is what the
Lord had to show me today.
You ever allow the Lord to take you through a spiritual
inventory of your natural
tendencies? What do I mean by natural tendencies? I’ll tell ya:
For me, when challenged, or put down, or unfairly
criticized, I can admit that when caught of-guard, I sometimes exhibit a natural tendency to react first in the
flesh, before I react in the power of the Spirit.
When I have perceived that someone is attacking me, or
attempting to wrong me or loved ones, I still have a natural tendency to engage in what I have always considered to be “fighting
for my rights!” You see, it is my natural tendency to believe that it is
my right to be heard, to speak my mind, to follow my heart!! That is what the world says anyway. “Speak your mind;” or “Don’t take any mess
from anyone;” or “Don’t let him/her get away with that!” If you ask Jesus about that, you’ll find that
all of that is the natural way of handling being wronged. Jesus says once we confess that He purchased
us with His shed blood on the Cross, we no longer have the right to ourselves
or what we perceive to be ours. We no
longer even belong to ourselves, but to Him.
So whose rights am I fighting for again?
Hmmmm.
When I have responsibilities that seem daunting and
overwhelming—even if I actually want
to complete the goal or task for which I am responsible—I have the natural tendency to allow myself the
excuse to procrastinate, to get distracted, to become idle—to cut corners wherever
I can to make things easier on myself.
Because I do often work very hard--on a variety of things--I do sometimes allow myself the excuses I need
to procrastinate or cut corners. It doesn't matter that I've been taught so many times that when you attempt, in
your own limited strength and wisdom, to make things easier, they never become easier. Maybe it is because God expects you to do your best
unto Him in whatever you do (Colossians 3:23).
Maybe there are times when God just simply refuses for
you to have it easier for a good purpose.
I could list all of my natural tendencies over and over.
Thing is, though, when we belong to Christ, we are no longer to operate
in our natural tendencies. We are now a people who have access to the supernatural abilities of the Lord Jesus
Christ, through His work on the Cross.
We have access to the Throne of God.
We can now petition Him for His assistance, His power, and His will for
every area of our lives. We have the
Spirit of God living within us in order to cause our old ways to die, so we can
become new in Christ.
So why, pray-tell, was I—an old-enough Christian—still
operating in my natural tendencies?
Here is where God’s use of the devotional comes in. The Lord led me to read it to remind me of
what He’s been trying to teach me all along.
Like Mr. Chambers states in this entry, “Some of us are trying to offer
up spiritual sacrifices to God before we have sacrificed the natural. The only
way we can offer a spiritual sacrifice to God is to ‘present [our] bodies a
living sacrifice . . .’” (Romans 12:1).
Mr. Oswald’s devotional really got me when he went on to
write, “If we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, the natural life
will resist and defy the life of the Son of God in us and will produce
continual turmoil…God is not actively involved with our natural life as long as
we continue to pamper and gratify it. But once we are willing to put it out in
the desert and are determined to keep it under control, God will be with it. He
will then provide wells and oases and fulfill all His promises for the natural.” (www.utmost.org).
This finally became clear.
We must be willing to sacrifice what seems natural in us in order for
God to do the supernatural—in us. Then,
and only then, what was once supernatural
will become natural to us. Once I
sacrifice my natural tendency to
fight for my rights, to fight back, to cut corners in my work (idleness), to
argue with family, to be prideful with my emotions, to call myself teaching
someone a lesson, to act first and think later, or any other thing that seems
really natural to my flesh, then can God really sanctify me. Like Mr. Chambers also said, “Sanctification
means more than being freed from sin. It means the deliberate commitment of
myself to the God of my salvation, and being willing to pay whatever it may
cost.”
And the devil will show
up to lie to us, especially when we are faced with the decision about whether
we have to go with the natural tendency
or sacrifice that natural thing, in order to make room for God to grant us supernatural abilities. The enemy, the world, and our flesh will
all try to convince us that it is impossible to let go of that natural tendency
in a situation. But we have to remember
one thing:
It is not impossible.
Jesus Christ has already given us the power to do anything, within His
will, through the Cross. He has already
given us the power to take authority, to cast down, to walk away, to move past,
to leave behind, to restore, to share, to forgive, and to love. So when the flesh, the world, or the enemy
tells us that we should do what feels natural to us because it is normal,
expected, and alright, we can cast down those lies. As the Lord Jesus reminded me this morning in
John, Chapter 8, in verses 34-36, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever
commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever,
but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be
free indeed.”
Are you willing to sacrifice the natural tendencies to walk
in God’s supernatural abilities?
I am. I am going to need the Spirit to do it in me, but I am willing. Are you?
My Prayer: Father God, thank You for Your finished work
on the Cross through Christ. I ask for
You to help me to cast down all that has seemed natural to my flesh, in order
for me to walk in the supernatural grace, strength, love, and power of the Holy
Spirit through Jesus Christ. Please
guide me in turning away from the things of this world—the natural things—in
order to walk in the power of the spirit—the supernatural things. I ask this for every area of my life and in
everything you have entrusted to me. I
especially ask this for my relationships and in the way You use me as Your
witness. I thank You as I request this
in Jesus’s Mighty Name. Amen.
.
