DAILY DEVOTIONAL FROM PASTOR WESLEY March 21, 2022

A Yielded Life

True freedom requires giving God control of our life.

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:7-10

One of the hardest things for us to bear is not having control over our own circumstances. But as Christians, this is exactly how we are called to live. Jesus made this very clear when He said we must deny ourselves and lose our life for His sake (Luke 9:23-24). He is now our Lord and Master, and we no longer have the right to rule over ourselves.

However, we have no cause for fear because God is an infinitely good, wise, and loving ruler. Furthermore, left to ourselves, we will make foolish mistakes and unwise decisions. That’s why we should delight in submitting to the Lord, trusting Him to control every aspect of our life.

Yielding ourselves to the Lord is a two-part process. Submission to Him necessitates resisting the devil. And drawing near to God requires turning from sin, purifying our hearts, and cleansing our behavior. If any of these factors are lacking, then we haven’t truly submitted to the Lord as He desires but are trying to control certain aspects of our life.

Instead of seeing submission as a loss, we must recognize it as eternal gain. If we humble ourselves before God, He promises to exalt us.

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