Taking Possession of Our Own Soul

May 20th, 2014 by JDVaughn Leave a reply »

By your patience possess your souls —Luke 21:19


When a person is born again, there is a period of time when he does not have the same vitality in his thinking or reasoning that he previously had. We must learn to express this new life within us, which comes by forming the mind of Christ (see Philippians 2:5). Luke 21:19 means that we take possession of our souls through patience. But many of us prefer to stay at the entrance to the Christian life, instead of going on to create and build our soul in accordance with the new life God has placed within us. We fail because we are ignorant of the way God has made us, and we blame things on the devil that are actually the result of our own undisciplined natures. Just think what we could be when we are awakened to the truth!There are certain things in life that we need not pray about— moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with is simply that we won’t. The Christian life is one of spiritual courage and determination lived out in our flesh.______________________________________________________________________
May 20, 2014

Journal Entry for Today-JDV 

Lord, once again I read Chambers’ devotional and it reads like one of the many devotionals and sermons of the early  20th Century or one of the conservative sermons I have heard over and over and over; just grit your teeth pull yourself up from your bootstraps and become a better Christian. Great advice, it was great advice the first time I heard it 300 sermons ago.  But how do we live it out? How do we really pull ourselves up, and add the spiritual courage and determination that Chambers talks about?

I used this song because it seems to me the gritting of teeth and acts of will and determination have never really worked and you have been teaching us that the only way to live it out is to be intimately connected to You and Your love.

 

And God said…”The song says it well; all I ever wanted was your love.  I did not want a productive Adam in the garden; I simply wanted a relationship with him. I did not want to give you 10 rules for living, which was their idea, I wanted a relationship. I do not want your self will regardless of its morality.  I want you. I want you connected to Me in a way that allows your weakness and surrender to be converted into my strength….daily. It is good to think about your Christian courage and determination, but that can only truly arise out of your daily surrender and our intimate relationship. Trust in Me in all your ways and do not rely on your own understanding or actions, and I will make your paths straight.”

 

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