The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,” whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. “. . . He has anointed Me . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives . . .” (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, “Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like,” you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, “He will break every fetter,” while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.__________________________________________

 

March 14, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, I once believed that if I gave You my trials and tribulations that you could and would make them all go away.  Then You taught me (and are still helping me   understand) that while you can (and very often do) take away the difficult circumstances; Jesus has the power to leave me inside my difficult circumstances, and transform Me so that I experience peace, happiness and joy.  And I have this peace, happiness and joy, regardless of the circumstance. Thank you Jesus.

And God says…”Seek first the kingdom of God; acknowledge the Lord in all your ways, and I will give you all that you need to live life and life more abundantly. I will make all your paths straight.When you come to Jesus and yield yourself completely to Him, you discover that He keeps you complete regardless of your circumstance. “