{"id":13654,"date":"2015-11-18T09:12:21","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T14:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=13654"},"modified":"2015-11-18T10:37:14","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T15:37:14","slug":"winning-into-freedom-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=13654","title":{"rendered":"Winning into Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. \u2014John 8:36<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NF12TPWcLNE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nIf there is even a trace of individual self-satisfaction left in us, it always says, \u201cI can\u2019t surrender,\u201d or \u201cI can\u2019t be free.\u201d But the spiritual part of our being never says \u201cI can\u2019t\u201d; it simply soaks up everything around it. Our spirit hungers for more and more. It is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us from sin\u2014 we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality. This means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so He may transform it into spiritual life through our obedience.<\/p>\n<p>God pays no attention to our natural individuality in the development of our spiritual life. His plan runs right through our natural life. We must see to it that we aid and assist God, and not stand against Him by saying, \u201cI can\u2019t do that.\u201d God will not discipline us; we must discipline ourselves. God will not bring our \u201carguments\u2026and every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ\u201d (2 Corinthians 10:5)\u2014 we have to do it. Don\u2019t say, \u201cOh, Lord, I suffer from wandering thoughts.\u201d Don\u2019t suffer from wandering thoughts. Stop listening to the tyranny of your individual natural life and win freedom into the spiritual life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the Son makes you free\u2026.\u201d Do not substitute Savior for Son in this passage. The Savior has set us free from sin, but this is the freedom that comes from being set free from myself by the Son. It is what Paul meant in Galatians 2:20 when he said, \u201cI have been crucified with Christ\u2026.\u201d His individuality had been broken and his spirit had been united with his Lord; not just merged into Him, but made one with Him. \u201c\u2026you shall be free indeed\u201d\u2014 free to the very core of your being; free from the inside to the outside. We tend to rely on our own energy, instead of being energized by the power that comes from identification with Jesus.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/A8JsRxVczmQ\" width=\"620\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>_________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>November 18 2015<\/p>\n<p>Journal Entry for Today-JDV<\/p>\n<p>Lord, this looks at first glance like one more of those \u201ciron sharpening iron\u201d devotionals I am about to study with Oswald Chambers; especially when he says\u2026\u201d<em>we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality.\u201c <\/em>But then, just when I get all worked up to debate the issue, he redeems himself with\u2026\u201dThis means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so He may transform it into spiritual life \u201c. But then once more Chambers adds these last three words, \u201cthrough our obedience\u201d and seems to suggest that we must first add our own strength and power to the equation. \u00a0I seem to be arguing in my mind and heart with Chambers about how much and what kind of power, strength or discipline we are supposed to add to the equation in order to be surrendered.<\/p>\n<p>In my own experience, I find I am unable to be the man I want to be through my sheer will, discipline and practiced obedience. \u00a0And there are sufficient scriptures to tell me I can do nothing apart from You. Like John 15:5 (NIV) 5 \u201cI am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing\u201d So Lord which is it? Must we gather our strength and deliver ourselves from our individuality?<\/p>\n<p>And God says\u2026\u201d<em>Apart from Me you can do nothing\u201d. In your own strength, you can only be human, frail and full of failure. And when you realize this, you can surrender. Your strength flows directly from the Holy Spirit to and through you as you \u201cgive up\u201d. \u00a0As the song says, you do not have to be strong enough. God is not your co-pilot. God is your pilot, copilot, and engineer. You are the passenger.\u00a0 You have surrendered your right to control your life to Me. And from that single act, you are able to do all things through Christ Jesus, because you no longer live, it is Christ Jesus that lives within you. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>You and Chambers are not that far apart, and it is perfectly alright to disagree about certain things, especially as language, culture, and semantics try to divert understanding. \u00a0But the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. Simply surrender yourself, be connected to Jesus, and live out of that. You will find that all things, including disagreement, work together for the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. \u2014John 8:36 If there is even a trace of individual self-satisfaction left in us, it always says, \u201cI can\u2019t surrender,\u201d or \u201cI can\u2019t be free.\u201d But the spiritual part of our being never says \u201cI can\u2019t\u201d; it simply soaks up everything around it. Our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13654"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13654"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13659,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13654\/revisions\/13659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}