{"id":364,"date":"2009-12-10T19:00:20","date_gmt":"2009-12-11T03:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wordpress\/?p=364"},"modified":"2009-12-11T08:51:39","modified_gmt":"2009-12-11T16:51:39","slug":"individuality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=364","title":{"rendered":"Individuality 12-11-2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jesus said to His disciples, \u2019If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . .\u2019 \u2014Matthew 16:24<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I hate this song! \u00a0I love this song! \u00a0 It speaks right to where He has us…… Staying connected to Him and eliminating the obstacles to that pre-eminent objective. \u00a0 Whatever the cost. \u00a0Whatever the collateral damage to my pride or career or….. or…. Bring the Rain… djr<\/strong><\/p>\n

Individuality is the hard outer layer surrounding the inner spiritual life. Individuality shoves others aside, separating and isolating people. We see it as the primary characteristic of a child, and rightly so. When we confuse individuality with the spiritual life, we remain isolated. This shell of individuality is God\u2019s created natural covering designed to protect the spiritual life. \"PictureBut our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. <\/strong>Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ouch! \u00a0 \u00a0 I was thinking that individuality was a good thing. \u00a0 I see that it must be filtered and pummelled by the Holy Spirit if it is to have value in the Kingdom \u00a0 djr<\/em><\/p>\n

However, when we think about it individuality….true individuality has no basis in self. We become true individuals when we do not seek to become “different”, we simply seek to become one with God. The character of God shines through, others see it and sense it in us. And true to God’s character, He has once again made us different but the same, …in His image. He made us complex and unique but part of a singular body. God understands our need for individuality and like all our other needs has provided for it.\u00a0JDV<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 12:18<\/sup><\/p>\n

18<\/sup>But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19<\/sup>If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20<\/sup>As it is, there are many parts, but one body.<\/p>\n

Psalm 139:13 (GN) says this: “You (God) created every part of me. You put me together in my mother’s womb.<\/em>” In the Living Bible, verse 14\u00a0says: <\/em>“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous.<\/em>” Job 10:8a (GN) says:\u00a0“Your hands formed and shaped me.<\/em><\/p>\n

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God designed human nature for Himself, but individuality corrupts that human nature for its own purposes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. We hinder our spiritual growth more than any other way by continually asserting our individuality.<\/p>\n

Any other way? \u00a0Oh crap! \u00a0I thought that was my main gift. It is\u00a0or can be, it simply must be a gift from God and not ourselves. JDV….<\/span><\/em>There is no need to abandon our individuality, we are simply to abandon it to God.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

If you say, “I can\u2019t believe,” it is because your individuality is blocking the way; individuality can never believe. But our spirit cannot help believing. Watch yourself closely when the Spirit of God is at work in you. He pushes you to the limits of your individuality where a choice must be made. The choice is either to say, “I will not surrender,” or to surrender, breaking the hard shell of individuality, which allows the spiritual life to emerge. The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (see\u00a0Matthew 5:23-24<\/a> ).<\/p>\n

23<\/sup>“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,24<\/sup>leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.<\/p>\n

It is your individuality that refuses to “be reconciled to your brother” (\u00a0Matthew 5:24<\/a> ). God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot. “. . . let him deny himself . . .”\u2014 deny his independent right to himself. Then the real life-the spiritual life-is allowed the opportunity to grow.<\/p>\n

I wonder what that guy will look like. \u00a0 I’ve been so individualistic and contrarian and busy making sure I was coloring outside the lines and marching to no freaking drum \u00a0and rebelling against authority that I dont know what and where the real me is…. djr No but God knows and that is all that matters. Him knowing and us letting Him exercise His will in shaping us. JDV<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I suspect that when God is done with me, there will still be some contrarianism and swimming upstream and going against the grain. \u00a0Jesus did that, didn’t he? \u00a0But \u00a0I see now that my main objective, \u00a0His main objective in me is to get me swimming in his current<\/strong><\/em>, going with his grain,<\/strong><\/em> marching to His drum<\/strong><\/em> and then I can color outside all the other lines, swim against all other currents, and disregard all other drummers. \u00a0 Be contrarian to my hearts content. \u00a0 But come home to connection with Papa<\/strong><\/em> on all the things that are important to His Heart. \u00a0 djr<\/em><\/p>\n

True individuality emerges when the Spirit of God is allowed to work in our lives. God shapes us and molds us as he would a snowflake once we let go of ourselves. JDV<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for being with me and blessing me yesterday. \u00a0Sneaking up on me. \u00a0Pouring blessings on me. \u00a0 I was, like CS Lewis, surprised by joy<\/span><\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0 Let’s go do that again today! \u00a0 and every day. djr<\/em><\/p>\n

Yesterday I took courage from God and faced some issues “head on” ……….I did not want to address the issues,\u00a0 and so I let go of them and God faced them for me. I discovered it was\/is OK to be frightened as long as I use it as part of my dashboard to tell me I need to be connected to the Spirit of God in that area of my life. JDV<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n


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Jesus said to His disciples, \u2019If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . .\u2019 \u2014Matthew 16:24 I hate this song! \u00a0I love this song! \u00a0 It speaks right to where He has us…… Staying connected to Him and eliminating the obstacles to that pre-eminent objective. \u00a0 Whatever the cost. \u00a0Whatever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,7,5,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=364"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions\/385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}