{"id":4118,"date":"2011-02-24T06:09:02","date_gmt":"2011-02-24T14:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wordpress\/?p=4118"},"modified":"2011-02-24T07:38:44","modified_gmt":"2011-02-24T15:38:44","slug":"the-delight-of-sacrifice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=4118","title":{"rendered":"The Delight of Sacrifice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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February 24, 2011<\/div>\n
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I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls . . . \u20142 Corinthians 12:15<\/a><\/div>\n
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Once \u201cthe love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,\u201d we deliberately begin to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ\u2019s interests and purposes in others\u2019 lives (Romans 5:5<\/a>). And Jesus has an interest in every individual person. We have no right in Christian service to be guided by our own interests and desires. In fact, this is one of the greatest tests of our relationship with Jesus Christ. \"\"<\/a>The delight of sacrifice is that I lay down my life for my Friend, Jesus (see\u00a0John 15:13<\/a>). I don\u2019t throw my life away, but I willingly and deliberately lay it down for Him and His interests in other people. And I do this for no cause or purpose of my own. Paul spent his life for only one purpose\u2014 that he might win people to Jesus Christ. Paul always attracted people to his Lord, but never to himself. He said, \u201cI have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some\u201d (1 Corinthians 9:22<\/a>).<\/p>\n

When someone thinks that to develop a holy life he must always be alone with God, he is no longer of any use to others. This is like putting himself on a pedestal and isolating himself from the rest of society. Paul was a holy person, but wherever he went Jesus Christ was always allowed to help Himself to his life. Many of us are interested only in our own goals, and Jesus cannot help Himself to our lives. But if we are totally surrendered to Him, we have no goals of our own to serve. Paul said that he knew how to be a \u201cdoormat\u201d without resenting it, because the motivation of his life was devotion to Jesus. We tend to be devoted, not to Jesus Christ, but to the things which allow us more spiritual freedom than total surrender to Him would allow. Freedom was not Paul\u2019s motive at all. In fact, he stated, \u201cI could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren . . .\u201d (Romans 9:3<\/a>). Had Paul lost his ability to reason? Not at all! For someone who is in love, this is not an overstatement. And Paul was in love with Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

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February 24, 2011<\/p>\n

The memorial services for Mike were held\u00a0yesterday. \u00a0It was clear that God had His hand on and in the services.\u00a0 Even though the services were not integrated, only the immediate family could\u00a0 tell the difference Lord. But why was it necessary to have two services Lord? Why was there such turmoil and chaos surrounding Mike\u2019s passing?<\/p>\n

And God Says\u2026\u201dIt was all organized, planned and executed for the good of those that love Me, and those that will love Me.\u00a0It was\u00a0for My honor and glory.\u00a0 There was turmoil, strong emotions, passionate people, and there was Jesus. Against such a backdrop, more people\u00a0could see Jesus as He was manifest in you and others.\u00a0 Trust in Me and do not rely on your own understanding. Mike\u2019s passing continues to serve Me, as I continue to touch others as a result.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February 24, 2011 \u00a0 I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls . . . \u20142 Corinthians 12:15 Once \u201cthe love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,\u201d we deliberately begin to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ\u2019s interests and purposes in others\u2019 lives (Romans 5:5). And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4118"}],"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=4118"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4129,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4118\/revisions\/4129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}