{"id":7936,"date":"2012-12-11T06:32:25","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T14:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wordpress\/?p=7936"},"modified":"2012-12-11T07:30:38","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T15:30:38","slug":"individuality-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=7936","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Jesus said to His disciples, \u2019If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . .\u2019 \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?version=31&amp;search=Matthew+16%3A24\" target=\"_blank\">Matthew 16:24<\/a><\/h1>\n<p><!-- .entry-meta --><!-- .entry-header -->\u00a0<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1OaqjPt8phA\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"620\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<section>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. But our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself, but individuality corrupts that human nature for its own purposes.<\/section>\n<p>The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. We hinder our spiritual growth more than any other way by continually asserting our individuality. If you say, \u201cI can\u2019t believe,\u201d 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, \u201cI will not surrender,\u201d 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 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+5:23-24\">Matthew 5:23-24<\/a>). It is your individuality that refuses to \u201cbe reconciled to your brother\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+5:24\">Matthew 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. \u201c. . . let him deny himself . . .\u201d\u2014 deny his independent right to himself. Then the real life-the spiritual life-is allowed the opportunity to grow.<\/p>\n<p>_________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>December 11, 2012<\/p>\n<p>Lord, it seems lately that I have been consumed by my own issues and opportunities and frankly Lord, I needed this devotional. I needed to be reminded that it is not just population\u2026me.\u00a0 I needed this reminder that life is not my\u00a0 movie around which everyone else plays a supporting role to my lead character.\u00a0 Lord, help me see myself not\u00a0 as an individual but as part of Your kingdom.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>And God says\u2026\u201d The enemy would like you to feel like an individual, isolated, and alone even in your victories; and especially in your pain. But you are not alone, ever. I hold you in my hands and arms as I do everyone. And I loved them all even before they loved Me.\u00a0 Seek Me in all you do\u2026stay connected to Me and you will feel and act on your connection to others. When you are connected to Me, you will be connected to others as I live through you, reaching out and connecting all the time. One way to determine if we are truly connected is your connection with others. When you are reaching out naturally, it is an extension of you and I being connected. When you feel isolated, check<br \/>\nyour connection with Me. Seek first the kingdom of God, which is Jesus \u2026\u2026..\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jesus said to His disciples, \u2019If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . .\u2019 \u2014Matthew 16:24 \u00a0 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 [&hellip;]<\/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\/7936"}],"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=7936"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7951,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7936\/revisions\/7951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}