Conformed…
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 15: Total Surrender”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Conform:
- To be or act in accord with a set of standards, expectations, or specifications
- To act, often unquestioningly, in accordance with traditional customs or prevailing standards.
- To be similar in form or pattern.
So what are you conforming to? What set of standards, expectations or specifications mold your thoughts and activities?
Naturally, it can become the people around you, the cultural norms of your community or the standards set by your work or school environment.
Jim Rohn, an American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” People around us shape our ideas, our habits, our motivations.
From thefreemanonline.com, “Culture includes the totality of people’s way of life, from their dressing up to their manner of eating, beliefs, language, norms, and values. People view the world from where they are coming from and consequently react according to their culture.” Culture around us shapes our ideas, our habits, our motivations.
What else pressures you to conform?
Media, peers, desire to be loved, yearning for acceptance, and more. So many things around us pressure us to conform.
The question is, “How many of them are conforming us to the ways of the world and how many are conforming us to the ways of the Lord?”
Paul wrote in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1).
Paul knew that the starting point and the natural gravitational point is to conform to the world. The world in which we live has a proportionately greater influence on our hearts and minds. So to follow Jesus completely, we need the Spirit’s help to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
What does that look like? Consider the following four encouragements:
- Think about the things of God: Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
- Fill your mind with the words of God: Ephesians 4:11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
- Surround yourself with the people of God: Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
- Spend time in prayer with God: Philippians 4:6Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
The world is not going to stop trying to conform your heart, mind and will to its patterns and ways of being. While the easiest, that path is not blessed. Under the shadow of grace and motivated by the love of God, put your mind, heart, and will in a position to be conformed to the mind, heart and will of God! Enjoy the blessings that come as a result!
Apply: What do you/can you do to allow God’s Spirit to influence your mind more each day/each week?
Prayer: Lord thank you for loving us so much not just to come to this world to live, die and rise again, but for calling us out of the world to enjoy the blessings of your Spirit conforming our mind, heart and will to yours. Forgive us when we fail. Encourage us to bring your influence into every day of our lives. AMEN.
ALL in!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 15: Total Surrender”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
ALL in.
Total. Complete. Exclude nothing. Include everything.
Following Jesus is an ALL in proposition.
We like to make exceptions in our own mind for why 50% or 75% will do.
We’d rather have a “MOSTLY in” proposition.
We wouldn’t be alone. Jesus had to remind a few people of the cost of leaving all and following him:
Luke 9:57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”
62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
It perhaps is easy up front to say, “Yes, Lord I will follow you!” As Jesus goes a little deeper, he challenges the “part in” with the “all in.”
Lord, I will follow you, but…first…let me…
How would you end that statement?
I’ll be all in Lord, but first, let me retire.
I’ll be all in Lord, but first, let me finish raising my kids.
I’ll be all in Lord, but first, let me make more money.
When we are called to “total surrender” it can conjure up a plethora of things we feel we have to do before we can be “all in” for Jesus.
Jesus is pretty blunt. Let me put it in my own words. “If you aren’t all in, you’re not in.”
It’s not that we don’t earn a living or attend a funeral for a loved one, it’s releasing our heart to make the Lord Jesus our focus in every aspect of life.
Jesus is looking for a first commandment type loyalty that leads us to have no other gods before him. It leads us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). It leads us, “In view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1).
When we totally surrender and are all in for the Lord, we can still raise our kids…but we are doing it with a primary desire for them to love the Lord and walk in his ways. We can still have a career and earn a living, but we do it with the heart that wants to serve others and glorify God at all times. We can retire, but we do it with a realization I’m not retiring from the Lord, I’m just changing seasons.
All in means the Lord is in all we are and all we do.
Why would we have it any other way!
Apply: Evaluate your heart. What percentage “in” are you? Ask the Lord to equip you more and more to do that which he called you to do!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for calling me to follow you. Allow me to trust that as I give up things of this world to follow you, I will find greater “wealth,” significance and purpose in following you! AMEN.
What Drives You?
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 15: Total Surrender”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
What drives you?
The 2022 Winter Olympics have begun. While I haven’t watched much yet this year, there is always intrigue behind the story of the athletes. Often times in interviews, athletes will share why they got into the sport and what keeps them going. It could be the desire to be the top of their sport. I could be to honor a parent who has since passed away. It could be a competition with a fellow athlete to outdo each other. Whatever it is, the motivation is strong enough to sacrifice many other things to put in the time, energy and effort to practice and then compete at the highest level.
What motivates a Christian to fully commit to follow Jesus?
2 Corinthians 5:14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
Christ’s love compels us.
One died for all.
Dying for someone is the ultimate sacrifice one can make for another.
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
When we realize the “all in” that Jesus exhibited to orchestrate my forgiveness and salvation, it’s a compelling reason to give all of my life back to him.
Living for the Lord is both a “dying” and a “rising” reality.
We die to self. The sinful, selfish nature with which we are born and from which we naturally operate is the part of us that needs to be crucified, buried and left for dead. Our focus is no longer what WE can gain out of life or what WE can get from others, but rather is one in which we LIVE for the Lord and to serve the people around us. Following Jesus is a new life for us. It’s one that enjoys the reality of forgiveness, the joy of life, and the peace to know that what I go through is to be an eternal blessing for us.
Living for the Lord is our new purpose. It’s the driving reason we do what we do.
Just like I am sure Olympic athletes have days on which they don’t feel like practicing or competing, but then they remember their “Why.” With their “why” clearly in mind and heart, they go after it once again.
Our why in life is the love of Christ.
His love for us is immense. To follow him is what it compels us to do!
Apply: Think of what is on your agenda today. How can you make all you do today living for the Lord and others?
Prayer: Lord Jesus thank you for giving your all for me. It compels me to give my all back to you. Help me each day to do that! AMEN.
Is it time to surrender?
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 15: Total Surrender”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Do you know what the shortest battle on record is before one army surrendered to another?
In modern era, one might guess the Iraq war when in 100 hours the ground assault was over and Iraq surrendered. However, the shortest war on record was fought between Britain and Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania) on August 27, 1896. The huge British fleet issued an ultimatum to the sultan of Zanzibar, then followed with 38 minutes of bombardment before the badly mismatched sultan surrendered!
No one enters a battle planning to surrender. Military objectives assume victory. Usually one side doesn’t surrender until all options of victory are exhausted.
When you surrender, it means you yield control to the one you were fighting. You become servant to the one who won, or at least under their control. Your will is now subjected to the one to whom you surrendered.
From a human standpoint, it seems that total surrender would not be a good thing. It means we have to give up our control to someone else.
Yet, that is what the Christian life is all about: Total Surrender
What does it mean? What does it not mean? Who is surrendering to whom?
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
What Jesus teaches is quite compelling and commands total commitment. Jesus had just explained to his disciples that he would be moving forward with a path that involved suffering and death. Peter, naturally, rebuked Jesus and said, “This will never happen.” Yet Jesus had surrendered his life to the will of his Father, even if it meant heading to the cross.
Jesus wasn’t “giving up” as one defeated, but yielding his life and will to his Father. It was a voluntary surrender, not a forced one.
“Whoever wants to be…” This is a statement of reality. Jesus wasn’t going to force his disciples to make this sacrifice, but invite it under the shadow of his willingness to yield all for their benefit and salvation.
Matthew 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Jesus would not surrender to the enemy, but to his Father. He yielded his will to his Father because he knew the importance of the mission to bring all people to himself.
Surrender for the Christian isn’t giving in to the enemy, Satan, but rather giving up our sinful nature will to follow the grace-filled will of our Savior Jesus. It is a surrender that isn’t forced by defeat, but one that is yielded because of victory. Surrender is a recognition that my will, my plans, my life is better following the Lord Jesus than it would be if I tried to figure it all out myself.
So how does that happen? We’ll explore this week!
Apply: Reflect on Matthew 16:24-26. What do you think “taking up your cross” means as it pertains to following Jesus?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for taking up your cross and following your Father’s will to complete our salvation. Help my with your Spirit’s strength to take up my cross and follow you!
Stay Focused…in everything you do!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 14: Single-Mindedness”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
God has a sense of humor.
This week our theme has been “Single-mindedness”…staying focused on the Lord.
I pray I am working to stay focused on the Lord, but this week has been anything but easy to stay focused…on anything! I am realizing how easily my focus can be altered…as evidenced by a missing devotion from yesterday (Thursday) morning!
Our church is doing renovations and updates and we are extremely grateful to the Builders for Christ Volunteers that have been working…but to keep them working I keep running for supplies!
I am writing this at our winter conference in Houston…which has proven to be a winter conference with freezing rain, sleet and snow in Austin which in Texas meant covering plants Wednesday morning and making sure anything that could freeze didn’t! I woke up yesterday morning and took 1.5 hours to decide whether to hit the roads or just not go to conference. Our closing devotion leader was not able to come so I was asked at last minute to provide a closing devotion today for our conference.
So yes, I am a bit distracted.
But I hope I am still focused.
Because in all the things I am doing by intention or reaction, I want to stay single-minded. I don’t want the tasks of life to distract from the purpose of life.
In everything I do, I desire to do the will of God to the glory of God.
Don’t you?
But don’t you have those weeks where you are pulled in many different directions?
So how do we keep our single-minded focus?
Remember the Lord’s encouragement: Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Let every activity that fills your schedule be a reflection of your love for the Lord. If you can’t do it with love in your heart to the Lord, perhaps it’s better left off the schedule.
Remember God’s promise from our key verse, “Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and ALL these things will be added to you as well.”
Perhaps there are things that are taking your time that are getting in the way of your relationship with the Lord. Maybe it’s time to de-prioritize them. Maybe there are things in your schedule that you do because your heart is overly worried that God won’t provide. Maybe it’s time to remember the promises of God.
Perhaps the way to stay single-minded is to be reminded of these two things:
a. In Christ, God has already taken care of our BIGGEST need…Salvation. He has done what we never could and given to us what we could never earn. He has solved the problem of sin and provided us an eternal solution in Jesus.
So with the argument from the greater to the lesser, if God has already taken care of our biggest need, can he not also take care of our smaller needs? Absolutely!
b. Christ, as we put him first for our biggest need, will take care of our smallest needs as well.
Enjoy your day and your weekend…whatever is on your schedule, keep the Lord first and see him fulfill his promise to you to care for your small needs even as he took care of your biggest need.
Apply: Reflect on your activities this week. What helped you stay focused on the Lord? What hindered? Throw out the things that hinder and do more of the things that helped!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for taking care of my biggest problem of sin and giving me salvation. Thank you also for your gracious hand that opens and satisfies all my little needs as well! AMEN.