by Beth Fore
“Submit yourselves, then,
to God. Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you.
Come near to God and he
will come near to you.
Wash your hands, you
sinners, and purify your
hearts, you double-minded.
Grieve, mourn and wail.
Change your laughter to
mourning and your joy to
gloom. Humble yourselves
before the Lord, and he
will lift you up.”
(James 4:7-10 NIV)
Take Control, Lord
Please control my thoughts, Lord,
and keep them pure and holy.
Help me think about righteous things
and keep me from sin and folly.
Please control my tongue, Lord,
so that I don’t offend or demean.
Help me say words of encouragement
that come from a heart that is clean.
Please control my behavior, Lord,
as Your wisdom to me You reveal.
Help me study and know Your law
and seek to be obedient to Your will.
Please control my choices, Lord,
and let Your Spirit guide my way.
Help me listen to Your gentle voice
as You speak to me each day.
Please control my circumstances, Lord,
and help me be faithful in all that I do.
Help me be pliable like clay in Your hands
as You mold me into the likeness of You.
Please take control of my life, Lord,
and on your promises I will rely.
Help me live a life of worship and praise
so that I lift up Your name on high.
by Beth Fore
*Submission to God’s will, rather than our own will, is very difficult for us to do;but, it is absolutely necessary if we want to be in an intimate relationship with God.
“Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.” (James 4:7 NIV)
As human beings, we desire close, personal, intimate relationships with other people. We also desire to know and understand our Creator, and we want to be close and intimate with Him. This type of intimacy is possible for us, but we must be willing to choose God’s will for our lives over our own wills. This is very difficult. We are also aware that God’s will for our life may lead us far away on a path we are not so sure we want to travel. Submission means we love and respect God enough to trust and obey Him, regardless of what He has in store for us.
When we do submit to God, we give him control over everything, including our thoughts, our tongue, our behavior, our choices, our circumstances, and everything in our life. Many of us are independent, strong personalities who are used to making decisions for ourselves and others; we like to be in control. It takes a true love and commitment to God to choose to submit to Him.
The scripture implies that once we submit ourselves to God, we can then resist the devil. We can resist Him because we have completely submitted ourselves to God. God will empower us to resist Satan, and Satan will flee from us if he cannot deceive us and persuade us to do what he wants. Once Satan flees, our relationship with God will become even more intimate.
APPLICATIONS
- Is it difficult for you to submit to God’s will for your life? Why do you think this is so?
- In your everyday work and home life, are you a person in charge of making decisions for others? Does this help you, or hurt you, in choosing to submit to God’s control?
- Choose an area of your life that you have difficulty submitting to God. Pray about this area for a week. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and help you pray that God will help you submit this area to Him.
- Sometimes Satan really tempts us with special pleasures we enjoy that are sinful. What are some things we can do to resist him so that we don’t give in to him?
- Do you have the close relationship with God that you desire to have? If not, how can you draw closer to Him?
If you want to learn more about what it means to be a Christian or to become a Christian, click this link: https://woww.newlifebehavior.org/what-it-means-to-follow-jesus-how-to-become-a-christian/ If you have questions, please send us an email at nlbiministry@gmail.com.
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