Are you wondering about the title? Well I would like for you
to come with me on a journey I have been on for a few weeks, a journey that
will move me upward in the call of God on my life. It is the journey of
sanctification. Sanctification is a life time process that transforms us from
who we were to who He desires for us to be.
At the time of salvation a transformation from the old man
to the new man takes place. Death to the old will bring a resurrection of the
new. God brings the death and the resurrection, yet we are to bury the old and
keep it buried.
Romans 6:4-12 Therefore we were buried with Him through
baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5. For if we
have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall
be in the likeness of His resurrection. 6 knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away, that we should no
longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now
if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing
that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer
has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for
all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11. Likewise you also, reckon
yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it
in its lusts.
The problem most Christians find is that they continue to
allow the old man (old nature) to rise up out of the grave and have rule in
their lives. The dying process is a daily process not a once in a lifetime, or
once a week or once a month.
Luke 9:23-24 Then He said to them all, If anyone desires to
come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me
24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for My sake will save it.
This self-denial is what we call “crucifying self, or dying
to self” it is surrendering our will, our wants, our desires, our ways to His
will, His wants, His desires, and His ways.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live by faith in
the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
There comes a time when God will speak to us the need to let
go of old ways, old thinking and even old teachings, even ministries we are
involved in, these may not be bad things
yet they are ways, thinking and teachings that may be hindering us from moving
forward to the next level in our walk with Him. Our walk or I like to use the
term journey is always moving forward and upward, as Paul says in Philippians.
Philippians 3:14 I press toward the goal for the prize the
upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
When God reveals an area that needs to be buried and placed
in the grave, we are to respond in obedience and place it in the grave. In the
grave is where you will find the place of surrender, yet, not without a
struggle. As God began to reveal to me that I had a stronghold, a mindset that
I needed to let go of, first of all I entered into denial, I just couldn’t
believe I actually had that way of thinking it was a thinking that has held me
in bondage for years, throughout the years He has revealed little by little of
a mindset that was not allowing me victory; a victory I so desired. When I
agreed with my Lord that this was an area that needed to change and to be
placed in the grave now that was me acting in obedience. Now here you find me
in the grave and suddenly I find myself in a battle to get out of the grave.
Spiritual warfare now begins, the enemy will begin to send thoughts to give you
a counter offer; for me the thought he kept sending was: “you would be better
off continuing to do what and how you have been doing things, because the other
way is too uncertain.” It is the uncertainty that will get you every time.
Uncertainty brings fear, and we know that fear is the opposite of faith, it
also brings doubt, doubting that you are really hearing God correctly. My
pastor had a message the other Wednesday night and in the message he said “Some
would rather stay in their suffering because at least they understood their
suffering.” That would be me; though I was suffering greatly, continuing to do
things as I had been was better than the uncertain future. So here I am in the
grave engaged in warfare, now comes the wrestling. I begin to wrestle with
myself and to wrestle with God, wrestling with myself was exhausting, it was
wanting to do as God directed and at the same time wanting to hang on to the
last bit of control. Wrestling with God is that time of saying “Help me let go,
help me to obey and surrender completely, I don’t want to and I want to, bless
me God because I need you.”
So it was God was asking me to do something that I really
didn’t want to do. Something that took humility, something that left me without
a crutch, something that I believed if He asked me to do would be the very
thing I needed to do that would help me in the journey and out of my suffering.
So I did it, and I saw the last shovel of dirt poured over my grave. I felt
immediate rest and peace; the burden of the decision was done. Then in two days
the thing I was supposed to do and did was destroyed. It looked like I had
heard wrong, but I knew that I hadn’t.
So now you find in the grave in a time of reflecting, this
is the time of resting in the position I am in and allowing the Holy Spirit to
feed me with previous messages from the word and remembering scriptures and
people that we were given examples of; that I would need to continue remaining
at rest and peace. I began to remember these words: “Obedience is the key that
unlocks your destiny, obedience is the key to doing the Father’s will,
obedience to the Father puts us in the position to fight the giant (like
David), obedience unlocks and keeps us.” And these words: “Between the dream
and the destiny there is always development (character development). Walking in
covenant does not always look like we are blessed and does not eliminate
suffering, is not passive and it requires perseverance.” (Joseph) So here I am
realizing that when God asked me to do what He did,was Him wanting obedience
from me, Him desiring me to be surrendered to His will, His way. It was not
about changing the circumstance it was about changing me in the circumstance.
So here I lay, 6ft under, dirt piled over me, my
circumstance hasn’t changed, in fact you might look and say it has gotten worse
(imagine that). Do you realize that when you are in this yielded, surrendered
position you have only one view to look at, and that is looking UP. I look up
from where I lay and I have the hope and the assurance that what has died and
what has been buried will one day arise in the resurrection power of Christ
Jesus my Lord. So here has been my grave experience, here is the place I find
myself, allowing the Holy Spirit to make the necessary changes in me for the
next phase of my journey. More to come.
Reminder to check out the bible study web site at www.lindagroberts.com
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