My Thirty Day Faith Dare - Day Five

Not Conformed to This World – Dare to Believe You Are No Longer of This World

John 18:36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.’

Today’s Truth

Romans 12:1 – Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Today’s Dare: Believe you are no longer of this world.

Today’s truth is speaking to me…

I’ve had a lifelong battle giving up my self, especially my physical self, fully and wholly to the Lord. This chapter resonates with that struggle… it’s all about giving up my needs/rights and giving myself over to God and trusting Him to take care of me, to know what’s best for me.

Often in the Christian world these verses are associated frequently with our sexual selves (oops, did she use the “S” word?!??). Yep, sure did! But I loved that the author also highlights that this means the physical care of ourselves as well – the eating, the drinking, the sleeping, the exercise. Hey, let’s remember that the next time we have a pot luck dinner or ice cream social, hmmm??? How about we let THAT sin out of the closet, shall we? Absolutely, yes, we need to give God our sexual selves, but we also need to give over the temptation/desires/passions that poor eating can bring, or workaholism can bring, etc. Listen to the way the Message offers up Romans 12:1: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.”

God is asking me to…
Look at my bed, look at my checkbook, look at my calendar, look at my meals, my time, my dreams, my attitude, my words/thoughts/deeds, my everything… and lift it up to Him as a spiritual sacrifice, giving up the control of it all. Like the author says, “no more my way with a little Jesus on top.”

My challenge is to…
Let go, walk away from my so-called “rights”… and let God into every single little nook and cranny of any/every thing, and have full 100% control. My challenge is to let Jesus BE the Lord of my life, not just say it, but really truly LIVE it – flat out, radical, and unconditional surrender. Yeah, it sounds real good… but can I do it?

Lord, I’ve tried and failed so many times, but more than ever my heart cries out to You. Would you help me live wholly for You? I surrender all… I surrender all… all to Thee, my precious Savior… I surrender all.