God is up to something!

  There is this wonderful and liberating paradox we run across in the Christian life. First we are to take responsibility for our actions, and we have free will to do so. We can not palm off the blame on the devil as Flip Wilson use to say, "The Devil made me do it". We are decision makers and can choose the path we take. On the other hand we are to be surrendered to God. Our lives are to be totally laid before Him.
   Our lives are to be projected onto the greater backdrop of the Lordship of Jesus. To call Jesus Lord is to state your relinquishing of control to Him.
   When we invite the Holy Spirit to fill us we are no longer calling the shots. Even our self control becomes a product of His work (Galatians 5:22-23) We don't get to be in union with God's Spirit so we can choose the road we will travel. The action of the Holy Spirit is referred to as "like a wind" in the New Testament (John 3, Acts 2); this is not a wind that you can give orders to, you can not command this wind, it "goes where it wills". If you are going to partner with the Holy Spirit you must surrender and align yourself with God's agenda, and I assure you He is up to something.
   We can close ourselves off and go through the motions of being a Christian, impress people, feel good about ourselves, but until we surrender to God we can never be totally a partner with the work of the Holy Spirit; God in you.
   But God's plan is send us out into the world to testify to His great works and love. We can not do this without Him at the wheel. We need to surrender that wheel to him; As you surrender to His Lordship, then the Holy Spirit of God can work through us.

Alter Call

  
  Brothers and sisters, God has shown you his mercy. So I am asking you to offer up your bodies to him while you are still alive. Your bodies are a holy sacrifice that is pleasing to God. When you offer your bodies to God, you are worshiping him. (Romans 12:1)

Step 1: Build an alter to God.

Step 2: Put your life on it.

Step 3: Wait and see what God does with it.

  We are a part of something so large, so awesome, as we follow Jesus. Sometimes it's hard to comprehend the full magnitude of what we have signed up for when we asked Jesus into our hearts. It's enough though to realize that we are apart of something large and awesome and that God's hand is guiding it all. We can take comfort that our lives lived, offered up to him as a living sacrifice, is all we need to do to be a part of this miraculous adventure that Jesus leads us in.
  As we take God's love that He's given us, and share it with the world, we can rejoice that the largeness and awesomeness of God is being revealed through us.
  Wow! A kind word, a giving act and there is God in our midst. And these are no small miracles. There are no small miracles. A hand held out to help is as powerful as a hand held out to heal if it is done from a heart of love.
  So as we step out today, take God's love into the world and give it as extravagantly as he did toward us. Let the world see what God is doing with your life. In so doing we invite others to experience the miraculous adventure of living in God's kingdom.