Lord, teach me to submit...

I was born again Easter Sunday 2014. Since then my journey with Christ Jesus has been amazing. Frustrating at times as well, but even so, AMAZING!!

About a year and a half ago, I battled in my mind, trying my best to submit to Jesus. No matter what or how hard I tried, I just couldn’t seem to consistently submit to Jesus and His Word. Not that I didn’t want to, but I just seemed to fail much more than I wished. I prayed and prayed for the Lord to step in and help me. It felt as if I wasn’t getting anywhere.

I read in the Bible where His disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, so I decided to ask Jesus to teach me to submit. I prayed for about a month, no answer. Or so it seemed. No matter what I tried to study, no matter how much I prayed, NO ANSWER! I finally had an opportunity to talk with a godly man from the church I was saved in. I explained to him what I was thinking and the steps I was taking. We didn’t have time to get into the details, so he asked me to come back another day to go deeper into this conversation. Just as I was driving away from his house, the answer came to me. OUT OF NOWHERE! We all know that is the Holy Spirit working. Lol.

What I was given is this. “I cannot teach you to submit. I can teach you who to submit to, what to submit from, and when to submit. But I cannot teach you to submit. Submission is a choice. You must choose to submit.” This lesson in submission, ironic as it may seem, only came when I finally submitted to His leading, to reach out and ask for help from a godly brother. In my act of submission, He gave me His lesson about submission.

That made complete sense to me. God gives us choices in life - why? Because He loves us enough to not dictate how we live. LOVE is a choice. Submission to Him is a choice and we submit out of love. James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves, do what it says.” (NIV) The Word doesn’t change us as much as we would like, IF we choose to do things our way. It's the submission to His Word that changes lives.

Which brings some questions to mind: 1) How much better would I have been, and will be, IF I would just choose to submit to Him and His Word? 2) How much better would you be? 3) God desires to make us more like His Son, but will this happen if we don’t submit? Deeper questions could be: 1) Who is God to you? 2) What are some things I need to submit from? 3) When should I submit?

When I choose to submit, it produces in me greater dependence on God. It reveals His character of love to me in a way I couldn’t imagine. It enables the process of sanctification in me, that is the will of God. When will I mature enough for submission to be my first choice? When will you?

Peace and joy be with you.

Kevin Weston, 02-14-2020

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