Kingdom Surrender

“The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance is of the Lord.” (Proverbs 21:31)

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

“’O Death, where is your sting: O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)

VICTORY!

The LA Rams play the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday in the final game of this NFL season: The Super Bowl.  Both teams have been preparing specifically for this game for two weeks, and more generally they have been preparing the entire season for this day.  No team on opening day have as their #1 goal to merely show up and play 17 games.  They want to win. Victory. But, as it is in any team sport, the victory doesn’t belong to just one person. The quarterback can’t snap the ball to himself, pass it to himself and avoid 11 men on the other team as he runs to the end zone for a touchdown. He needs the help and support of not only the other 10 members on his offense, but his own defense, and all the coaches, assistant coaches and the rest of the team staff. That’s the world view.

As Christians, our Victory is assured at the moment of our salvation, the instant we answer God’s call to Himself. We die to ourselves in order to receive the gift of eternal life. That victory is through Jesus Christ. There is nothing we have or can do to earn it. No amount of planning or training will gain that victory. It is a gift from our Lord.

That doesn’t mean we will live on easy street. Scriptures tell us we will endure trails and tribulations, and temptations. But He will be with us through all those tests. He assures us that with those temptations will come a way to avoid falling to those temptations, an escape hatch to allow us to bear up under the pressures. It is up to us to activate that escape plan.  We must be seeking Him, abiding in Him, so we can recognize and seize upon those ways God has laid for us to endure.

The winning team Sunday will have plenty of credit to pass around: the stellar performance of their quarterback, the awesome talents of their receivers, running backs, even their field goal kicker. There will be credit for the defense for preventing the other team from scoring more than they did.  Some will credit the coaches for their motivation, preparation, play calling, etc. The losing team will have plenty of blame to dish out, starting invariably with the poor officiating (penalties unjustly called against them,) poor player performance, even if it was just one dropped or overthrown pass, one missed tackle, etc.

In the Kingdom, however, the Victory belongs to Jesus, and nobody else. We give Him all praise and glory. Thanks be to God. I for one am forever grateful that He has clothed me in Victory, something I didn’t deserve. Yes, we should live every minute of every day in complete surrender to Him, doing our best to follow His will for us as He covers us in that Victory.

We cannot, however, walk around in arrogance or be presumptuous. Our salvation assures us eternal life, but that doesn’t mean we can just step in front of a speeding train. Neither the Rams nor the Bengals will begin any celebration dance when the game starts. They must put the work in, playing out the game for 60 minutes (which takes 3 hours to play out.) As Christians, we can celebrate our Victory beginning the moment of our salvation. We do so by praising and worshiping and giving God all the credit, through leading a Christ-centered life.  How will you walk out your Victory?

Be Blessed!

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16)

God wants us to make a free choice to follow Him or not. To surrender to Him or not. Sitting on the fence is not an option. How can we be His light if we are indecisive or non-committal?

One year ago today, I started what I though was to be a four week fast (the month of February.) A week later it became a full 40 day fast, after watching a Super Bowl commercial. That commercial led Pat and me to travel to Lebanon, Kansas, to pray for the healing of our nation. As I worked on the plan for the trip, settling on leaving Mar 11 and arriving in Lebanon on Mar 12, I realized that God, who had been the one to put fasting on my heart, intended all along that the fast would not be 28 days, but 40 days. February has 28 days, and we were to arrive in Kansas on March 12. 28 plus 12 equal 40.

Most things can be accomplished by prayer or by fasting.  But some things require both, as Jesus says in Matthew 17. An epileptic boy had been brought to the disciples, who had been unable to cast out the demon. The father brought the boy to Jesus and explained the situation.  Jesus cast out the demon.  The disciples questioned Him privately later and asked why they had been unable to do so. His response was, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

God was cleansing and preparing me for the miracle of the buds He would reveal on March 13 as an acknowledgement of having heard our prayers. If God responds to one man’s prayers and fasting, surrendering to His will to drive 1000 miles to pray for the healing of our land, all the while seeking His face and repenting, by causing 6 buds to appear in the dead of winter, how much more will He do if 10 of us do so? 100? 1000? 1 million?

During my message 3 weeks ago I asked,

                Will we humble ourselves (surrender to God?)

                Will we pray (unceasingly?)

                Will we seek His face (focus on Him?)

                Will we turn from our wicked ways (repent?)

God blessed me, not because I was lukewarm.  I responded to His call without hesitation. God is calling us to action. How will you respond?

Be Blessed!

I delivered my second message, “Revival – A Call To Action,” at Corpus Christi Christian Fellowship almost two weeks ago (Jan 12, 2022,) the first one being Oct 16, 2019. The central theme of my mantra between those two messages has been one of revival.  God placed that word on my heart in November of 2019, for the year 2020. I thus began talking about revival before the outbreak of the pandemic. Throughout all of 2020, I posted “mini-blogs” on FaceBook, most of them around revival. Following are excerpts from some of those posts. The full posts are on this website. I invite you to visit (or revisit) them.

(1/7/20) God is moving and it is a time of revival, both personally and within the community of the body of Christ. I don’t plan on watching it grow. I will be a part of it. I pray that He gives me the strength and wisdom to move this forward. And surrounds this city, state, country and world with like-minded believers to spread the coming revival. It is time to shine the light of Christ!

(2/20/20 My desire is to light a fire and inspire a revival of the body of Christ, one body at a time, if necessary (starting with my own.) Are you with me?

(3/25/20 God didn’t unleash this virus, but He will turn what the enemy intended for harm into good for His purposes. Church buildings may be closed, but the Word continues to be delivered through the same medium many point to as evil – the Internet. God works on so many levels, at the same time. At some point, God will stop this virus. My prayer is that all those who turned to Him in prayer during this crisis, stay with Him in praise and thanksgiving after the crisis, and grow stronger in faith, and don’t become “Emergency” Christians, abandoning Him until the next crisis. May God water that seed planted in them and bring them closer to Him. Cause a revival to flourish across this planet!

(6/7/20) Scriptures abound exhorting Christians to be bold and to be the light. A revival is spreading throughout the land. We can no longer stand on the sidelines, as Saul did watching Stephen being stoned to death. And we do not need to wait for Christ to knock us down to get our attention. He has already done that through His Word, planted deep in us. Acts 4:29-31 tells us: “Now, Lord look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness, they may speak Your Word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Lord, use me to be your instrument of REVIVAL. May your light shine through me so that others can know of your great mercy and grace. Allow me to be a part of Your Solution now. I am all yours.

(11/11/20) We may have missed the boat, but that ship has yet to sail. It’s not too late to respond to God’s call for revival. He’s giving us every opportunity to begin our personal revival journey. Only after we begin our personal revival, can we then begin a revival for our community, the Church. But we must take that first step. MOVE!

I ended the year with a series titled Kingdom Revival, discussing  2 Chronicles 7:14:

                – Kingdom Revival #4 on Humility (11/19/20)

                – Kingdom Revival #5 on Prayer (12/2/20)

                – Kingdom Revival #6 on Seek My Face (12/12/20)

                – Kingdom Revival #7 on prayer and seeking (12/16/20)

                – Kingdom Revival #8 on repenting (12/18/20)

                – Kingdom Revival #9 on what God promised to do if we did the above (12/31/20)

Revival continued to be my word for 2021. I started the year off with a series on Kingdom Prayer for the Nation. #2 (2/8/21) talked about the Super Bowl commercial, which would send us to Kansas to pray for the healing of our nation. #3 through #7 talked about various things concerning prayers for the healing of our land, leading up to our trip to Lebanon, KS, in March of 2021. I posted Kingdom Prayer 7:14 Mar 13-21, the outline for the prayer we recited on the morning of March 13 (published on March 15, 2021.) I then published two posts about Kingdom Revival 2021 (#1 Surrender and Obey and #2 Call to Action.) Then I received a diagnosis of kidney cancer which led to surgery in Aug 2021 and my subsequent retirement following recovery.

During all this, I created this website, kingdomsurrender.com, in Feb 2020, launched it in Jun 2020, but did not advertise its existence until October 2020 after moving over relevant posts previously posted on FaceBook. I have been posting blogs on this site since then and sharing them on FaceBook.

This is a long way around to say the message I preached on Jan 12, 2022, has been on my heart for some time and that message has been consistent. God is calling us to a REVIVAL. As I said on June 7, 2020, “Lord, use me to be your instrument of REVIVAL. May your light shine through me so that others can know of your great mercy and grace. Allow me to be a part of Your Solution now. I am all yours.”

I encourage you to first get into Scriptures to see what God has to say about revival, to get an idea of the plan He has for you. To learn how to surrender All to Him. Jesus may be the public face of God, but we are carrying the Light of Christ and must walk like Christ and be credible witnesses. Be Blessed!

Last Wednesday, Jan 12, 2022, I delivered my second message at Corpus Christi Christian Fellowshiip.  It was titled “Revival – A Call To Action” and was a culmination of two years of advocating for Revival and revealed for the first time publicly what God showed me in Lebanon, KS, on Mar 13, 2020. Upcoming blogs will go into more detail, but for now here is a recording of that message.

Revival – A Call To Action

https://cccf.sermon.net/embed/main/21919744

“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

We own two dogs. Kiki, a Reindeer Chihuahua, has been with us over 6 years. She came to us as a puppy. Since moving into our current home in 2016, she had been afraid of walking through the kitchen to the garage door to go outside to do her business. We’d have to carry her to the door and set her down in the garage, then pick her up and carry her inside because she was afraid of crossing the threshold. She gained a brother almost 2 years ago.  Rocky, a Chipoo (Chihuahua/poodle mix,) had no such fears. Rocky became our shepherd, often pushing Kiki towards the door when it was time to come in, but we still had to pick her up.

Eventually, I placed a bathtub mat outside the door in the garage and Kiki got over her fear of the threshold and would come inside on her own.  A few months ago, we decided it was time to end Kiki’s life of luxury and teach her to walk outside on her own. It took a while, but she now will walk to the door and go out without us carrying her. Rocky has been a big help with that. Recently, we have noticed Rocky has become an even bigger help.

Yesterday I was doing some work on my computer when Rocky walked up to me and started barking. I glanced at their food and water bowls and saw they were full. I noticed Kiki out of the corner of my eye near the kitchen floor looking to the door. I made a move to get up and Rocky went over to Kiki and nudged her from behind. By the time I got up and headed to the kitchen, Kiki was waiting by the door to go out, which she and Rocky did when I opened the door. Kiki and Rocky have developed a bond. And I have learned to discern the meaning of Rocky’s various barks. That would not be the case if I had not learned to pay attention to it.

So it is with Christ. We must learn to see Him in everything around us, big and small. Pay attention to what He is trying to tell us. The above scripture is from a letter Jeremiah wrote to the Israelites held captive in Babylon. In that letter, Jeremiah tells them that God said He would come for them and return them to their land after 70 years. Two verses before the one above God says one of the better known scriptures: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (vs 29:11) And tucked between verse 11 and 13 is this one: “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” (29:12)

GOD KNOWS! Nothing is a surprise to Him. He has plans for you, good plans designed for hope.  But it is up to us to accept His will for our lives.  Keep our focus on Him. Pray to him.  Seek Him in the world around us.  Be tuned in to His voice. He is listening to us. Are we listening to Him in return?

Be Blessed!