Read a wonderful devotional this morning that I thought was worth sharing:
Don’t Fight- Surrender
By Selwyn Hughes
"There are times in the Christian life when we must 'fight the good fight of the faith' (1 Tim 6:12), but there are times when fighting is not appropriate. We are to fight for truth and Christian doctrine, we are to fight for Christian standards in society, we are to fight against evil powers and authorities, but when it comes to dealing with 'the rabble of the passions', the operative word is not 'fight' but 'surrender'.
To fight the passions involves focusing attention on them. And it is a well-known law of the personality that whatever gets your attention gets you. Therefore many people fall under the power of smouldering sexuality at the very moment of fighting it. The strategy is wrong. When you no longer fight your passions but surrender them to God then your attention is drawn from them to Him. You are focusing on Him- not them.
Ah, but does this principle really work in practice? Few people can have had a greater struggle with passions, instincts and appetites than I did. In my youth I was nearly shipwrecked by them. In a desperate state, I flung myself at the feet of Jesus Christ, and He lit a fire on the altar of my heart that has never gone out. Deeper and deeper into my personality it has gone, searching the motives, scouring the desires, purging the secret places of the soul and burning the imagination clean. After all, isn't this the function of fire? If you set fire to the exterior of a combustible object you cannot confine the flames to the outside. When John the Baptist was preparing people for Jesus' ministry he promised this: He will burn up the chaff 'with unquenchable fire'. (Matt. 3:12).
"Influencing the world for Christ, one man at a time."
Tulsa Men of Christ/Influencers
7420 E. 46th Place
Tulsa, OK 74145
918-830-0918
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