Daily Surrender
What does it mean to be humble in our relationship with God?
There are three things that the apostle James mentions that can help us: submit to God, resist the devil, and draw near to God.
Submit to God.
Submitting to God means coming under His authority. Rather than living according to our own desires and ways of living, we should submit those things to God and live according to His desires and standards.
In order to truly submit to God, we must first recognize that His ways are better than ours. We must recognize that He knows better than we do. We must also believe that He has our best intentions in mind. He cares for us.
Resist the devil.
The devil desires to keep us from our relationship with God and cause us to stray from God. When we resist him by God’s strength, he will flee from us.
Draw near to God.
The best way to submit to God and resist the devil is to draw close to God in our relationship with Him. Not only does He promise to draw close to us, but He will also give us strength and grace to endure every trial.
Take a moment to think about your own life. Are there parts of your life or plans that you haven’t surrendered to God? Every day is a new opportunity to submit ourselves to God and to draw near to Him. So right now, think of ways you can make these things part of your daily habits.
His Pain, Our Gain
Isaiah 53 is a stunning chapter in the Bible—in what is now commonly referred to as the “Old Testament.”
Approximately 700 years before Jesus walked the earth, Isaiah prophesied about a suffering servant who would also, somehow and in some way, be exalted. A coming Savior, a future Redeemer, the long-awaited Messiah—whose death would ultimately bring life.
A portion of Isaiah 53 says this:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
So, who was this man who would be pierced, crushed, and wounded because of someone else’s sins? Whose undeserved punishment would be the catalyst for healing? Whose life would be given as an offering—so that others might live?
Jesus Christ not only fits the description of the suffering servant who paid the ultimate price to buy His people back, redeem them, and set them free—He ...
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge...