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.
The Mission of the Church
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, he spent 40 days on earth ministering to people and preparing His disciples for life without Him. Jesus planned on leaving earth and ascending to heaven, but before doing so, He gave His disciples a mission found in Matthew 28:19-20. We often call this The Great Commission.
The Great Commission begins with getting up and going to places where people need to hear about the good news of Jesus. This doesn’t mean you have to leave your country—there are people in your own neighborhood and workplace that need to hear the hope of Jesus.
The ultimate goal of the Great Commission is to make followers of Jesus. So as we go about sharing the good news of Jesus with people, we're to show people how Jesus has changed our lives, and invite them to discover Jesus for themselves.
It can be easy to think that making disciples is the responsibility of our church pastors and ministry leaders. While those things certainly are part of every ...