THE LAYING DOWN OF OUR LIVES

Been quite a while since I wrote but hope this does not just bless you but shift your heart that at the end of this read, you will find it in your heart to devotedly lay down your life to God, presenting your body daily to Him as a living and holy sacrifice in Jesus name. Amen!

I realized lately that I have been desperately asking for Gods will for me and I have been pretty impatient with God cause it has taken me hours of tired praying, waiting on God only for Him to tell me to wait and that season of waiting is not as pretty as we make it look like. Frustrating as it had been, as I got even more impatient, I realized that as long as God spoke, my work was to believe. I totally hate puzzles and life felt like quite a bit of a difficult puzzle. The disjointed splotches of crooked experiences did not make sense to me and I cannot bring myself to fix anything since I know I will end up in confusion and frustration and even in the midst of all this things, God daily reminded me that I am forgetting the most important thing, which is the laying down of my life, that I ought to be completely surrendered to Him and irrespective of what was happening to me, my life was supposed to bring Him pleasure. You see, my worship is not dependent on what I feel, how my life looks like, not on what was right or wrong but it was completely attached to who God is and subsequently who He has become to me. I would at times put a worship song, or just sit and begin to worship God until the Holy Spirit made me do a study that has changed my life completely.

So from the beginning of the month of November, I decided to do this one thing, to lay my life down. Romans 12:1 AMP I appeal to you therefore brethren and beg of you in view of all the mercies of God to make a DECISIVE DEDICATION OF YOUR BODIES( presenting all members and faculties)as a LIVING SACRIFICE, HOLY(devoted and consecrated) and WELL PLEASING TO GOD which is your spiritual worship and reasonable service. God clearly expects that everyday of our lives, our lives are laid down, ALWAYS! So when you read that verse in Romans you realize that there is no better worship you can give God other than the giving over of yourself to Him. It has to be a decision that you make everyday of your life. It must be the normal of your life.

I have been reading through the Bible and one chapter that has shaped me is Genesis 22 a common study that we must be knowing.Abraham is asked by God to take his son Isaac and sacrifice him. He tells Abraham that he is suppose to give: 1)His only Son and 2) He is supposed to be a burnt offering to God. I love how Abraham precisely and immediately obeys Gods command and as you read on in verse 5 take note that He doesn't go with the servants to the place or mountain of sacrifice. On the way, his son realizes they have the fire, the wood, the knife and no lamb for the offering and Abraham says God will provide. When they reach the place of sacrifice Abraham first builds and altar, places wood on the altar, places the sacrifice and takes the knife ready to kill the son, what would follow obviously is fire to consume the sacrifice because what is a burnt offering without fire?

Please take note of the small sneak peek of Genesis 22 and keep it in mind as we study Romans 12:1 where God says that we offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Him.

Now I want you to realize that this is a decision that you make in your heart and a decision that you must be able to make for the rest of your life. And like Abraham who was asked to offer His only son, God requires a costly sacrifice and it will be You! Everything you are being sacrificed to God. You see, at times we feel like God is not controlling our lives as we would love, we feel like we should share with Him us, like God have this and let me just remain with this other part of me, but friend, that is not how God works!It is either everything you are is His, or you are for yourself, or another person. He requires that we are completely yielded and totally surrended to Him meaning He has total control over your life, not only completely but with every single day that passes by.

After offering your bodies to God, it is not enough until you are a sacrifice, a living sacrifice. I love the Swahili version it says Itoeni miili yenu and it does not stop at presenting your bodies it continues, itoeni miili yenu iwe dhabihu hai..It has got to be a living sacrifice! According to us, it is obvious that anything that is living is dead right? but that is not according to God, because to God, what is living is dead. So when God expects us to be living sacrifices He actually means that a living sacrifice is one that is dead to sin but alive to God Romans 6:11. It is only a living sacrifice(dead to sin, but alive to God) that actually becomes holy and therefore acceptable or pleasing to God. Now please note that this one thing that the act of presenting yourself to God as a living sacrifice is not communal, it is a personal decision that involves you and you. It is something you do yourself and by no means can anyone do it for you. It is you offering who?YOURSELF!

A sacrifice is always laid down on an altar and in our case we are required to present ourselves to God. The sacrifice you are bringing is holy, living sacrifice. The fact that it is holy and living we have said it makes the sacrifice pleasing. We saw that the wood is placed on the altar and for us now it is a representation of  Jesus who is the tree of life. It is surely in Him that we live and move and have our being Acts 17:28. As sacrifices, we are to be attached to the source of our lives as we present ourselves. Just as Jesus was crucified on a tree, we are crucified with Him hence separated from the world and what pertains it and now our life is found in him. The knife is supposed to kill the flesh and it is a very painful process. It gives the sacrifice an opportunity to die daily, not fun, not easy but required. One thing I have come to realize, as we walk and live our lives before the Lord, there is always something to loose in order to gain Him and in this process there is an exposure of the things that are anti-God and God does not do this to make you feel bad about yourself, but giving you an amazing opportunity to loose that which is not called by Him so that you gain Him.

There is the fire and this is very important for this two things: to consume and refine. When the sacrifice is refined it means that it is freed from all impurities it is being made pure. Again, God does not do this to torture us but His desire is that as the fire refines us, He will see His reflection in us that as we go through the fire, we come out reflecting Him. He refines us to show His reflection in us. It is a hot place to be in, heat must definitely be applied and re-applied until the refiner sees His image in us. When the fire consumes the sacrifice that is living and holy then there is a production of incense that reaches and rises to God in His throne as a sweet fragrance.

After all this is done, the Bible says this is your spiritual act of worship, this is the right worship you can give Him, your proper worship. This to God is everything He requires from us, from you and I....THE LAYING DOWN OF OUR LIVES. And it is extremely costly. You must deliberately, intentionally and carefully lay down your life. 

                 Give more of yourself to God! Do not just surrender, fully surrender!DAILY!

Love,

Imani💕