June 21, 2013 … Yielding to God’s Authority

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 172

Passage of the Day #1: John 14: 30-31 [Jesus speaking to His perplexed and fearful Disciples … ] [NLT] …  
30 “I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the prince of this world approaches. He has no power over Me, 31 but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going."
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Contextual Study for today’s passages above: John, Chapter 14 [NLT] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: 2nd Corinthians 10: 3-4 [Our battles go way beyond our human realm.] [NLT] …  
3 We are human, but we don’t wage war with human plans and methods. 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil’s strongholds.

Reference Passage #2: 1st John 4: 4 [We can choose to be winners!] [NLT] …  
4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won your fight with these false prophets, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 

Reference Passage #3: Acts 1: 8 [We have, as Christians, the very power of God's Spirit to be His witnesses.] [NLT] …  
8 " ... But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

My Journal for Today: Fellow Christian, I hope you are far enough into your walk of discipleship as a believer and follower of Christ to recognize and realize that every day we’re in a battle; and these battles go way beyond our flesh with angels and demons waging war for us and around us every moment of every day. That’s what Jesus was anticipating (see today’s highlight passage) as He was about to enter the period of His passion, death, and resurrection. But The Lord reminded His Disciples that the “Prince of this world” (i.e., Satan) had no authority over Him. No, … Jesus only yielded to the authority of His Heavenly Father; and He did so completely and willingly during His human ministry, giving us the perfect model of surrender for us as we encounter our spiritual enemies, … Satan, the world, and our own flesh.

Jesus, during His earthly ministry, continually chose, in perfect surrender to the Father, to yield His spirit to that of the Holy Spirit; and that is the model we must follow (see Phil. 2: 5), continually humbling ourselves as born-again disciples of Christ to God’s Spirit, Who dwells in our being (i.e., our hearts) to provide us with the weaponry, through His grace, to do battle with our spiritual enemies. And as Paul and John pointed out (see reference passages above), these weapons we have in yielding to God’s Spirit are way beyond what we might use in our human capacities to do warfare in this world.

But the irony comes in that we find our strength in yielding or surrendering our selves to the Spirit. We cannot and will not win in these battles if we try to fight our flesh with our flesh.

Of course, it’s true that Satan cannot have our souls if we’re truly born-again; but he will use all his craftiness and his army of demons in the world he rules to try to strip away our testimony and our power of witness. Because, if Satan can lure our flesh to yield to him with the free will God has given us, getting us to worship Satan in our choices and actions, he will render us useless as witnesses for Christ.

But, Praise God, the opposite is also true. If we can stay in a constant posture of surrender to the power Christ left within us, i.e., His Spirit, we can and will win these battles as we witness for God by worshiping Him with our surrender (see also Romans 12: 1-2, which I hope you have memorized and internalized). Let me pray that we’re in constant surrender to the essence of our Heavenly Father, His Son and Spirit in our very being so that we can do battle in His Name for His glory.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, I come again this morning in surrender to You, Holy Spirit, to give me the strength and weapons to do battle for the glory of The Father in the Name of His Son, Jesus! … Amen