Total Submission, complete obedience.

I cannot stress enough how important total submission to God is. To you, to your relationship with Him, to His process of making you into who He wants you to be, to your enjoyment of life and to your victory over the devil. It is simply indispensable.

The other day, my sister and I had this heated quarrel that could have been avoided had I been more patient. Sparks (not the good kind) were flying, hurtful words were flying, and in the midst of it all, the Holy Spirit told me to shut up. I did (against my natural will). As the dust was settling, He reminded me of my Bible study that morning. That morning, He had specifically pointed out to me that quarreling was worldly and not spiritual- 1 Corinthians 3:3. “Nmeli, this is not who I am molding you to be, you were not being led by the Spirit in that, you were being worldly”… and as I was about to voice my excuses... “even if she was wrong, you could have reacted in love.” So I surrendered, apologized to the Holy Spirit, and at that moment, He replaced all my anger and pride with love and remorse. I got a pen and wrote her an apology letter, presented it to my sister and verbally told her that I was sorry. I sat with her and we talked, and I enjoyed my sister’s love again. I liked it so much better than quarreling. 

         
With the help of the Holy Spirit, I burnt the bridge that the devil had been using to climb into that relationship, by my submission to God's Word despite my way. James 4:7 says first to submit to God, then resist the devil and he will flee from you. See? You can't have victory over the devil until you submit to God. I recognized that I was not the boss of me, God is (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), and if I am going to be everything He has planned for me to be, and have everything He has planned for me to have, which is so much better that anything He is asking me to leave behind, then I have to submit. I have to say even in tough cases, “Lord, not my will but let Your will be done.” When God sends you a word and you accept it, His Holy Spirit empowers you to obey it, you're not doing it on your own, you have help.

Personally, I would rather have kept this whole quarrel story to myself, because “what impression does it give people of me?”, but that is my own submission test this afternoon. God knows why He told me to share it, and what He is doing with it in my life… I have chosen to submit because I know that what HE has for me is so much better than the flawless reputation that I have held on to for so long. 

You?