Part 3 .... The Sign of the CROSS.... in TRUTH+

  What Would JESUS , The TRUTH+,  Do ?
Message by Byron Miller, Wellspring Mennonite Church, Athens, TN.

Drawing by The ORDER of The GOOD SHEPHERD+

Think about the answer to the motto, or the words, "What Would Jesus Do ?" 

That motto is good, 

but I think 

often the answer 

would be 

more self-evident, 

be easier to discern, 

if GOD'S Kingdom was my consuming focus.

In other words, our selfish desires often bring us 

into compromising situations, 

into positions, 

that cause us to question 

what GOD really wants in a given situation.

SELF CLOUDS OUR MIND FROM TRUTH.

There is nothing that can cloud our mind more than

 allowing Self to be in control.

Do we really desire our will to be in subjection to any?  

Too often we do not want that; that is not our desire.  

The human-ness in us balks at that ; it does not want it.

 We can yield here, we can yield there, in different areas... as long as we can still be our own master.

But GOD'S strength comes only through submission. We can try many other things, many good things. 

But do we want GOD'S strength in our lives ?

 

Look at  Romans 6  ....

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  GOD forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?   Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into JESUS CHRIST were baptized into His+ death?

Therefore we are buried with Him+ by baptism into death: that like as CHRIST was raised up from the dead by the glory of the FATHER, even so we also should walk in newness of life.   For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His+ death, we shall be also in the likeness of His+ Resurrection:   Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him+ ...

I do not know that there were any survivors of crucifixion ,save one, CHRIST. 

HE+ died, but HE+ "survived" , later. 

Crucifixion is death.

...   that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.   For he that is dead is freed from sin.  

Now if we be dead with CHRIST, we believe that we shall also live with him:   Knowing that CHRIST being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him+. For in that HE+ died, HE+ died unto sin once: but in that HE+ liveth, HE+ liveth unto GOD.

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto GOD through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto GOD, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto GOD.

The call here is for Self to be

dead, 

buried,

crucified,

destroyed.

That is our Self, our will within.

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves 

to be dead indeed unto sin, 

but alive unto GOD    

through     

JESUS CHRIST our LORD.

What does it mean? How do I reckon ?

What exactly does that mean? 

Reckon means: account, credited as, account as dead, and to count in expectation, looking forward.

In exchange for our "death," these verses tell us 

we are planted, 

we are freed, 

alive, 

and 

... we are to be yielded. 

That is what HE+ wants for us, what HE+ will give us,  in exchange for our death. 

( Part 4 to be continued.) 

Dear Heavenly FATHER, 

From Whom all blessings flow, help me to be dead unto my Self ... in all aspects of my desires, my own will ... and alive only unto Thy Beloved SON+ JESUS CHRIST. 

O Holy FATHER, I call HIM+ "LORD,"   yet I do my own will so often. I neglect to submit my thoughts unto HIM+.  

I am careful to ask HIM+ to bless my plans... but I am forgetful to WAIT BEFORE HIM+ until I receive His+ approval  of those plans. 

Please help me to be regenerate in my mind, for the glory of Thy Holy SON+JESUS CHRIST, in Whose+ Name and by Whose+ strength I pray...  

Amen.