Daily Devotional for Saturday October 23, 1999

Giving it All to God

(Romans 12:1-2)

So many have commented over the last weeks about what ?giving it all to God? really means. In Romans Chapter 12, the first 2 verses really spell out what that phrase, ?Giving it all to God,? really means. It is the act of letting God have control over your life, not you anymore. Before you became a Christian, you basically made decisions based on what you wanted to do, what was best for you. Your decision-making process had no concern at all for what God wanted. When you give it all to God, the decisions you make every day aren?t based on what you want to do, but what God wants you to do.

God wants you to forgive and pray for those who have hurt you. Your natural decision is to have bad feelings towards those who have hurt us and even wish them harm. God wants you to help others and be a servant. Your natural decision is to gratify yourself by doing what makes you happy, not caring about other people. God wants you to spend time with Him each day, strengthening your personal relationship. Your natural decision is to not talk to God unless you are really in trouble. I point out a few of these examples to show you that most of the time, the decisions you make are going to be contrary to what God really wants you to do.

The real battle though is in your mind. The writer of Romans 12 in the second verse says, ?Renew your mind.? What God is saying to you is that to be totally surrendered to Him, you have to change your thought process. You ?practiced? for many years thinking a certain way. You became comfortable making decisions on your own based on your thoughts and ideas. God is saying that through the Bible, through church, through your prayer-time, through the fellowship with other Christians, you must renew your mind or change your thought process. The Bible clearly dictates what we are supposed to be doing and how we are to think. This renewal process begins by asking yourself, is this what God wants, or is this what I want? You don?t change your thought patterns overnight, which is why that daily relationship is so critical.

I love you and really do care about you. I pray daily that what the Lord lays on my heart to share will impact your life in a positive way. God has so much for us, so many blessings, so much work. He can never fulfill His plan and purpose for your life completely, until you totally surrender yourself to Him. I pray today that you will start ?giving yourself totally to God,? that you will daily renew your mind to think like God, and not yourself. It is at that point you begin to hear clearly from the Lord on different issues. You begin to be a great instrument in His hands to fulfill His plan. My prayer for you today is that you will get serious about offering yourself to Him, not 50%, 70%, or even 90%, but 100% to God. Trust me, He has blessings you can?t even imagine when it is Him, not you, in control.