Confirmation and Commitment of Surrender 4-26-10

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are my Good Shepherd and I listen now for the leading of Your voice and stirring of my spirit. … “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Sunday morning at my home church, many of young people stood with their families at the front to publicly proclaim You as their Lord in their personal confirmation of their faith. With the symbol of water, for the washing away of their sins and the resurrection into newness of life, some were baptized and others remembered their baptism. With the symbol of oil, all were anointed for the filling of the Holy Spirit as a mark and seal of Your hand of grace upon their lives. In words of faith, they declared their loyalty to You as Savior and Lord of their days to come. And in our response, we declared our loyalty to You and our commitment to them to walk with them in the journey of growing up into maturity, into the full measure of the stature of Christ. I was honored and humbled to have been one of their teachers, as they learned the foundations of our faith and the nature of their commitment to a life surrendered to the Lordship of Christ. There’s’ “no greater joy” than seeing our children of the faith walking in the truth of God’s love in Christ (3 John 4). And every day, I’m honored and humbled that You keep teaching me Your lessons and establishing me in Your foundations of my faith in You. Maybe the deepest foundation and greatest lesson is continuing to acknowledge and declare that our lives are no longer our own. From the moment of our choice to entrust our lives to Your care and welcome Your Spirit into our hearts, we were bought with a price by the blood of the Lamb. Our lives are Yours and no longer our own. Our declaration to You, to ourselves, and to all the world is that we now choose to live our lives to God, crucified with Christ, so that it is not longer we who live, but Christ who now lives in us and through us for the glory of God (Galatians 3:19-20). Lord, empower me by Your grace to live out my confirmation and commitment of surrender of my life into Your life each day. Forgive me when I fail; pick me up when I stumble; cleanse me when I sin; and remind me when I forget. My life is no longer my own; my life belongs to You. That’s not a bad thing of bondage; that’s a great thing of freedom, because only then am I truly free to be all You created me to be. Only then will I be fulfilled in the life You’ve purposed in Your heart for me to live. Only then will I bring You the great joy You’ve paid such a great price for us both to have. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Subscribe by email to Tommy Hays at Messiah Ministries: MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!