D13 Accepting the Truth (Decision and Obedience)
List of the Online Lessons: A B C D E F G H
D13 Accepting the Truth (Decision and Obedience)
In the practical process of grasping our identity, we talked first of all about KNOWING the TRUTH; intellectual knowledge from God’s Word which is true, and in addition, knowledge in the form of experience, that I have tested that known truth with Jesus.
I call the second step in grasping our identity
B) ACCEPTING THE TRUTH.
I don’t mean simply agreeing, „Yeah, I guess that’s probably the way…“ I see DECISION here. „Jesus, I accept your salvation, I accept your forgiveness, also I accept your rule in my life, and along with that I accept your empowerment for whatever you call me to do.“
Some time ago I did a little Bible study on remarkable topic of „Say and Don’t Say.“ To friends in Rome, the apostle Paul writes (Romans 10:9-10), „if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.“ Your inner decision to accept Jesus, according to the Apostle Paul, must be manifested in words also – confession, and then in actions – obedience.
„Say and don’t say“… The Lord Jesus urges the crowd of His listeners (Matthew 6:31), „Do not be anxious and do not say: What shall we eat…?“ I listen to what various Christians say and I ask in my mind: „What are you thinking about? Where are you focusing your attention?“ By constantly repeating negative feelings, fears, and disaster scenarios, we are actually setting expectations of negative things in ourselves. Thus, we give „instructions“ to our minds about what to fear, even though nothing has occurred and perhaps nothing will! I would call some of the statements that religious people make about themselves „curses“ which they put on themselves! Please understand correctly, I am not about painting the scene pink. Sometimes things don’t work out and sometimes they are bad. But I ask, what do we do with the negatives? Are we looking for solutions, for lessons learned? Or a way to work through them, to endure them, or avoid them? Or are we just weakening ourselves and others around us with our thoughts and statements? For example, when we fix in our minds devilish delusion that Jesus‘ calling is in fact not doable…!
„Say and don’t say“… What do you feed your mind with? Where are you focusing your attention? If you are a child of God and a servant of living Jesus – the Lord of the Universe, then you may well be insecure, weak, inexperienced and whatever. But your knowledge of the living Jesus and especially your inner accepting of His greatness will become the anchor of your soul, regardless of success or failure! You see, heroes are not those who are not afraid and for whom everything comes easily. Heroes are people who make the right choices, even when they are afraid and when they don’t know what to do!
„Don’t get worried and do not say: What are we going to eat?“ the Lord Jesus teaches us. (Matthew 6:31) Make up your mind and DON’T tell the fears you „feel“ inside you or the bad experiences you have heard from others. Instead, SAY out loud to yourself and to the Lord what is true according to the reality of God’s Word. Accept that truth – by your decision, thank Jesus for it often and out loud.
Sometimes I hear prayers that I would call wrong. „Lord, please empower me to do your will…“ If you have Jesus, you are empowered! Say instead, “ Jesus, thank You for giving me the strength and ability to do whatever You send me to do.“
I know this process of accepting the truth is not easy at all; but work on it, please.
a) Decision in the heart
I have considered available facts and made a decision!
b) Proclamation by mouth
When you tell your girlfriend „I want to marry you. What do you say?“ Something happens in you through that declaration! „Declare“ your spiritual decision out loud to Jesus and something will happen in you. Say for example, „Lord Jesus, I commit my life to You and I am going to do what You call me to do.“
c) Obedience in action
What I have proclaimed with my mouth, I seek to actually carry out.
d) Sharing with my partner(s)
My partner witnesses and reminds me of my decisions as needed, and encourages me to put them into practice in the ordinary situations of life.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for making a firm decision to come to us, even though our sin evoked very negative emotions in You…