Fearlessly Courageous
From the Desk of Dennis Piller
8 8 2023
Are you God’s exclusive, property? OR is He mostly the Crucifix on the wall?
Have you thought about how good it is to have the consciousness that we belong to the Lord and are not our own? Watchman Nee once said, “I must first have the sense of God’s possession of me before I can have the sense of his presence with me”. Once his ownership is established, then I dare do nothing in my own interest!
WHY? Because I am his exclusive property.
Romans 6:16. says, “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin,
which leads to death”,
I think far too many Christians live a life that says. I love the idea of God but have not given themselves wholly to be a servant of God. We don’t take to the description that would classify us as bond slaves to Christ
But at the point of redemption, that is what God is asking of us. To give ourselves wholly to him, and to no other, which includes ourselves.
A person has their own money, their own 401(k), their own house, and car. They can do what they want and spend what they want. But if we work for a foundation and your job is to manage these things for the owner, then we can only do what they ask us to do. We are an employee Or a servant to their needs.
Of course, you can give notice and leave whenever you want but the word servant used in Romans 6, really signifies a bond servant or slave. What’s the difference? He is not only a servant of another but also the “possession” of another. And so how did we become a slave to the Lord? The first part is that of Christ. He bought me, he paid the price on the cross of Calvary for me, so that I could be redeemed and live with him for eternity, and on my part, I presented/offered myself to him. I am God’s property by right of redemption, but if I would be a slave… I must willingly give myself to him because he will never compel me to do that.
The trouble with many Christians today, is they have an insufficient idea of what God is asking of them. They might be heard, saying, Lord, I am willing to give you anything.
But they do not know that God is asking for their very life. Everything!
What does that mean? We have cherished ideals, strong wills, opinions, precious relationships, and the love for things not of God that will have to go.
When that little Galilean boy brought the five Loaves and the two fishes, what did Jesus do with them? He broke them. God will always break what is offered to him.
He breaks what he takes.
But after breaking it, he blesses it and uses it to meet the needs of others.
(think about that)
I have many times seen people that accepted the Lord and it seemed like, to them, everything went wrong. People often cried out, if this is what it means to be a Christian I don’t want any part of it at all. Look, it is often painful to give up things that are not good for us, let alone acceptable and pleasing to God.
Have you ever thought that after you give yourself to the Lord, of what he does to you and me? He breaks away, those parts that are unworthy. Sometimes we wonder where they go because they seem to just disappear from the desire of our heart. We wake up one day, and many of those urges, so-called needs, and desires are just gone.
It’s so important for us to see that once we are broken, we cannot just stay there as a broken vessel. I love what Watchman Nee says: “We are no good for the world, because you have gone too far for the world to use you, and you are no good for God either because you have not gone far enough for him to use you. You were out of gear with the world and you have a controversy with God”.
We begin our journey by giving ourselves to the Lord. Then, day by day, we must go on giving to him, while not finding fault with his use of me, but accepting with praise, even when the flesh finds it hard. I am the Lord’s, and now I no longer reckon myself to be my own but acknowledge everything is of his ownership and authority.
That may be one of the hardest things for us to imagine as it goes against every grain of living in America. I am FREE. I have free will. My body is my own. I built my own life. I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps. My money. My stuff. My achievements! and in so doing we have developed our own sense of right and wrong… moral and immoral. Our own sense of what a man is and should be in the natural because that is all we can know. God is Spirit and we cannot cross that plane in the natural. It is beyond comprehension…it is another dimension we have no access to
without the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.
NONE!
To maintain that attitude and those delights of being the possession of God…
to be owned by Him…To matter to him is true consecration.
We do not consecrate ourselves to a ministry. We consecrate ourselves to God…
to do his will, Wherever that may be.
Whether I am in school, in the office, on vacation, or wherever he may send us. And wherever that is, it is surely to be the very best place because nothing but good can ever come from his directive. May we always be possessed by the consciousness that we are not our own. Are you possessed? Not by self-interest or self-satisfaction or self-exaltation. but by ‘Christ Jesus our Lord.
and if not – Why not? It may be because we didn’t understand….we never saw it that way before.
Lord open my eyes to see what you see. Help me to embrace the peace of being completely yours. Lord for God to want me as a prized and holy priest in His service is beyond what any person can imagine in the natural. Help me to see with
spirit eyes your love for me and the realization that I am kept by you
when I surrender all I am to you.
I Give You My Heart
Excerpts are taken from Watchman, Nee, the Normal Christian Life, pages 102 to 104
