A Revelation!!!

Have you ever had a revelation from God?? It's like suddenly turning on a light after sitting in a pitch-black room for hours. What was staring you in the face for weeks and months is clear to you in a few seconds.

And you just sit back and say, "Wow." (Or at least I do.)

Today, I had one of those. And let me tell you, it was awesome. The Holy Spirit got inside my head and just kept throwing one concept after another at me, and following it up with Bible passages. It was like I had to run to keep up.

In John chapter 3, Jesus talks about how we have to be "born again" (Nicodemus's reaction was like mine: "What are you talking about?"). Mark 8:34-38 speaks about how we have to "lose our lives for Christ to gain them" and if we try to gain our lives, we lose them (think it's confusing? I'll explain). And then there is Romans chapter six.

I looked up a lot of other references too (I'll list them at the end of this post), and they all just confirmed the whole message I've been getting these past months, all saying one word: surrender.

SURRENDER.

Surrender isn't easy. It means giving up. Losing. Saying you were wrong, or you can't do it on your own. But when you surrender to God, what you're given up is only what is fallible and perishing, and what you're gaining is what is eternal and everlasting and perfect.

The scales are tipped in our favor, don't you think? I mean, we surrender, and we get more than we had before. So what are we waiting for? Let's surrender!

Wait a minute. Back up. What are we surrendering?

Good question. We are surrendering ourselves. ALL of ourselves. I have to surrender every little dream and desire, every piece of myself, to Him. I have to die to myself.

We are crucified with Christ (or should be); Christ rose from the dead, so then after our death, we are resurrected with Him, too. It is only after the death - only after we have killed ourselves - that we can become "born again," living for Him and through Him.

So right now I'm going to go on a journey. A journey that absolutely leads to death. And I can't let anyone else kill me - it has to be me, and me alone. After this death (which I have a feeling is going to be slow and painful), God will accept my body (which is what the Bible calls "a living sacrifice") and will resurrect me from the dead.

I will no longer be a slave to sin. I will no longer live for me. I will be alive in Christ.

This figurative death makes sense in theory...but I'm still working on what action I need to take to achieve it. I made a list of "keys" that I think would be helpful for me to follow.

Keys:
1. Shut up (every time I open my mouth, it's usually to express MY opinion...so, I'm "deleting" myself, and shutting up)
2. Be still (the Bible says, "Be still and know that I am God." 'Nuff said.)
3. Know Him (and who He is)
4. Trust Him (with everything. It's not about me, so why should I be fearful of death or humiliation or anything else that I'm afraid of? I need to trust Him completely - surrender.)
5. Surrender (which is pretty much what I'm doing, but it still needs to be on the list lol)

Maybe it's not about an action, though; maybe it's about the opposite of an action. Like when you're actively not doing what you would normally do. For instance, keeping my mouth shut when I'd like to speak. I could be over-thinking this...

I'm quite aware that this may sound completely crazy. Which is why it's hard to post it on my blog (even though no one is reading it!). But even if I lose everything else, I will have gained Christ, and that is what matters. His glory is my passion. I want to be consumed by Him. And if that means alienating fellow bloggers, losing some of my life-long dreams, or suffering in any way, so be it. I am going to do it if I achieve Christ.

And if I achieve Christ, my life will not be wasted.

So pick up a glass and have a toast with me. "To death," I'll say. To death.

I'm still not sure how I'm to go about doing this. But I'm following God's lead. If you think of it, pray for me...


References: John 3 & 4:34, Mark 8:34-38, I Corinthians 7:32-35, Luke 14:33, I John 2:15-17, Colossians 2:20-3:4, Romans 6