We read in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” But too often we interpret this to mean, “God is giving me the strength to be all I can be.” We’re encouraged to make our choices and then ask God to bless us and give us the strength and ability to be the very best at what we’ve chosen. But it’s not about God exalting us to glory; it’s about us exalting God to Glory. It’s about us doing God’s will so we can say, “Glory to God”, and not about us doing our will so we can say, “Yay me!”

People too often forget that Jesus is the Shepherd and we are His sheep. Sheep don’t lead the shepherd—they follow! They obey His voice and follow His direction—they don’t do what they want and expect the Shepherd to just accept it. And yet, that’s exactly what many of us do. We forget that we are supposed to follow Jesus, not the other way around. Sadly, too many people miss the full meaning of the cross because “self” is still ruling.

• Know ye that the Lord, He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.—Psalm 100:3

Many Christians don’t like the word “submission”. The new age religion says it isn’t necessary, that God wants us to be what we want us to be. Wrong! God loves each soul He created, but sin deceives people so that most are lost in their sin, totally separated from God. Salvation removes the sin and restores us to God.

As we all know, Jesus died on the cross to provide redemption for our sins, and those of us who accept this salvation are forgiven and we are free of the punishment of those sins. But there’s a lot more to salvation besides our sins being forgiven. The part that many people seem to miss is that old things are passed away and all things are now new. When we come to the cross in truth and seek God’s forgiveness, then we can not and will not be the same person afterwards.

• Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.—2 Corinthians 5:17

When Jesus healed people, He often told them to go and sin no more. He knew their hearts, that they believed He was the Son of God and so He was telling them, in essence,  that their sins were forgiven—and the people changed their way of life. And it’s the same for us today; our sins are forgiven and we have a new love in our heart for God, and we have new priorities, interests and values and they are the same ones that Jesus showed us when He was on earth.

When we become Christians, we change the direction of our lives from “my will” to “God’s will”. It’s no longer what we want that matters; it’s what God wants for us that is important. Everything we do and say is for the glory of God. And everything we do and say is to be by the will of God.

• I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.—Galatians 2:20

It’s God’s will that rules our lives because we belong to Him. When we were of the world, it was we who were in charge of our lives because the world was in us and we were in the world. But when we belong to God, we become His child and it’s a whole different world!

No, we are not God’s puppets! We are God’s children! There is a very big difference and those who oppose Christianity love to spread the lie that God rules over us with an iron rod, as in, “Do what I say or you’ll go to hell.” But that isn’t God at all. When His spirit is in us, we WANT to do His will, we WANT to obey Him and we WANT to share His truth with others. Our lives are no longer about us; our lives are about Christ.

The misunderstanding or deception we’re often taught is that Christ in us gives us the strength to be all we can be. But the truth is that Christ in us makes us a new creature so that we are what Christ wants us to be—and that is a child of God who follows the example of Jesus and who studies the Bible so that His truth gets deep inside us! It’s God’s will that directs our lives, not our will. It’s God’s truth in us that changes our priorities, direction and will—it’s not something that we do on our own.

As our walk with God grows, the “I” in us gets smaller and “Christ” in us gets bigger. We are God’s children when His Spirit lives in us and as we study and become filled with the knowledge and wisdom of the things of God, we are able to serve Him by sharing His truth with others. And everything we do should be to glorify God and not ourselves.

• Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, ⁶ that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.—Romans 15:5-6NKJV

We still live on this earth and we have families and jobs and earthly goals that we need to be responsible for, but each one of these is still under the guidance of “God’s Will” for us. Our ultimate purpose and goal in life is to do God’s will! Our purpose for all we do is to bring glory to God! Therefore, it’s not what we want that has any relevance, and it’s not God helping us do what we want that should make us happy anymore. It’s God living in us and “us” obeying God’s will to bring Him glory that should be everything to us.

The “me” who ran our lives before we knew Christ is dead and we become new creations in Him. Now our life is “Praise God!” We do all that we do to the glory of God, according to His Will and with His guidance. Regardless of our own personal status in life, everything we do should be done to the glory of God. We can’t all be the eye or the ear, but we are all part of the body of Christ. And one day God will reward us for our faithfulness to Him because we chose to submit our lives to Him and do His will through His strength in us—not our own will. We ignored the, “Yay me!”, and were glad to say, “All glory to God!”

• Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.—1 Timothy 1:17*If this post was a blessing to you, please pass it around and remember to give God the glory! And please subscribe to this blog so that you will receive all future posts directly into your inbox. Meanwhile, smile because God loves you!