Giving it your “All”
(Obedience sums up our entire duty)
By: Pastor George Lehman
This is a “positioning” message.
I don’t generalise here, but never has there been a time such as this that well-meaning Christians say one thing and live out something else.
They proclaim their need and dependence of God at church and in front of other Christians, but at home and at work and if you look at their social life it’s another story.
When it comes to giving our “All”, we will have to obey God’s call before God will make a move on our behalf. It’s all about positioning ourselves in OBEDIENCE.
1 Corinthians 3:16(NIV) – Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
1 Corinthians 6:19-20(NIV) – 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.
2 Chronicles 7:11-15(Amp) – 11When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, 12The Lord appeared to him at night and said; “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. 13When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locust to devour the land or send a plague among my people. 14If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, 15then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer offered in this place.
There are 4 very clear commands for an “Giving it your All” life:
1 – Humble yourself
2 – Pray
3 – Seek God’s face
4 – Turn from your wicked* ways.
Wicked ways [Hebrew] – Rah,raw-aw: A wrong way; bad ways; do harm; displeasing ways; good for nothing.
If the root is not right, the fruit won’t be right. Let’s look at what God commands:
#1 Humble ourselves (humility)
Humility:
Free from pride; dependant on God; honest concern for others. There is no place for: Me-Myself-I.
They that know God will be humble, they that know themselves cannot be proud. ‘Flavel’
The bigger I grow in God, the smaller I become. ‘Allen Bond’ (descending into greatness)
It’s important that we understand Jesus did not condemn sinners. He condemned hypocrites [false humility]. There is nothing more prideful than a person who excuses his sin while condemning the sins of others.
There is nothing more awful than conscious humility* – it’s the most satanic type of pride. ‘Oswald Chambers’
*Conscious humility – To act humbly or put on false humility. It’s covering up your pride with an act of humility
An “All” life is a holy life and it’s the product of GRACE. And God gives grace ONLY to the humble.
James 4:6(Amp) – But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty[arrogance] but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).
James 4:10 (Amp) – Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].
Humility serves God and others.
1 Peter 5:5b-6(Amp) – 5b “…..Clothe (apron) yourselves, all of you, with humility [as the garb of a servant, so that its covering cannot possibly be stripped from you, with freedom from pride and arrogance] toward one another. For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)-[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives favor, blessing) to the humble. 6Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you.”
#2 Pray
Pray:
Speaking / communicating with God.
For a person to pray and really commune with God, you must:
– Acknowledge God’s existence.
– Know that God really cares and knows about your every need.
– Expect that God is able and willing to respond to your prayers.
Jeremiah 33:3 (Amp) – Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).
The key is prayer – “call on me”.
No matter what your circumstances, the bottom line is PRAY!!!
When in doubt – pray.
When in a problem – pray.
When it’s going well – pray.
Need guidance & don’t have an answer – pray.
The devil smiles when we make plans, he laughs when we get busy, but he trembles when we pray.
The truth is you will NEVER rise above your prayer life. You are as powerful spiritually as your prayer life.
Colossians 4:2(Amp) – Be earnest and unwearied and steadfast in your prayer [life], being [both] alert and intent in [your praying] with thanksgiving.
#3 Seek God’s face
Seek:
To look for; go in search of; to try find or obtain.
Deuteronomy 4:29(Amp) – But if from there [Promised Land] you will seek (inquire for and require as necessity) the Lord your God, you will find Him if you [truly] seek Him with all your heart [and mind] and soul and life.
Seeking means, giving it your “ALL”. I’m fully sold out to Jesus (Mt 6:33 – Seek 1st His kingdom and righteousness, all will be added)
Jeremiah 29:11-13 (Amp) – 11For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. 12Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. 13Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
The principal Jesus was teaching in Luke 11:10 ”… and he who seeks and keeps on seeking, finds.”
If you want the Jeremiah 29:11 promise, you will have to live a life that continues to seek God. “Seek” is the valve that opens the promises.
Psalm 34:10(NIV) – The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
God knows the awesome benefit there is for us when we seek Him.
#4 Turn from your wicked ways
(or turn from your wrong ways; bad ways; displeasing ways; good for nothing ways)
This has to do with: Obedience, growth, and maturity.
Do you realise how many Christians live with deliberate sins in their lives and thinking it won’t affect their communication with God.
Isaiah 59:1(Amp) – Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened at all, that it cannot save, nor His ear dull with deafness, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.
1 John 3:9 (LB) – The person who has been born into God’s family does not make a practice of sinning, because now God’s life is in him; so, he can’t keep on sinning, for this new life has been born into him and controls him – he has been born again.
You cannot stay the way you were and proclaim Jesus saved you.
If there is no change, there is no Jesus
It’s like the story of the guy who was going fishing one time and he went up to the dock to an old man. He wanted to know how deep the water was and he asked in a kind of a strange way. He said, “Sir, if I was to fall off right here would I drown?” And the old man said, “No you wouldn’t drown if you fell in. You’d drown if you stayed under.”
It’s not our occasional stumble with sin that hinders our breakthroughs and victories. It is staying under. You need to confess immediately to God and tell him you’re getting rid of that sin.
A wife goes with her husband to the doctor. The doctor tells the wife that her husband’s prognosis is not good and that he has only one week to live. But his time may be extended if she would cook for him, rub his feet and back and take him golfing and fishing etc. and if she would be as affectionate to him as she was when they were first married. So, when the husband asked his wife what the doctor had said, she replied, “He said you have one week to live.”
You see, many people do not get healed spiritually, emotionally and sometimes even physically, not because their condition is incurable, but they’re not healed because they do not want to follow the doctor’s orders.
Before we see or hear from God (our heavenly doctor who knows what’s best for us) we need to make up our minds, are we Giving it your “All”?
Our All calls for All these 4 commands to be obediently followed. You can’t just do 2 out of 4 and expect to hear from God. It doesn’t work that way.
When God gave us these orders it was for a good reason.
Humble yourself – be free from pride.
– Pray – talk with God (all the time)
– Seek God’s face – go and search, go after God.
– Turn from your wicked ways – repent daily; change; live a holy life.
How willing are to give your “ALL”?
– o O o –
