Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ablaze for God - Day 46 Devotional


“Infilling Begins with Complete Surrender”
Submitted by Judy Gorud
Key text: Romans 12:1,2

Infilling begins with complete surrender.

Surrender from a worldly perspective denotes defeat after a lost battle. In God’s kingdom however, it is the basis for a life of joy, peace and victory.

So what do we surrender? Our selfishness, passivity, ambitions, plans, grudges, critical attitudes, and an unloving spirit. God may show you others!

When the above attitudes and mind-sets fill our hearts and minds, there is no room for the infilling of the Spirit. When you put water in a container that has a rock in it – that container is not yet “full” of water – and cannot be “full of water” until the rock is removed!

To surrender all we must ask the Holy Spirit to shine the probing light into our hearts to reveal what is there, ask God’s forgiveness and cleansing – then we are ready for that baptism of the Holy Spirit who brings purity, power and love to work in and through us for God’s glory and the benefit of His Church.

However, once we have reached this place we must realize our enemy, Satan, will do all he can to bring back thoughts of these weaknesses. We must fight constantly – what Paul calls the “good fight of faith.” And as we are faced with new situations and assignments from the Lord we must have His cleansing and fresh infillings to meet the need.

Pray: Father in heaven, as the Lord Jesus told His followers to wait in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit, so we too need to have that infilling so we can effectively do Your work. So this day I confess my sins and ask for the Holy Spirit to cleanse me and fill me with His love and power just now. In Jesus’ Name. AMEN

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