Oswald Chambers, "To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only to give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things. Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing we must surrender is all of our pretense or deceit. What our Lord wants us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us. And what He gives us in exchange for our sin is real solid righteousness."
Oh, the steps to true forgiveness. I have been considering the different steps that we each take on our walk with God. I have several friends that have had "cleaning" experiences. Each of them are on very different stages with their walks with Christ, but each cleaning experience relevant on its own. I have one friend that has been walking strong with her Lord for some time now, but just recently cleaned her house of anything that had ever been "touched" by her sinful past. Another friend is just starting her journey with Christ and recently wrote down all of her painful sins and burned them in a fire. Several years ago I started writing, confessing every detail of my past that I could not say in person to Jason. The different steps that we take on our journey are all done at different stages, but the confession is the same.
(OC),"Along each step of this process, we will have to give up our claims to our rights to ourselves. Are we willing to surrender our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?" In each individual situation confession is the constant, but in each situation confession does nothing if we do not accept Christ and truly repent. Repentance is the turning away from what we were doing and following Christ.
John 4:1-26, Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water....But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” It does us no good to confess our sins if we do not have Christ to cover them and to help us change. We will continually be seeking more and our thirst will never be quenched if we do not have His blood washing it all away. Along our entire journey with Christ, He will continually bring new truths to us that we have not been willing or able to face. We are continually reminded that we cannot do it without Him, but with Him we can face all of our failures. With Him we can see how much we are loved. With Him we are given the strength and ingenuity we need to live each day to please Him. Without Him we are left wanting more. Without Him it is all so pointless. (OC), "If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all that He requires of you."
http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/03/08/devotion.aspx?year=2010
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