TAKE MY LIFE

After accepting the life of Christ as far back as November 1998, I started as a zealous brother in the Lord. I led Bible study for Scripture Union Nigeria in my secondary school. I discovered I had issues with pride, so I asked the Lord to take away my pride. But He said; “Son, you have to give up your pride.” As believers, we struggle with a lot of things in life that we shouldn’t. Accepting the life of Christ Jesus means we are saying to the Lord, “Take my life and all its components (ego, career, personality, influence, status, qualification, experience)”. If that was our confession and we meant it, giving our entire life to Christ shouldn't be a big deal. I remember the words of a songwriter that goes; “My life is not my own, to you I belong, I give myself to you”. The life that we claim ownership of is not ours. It belongs to God. The fact that He gave us free will doesn’t permit us to play Him in paying tithes, giving offerings, fasting, praying, meditating on His word, soul-winning, and lots more. I thought to myself some years ago, that if God decides to take someone's life back, nothing will happen. The best anyone can do is organize a befitting funeral service. Nobody can take God to court. So to get an assurance of eternity, why not peacefully live your life for Him? I will take us into my favorite song, Take My Life and Let it Be: Take my life and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days, Let them flow in endless praise. This means accepting the life of Jesus Christ should make you dedicate your entire life to a higher purpose of living for God. Being consecrated to God simply means you have dedicated your life to holy living. Consecration comes from the word “sacred”, which means dedicated or set apart for service or worship, devoted exclusively to one service or use. When you are consecrated to God, He takes your moments and days. Consecration to God leads you to so many other things that you might have struggled with but it becomes easy. Jesus shows a perfect example in Hebrews 10:18-22. When God takes your moments and your days, your mouth will always be filled with endless praise. Praise is a function of being in God’s will. When you say Lord, take my life, you are saying Lord, I’m ready to be obedient to you. Let’s take a look at someone who asked God to take his life - Abraham. God gave Abraham an instruction in Genesis 12:1 to leave his father’s house and go to a place He would show him. Abraham followed God blindly. He wasn’t careful like most of us, asking questions like; “Is it a fertile land? How is the topography? Hope it’s not a desert. Lord, the vision is for an appointed time, can’t You just wait for a while? God, are you the one talking to me or is it the devil?” Usually, we start asking funny questions only when He gives us instructions we are not comfortable with. At the end of it, after Abraham obeyed God blindly, he was rewarded in Genesis 12: 2-3. This means there is a reward for every act of obedience. God gave Abraham another instruction in Genesis 17: 9-15, and he also obeyed without leaving anything out. I must confess that it was a difficult instruction. Circumcision is naturally painful, talk more of doing it at an old age like Abraham, but he obeyed. After his act of obedience, he was rewarded in Genesis 17: 5-8. God gave yet another instruction to Abraham in Genesis 22:1-13 to offer the son He gave to him in his old age. He didn’t hesitate to obey God and he got the reward in Genesis 22:15-18. Living for God means giving all to Him. Your moments, days, money, resources, and everything you can think of. I have come to discover that the more you give to God, the more you live for Him. To be continued… AYODEJI ANIFOWOSE Twitter: @gfatherghusband Instagram: @gfather_ghusband, @ayodeji.anifowose Facebook: www.facebook.com/greatfathergreathusband, www.facebook.com/ayodeji.anifowose E-mail: ayollc.company@gmail.com www.ayodejianifowose.com