Life Church Vineyard

Catherine Burleigh Youth Minister

A life yielded to Christ

Yielding…

The theme in Genesis is obedience.

On our own we will never be our best self but off the throne of our lives and yielded to the Spirit we can accomplish His will for our life. We have to wait, pause and yield our will to His. 

The Spirit and the flesh cannot coexist. It is up to us to choose each day who is in charge.

Deuteronomy 30:15-30

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

We have 2 choices. Obey or follow our own fleshly desires.

Roman 7:21

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

We live in the power of the Holy Spirit and in Him we have all the guidance we need to obey!

Ephesians 1:15-23

15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Isaiah 64:4

4 For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.

We need to pause and wait to hear from God before we proceed. 

Isaiah 40:31

31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint

Our God longs to act on our behalf when we yield to Him. Sometimes yields mean GO. 

Goodness in greek means active good.

Ephesians 2:10

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

We often want the rewards of obedience without the work of what He has asked of us. He will always love us but in His love we will learn obedience. The more we act in compliance to those things He tells us to do the easier our lessons will be learned. We will not always hear correctly but He will always value our attempts. 

God is the Creator and He alone has the right to direct and control. We just need to obey.

God provides for those who place their trust totally in Him! We step out in faith. 

Be still and know that He is God!! Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.