Someone asked George Mueller what the secret of his service was. He said: There was a day when I died, utterly died, and, as he spoke, he bent lower and lower until he almost touched the floor. I died to George Muller, his opinions, preferences, tastes, and will; died to the world, its approval or blame even of my brethren and friends and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.
We too like George Mueller, must live a dying life if we are to be true Christians and servants of the most High God. That is why in Romans 12:2, Paul begs us to present our bodies as living sacrifices to the Lord, yielding to a life of transformation so we can no longer do the will of the flesh but the will of God. Transformation is a process by which our old selves die to the will of God - this can only be achieved by the renewing of our minds - a process which must be ongoing on a daily basis. As long we are alive to ourselves, we will be dead to God and His purposes. As long as we are still alive, we can never submit to His will - we can never obey His commands or even serve Him. This is because our will - will be in His way.
In Galatians 2:20, Paul says thus, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.â€
Like Paul, God wants to live in us but He will not do so while we are still alive - we must die to ourselves and be alive to Him. As we prepare to entire a new year, God wants to indwell us like never before so that His purposes can be accomplished through us. Just like John put it, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:3) In other words, I must disappear if He is to manifest in my life. That is why John had to go because Jesus had appeared. Something MUST give way for the Lord.
I must seek to lose my life so that I may gain it in Christ Jesus - only then will I be a a true disciple of His. That is what Jesus meant when he said that "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it." (Luke 9:23-24).
Therefore, lets purpose to lead a dying life so that we may not lose our lives. Identify every area of your life that needs to die - and put it to death and put on the new you in Jesus' name. (Col. 3:5-10).
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