Promises for a full surrender to God.

I have a deep, personal question to ask you right now.  When you look deep within your heart, do you see that you have grown deeper and deeper in your relationship with Christ?  Do you consider yourself to be stronger in the things of God than you have ever been before?  I hope so.  Every day with Jesus should be sweeter than the day before.  We should have a deeper faith moment by moment.  Yet we should not be satisfied that God has finished His work in our lives. He is ever working on our characters to lift us up and set our feet on solid ground, spiritually.  Does God really mean what He says in the promises in Roman 6?  No other chapter in the Bible is so lavish in giving instruction to a struggling Christian. Consider these verses:

Verses 1& 2  "Shall we continue in sin. . . .God forbid."

Verse 2  "We that are dead to sin."

Verse 6  "Henceforth we should not serve sin."

Verse 7 "Freed from sin."

Verse 11  "Dead indeed to sin."

Verse 12 "Let not sin therefore reign."

Some are frightened simply because it describes the perfect work God wants to do in sanctifying us from sin.  Many are afraid of that word 'perfect'.  They are fearful that God will ask them to do some-thing that they are not willing to do.

Philippians 1:6  "Being confident of this very thing, that He that hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."  If we surrender our all to Christ, He will do just what He says.

1 Thessalonians 5:23,24  "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."

He has called us and He has said He will do it for us.  We must give ourselves to Him in complete surrender.  Of ourselves we cannot do anything because He has said in John 15:5  "I am the vine, ye are the branches:  He that abideth in Me and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing."

This whole study is pretty plain, isn't it?  I believe that we can be very confident that when He begins a good work in us, He will finish it in us and save us in His kingdom.  If He is faithful to call us, He also will be faithful do it for us.  I love these promises, they mean so much to me.  Grandma Joan