There is only one gateway to the reality of the Living Christ. You must surrender yourself to Jesus without any conditions. You agree to give up the rights to yourself and give God permission to do with you as He pleases.

This is not a surrender to religion, keeping laws, or doing works for God.

You agree to give up your independence for Jesus. This is a decision of the will. God will not force Himself upon you.

The surrender to Jesus will merge your personality into oneness with Him.

Jesus wants your absolute loyalty to Him without compromise.

This decision will trigger the work of the Cross. You will be crucified with Christ. And, your life will belong to God.

The born again believer lives in a personal and embracing relationship with Jesus. He will be in all your thoughts, words and decision making.

The beauty of Jesus is that He forgives all your sins and covers you with His blood. You can stand blameless before God.

You will hear the voice of God consistently. Jesus fills you with His attributes of strength, wisdom, joy and protection. These precious qualities come from Heaven and cannot be found on earth.

Jesus reveals His truth to you and shows you how to operate with His values.

You will experience signs and wonders and live in the presence of powerful angels.

The Holy Spirit will heal your physical afflictions and protect you from evil.

The Holy Spirit will give you supernatural strength and the ability to meet all the challenges of life.

The Holy Spirit will perform inner healing from past hurts and make you whole. He will teach you to forgive others and give you freedom from past emotions.

You will be created in His workmanlike for good works.

Jesus knows you better than you know yourself and will create a perfect plan for your life.

Surrender to Jesus is the beginning of a new and robust life!

I have been studying this biblical precept for several months under the auspices of the Holy Spirit. The definition of dying to self is the process of becoming refined into the character of God.

This is a lengthy and never ending period of time. Jesus is crucifying your natural life. You cannot escape this transformation because it is divinely ordained by God.

If you are serious about God expect deeper refinement along with severe testing and trials.

In reviewing the writings of the great spiritual pioneers they all use scripture, personal testimonies, and analogies to describe this surgical work of God. But the result is the same. They all agree we have to deal with sorrow, loss and pain.

If you are a believer you have entered into this process of natural death. This will be accompanied by pain and suffering at times.

You cannot hurry the process along because it takes a lot of work to get the barnacles removed from your personality.

God sees everything about you. He knows all your vulnerabilities and weaknesses. He sees the depth of your natural life which is mostly hidden from you.

The refinement of the Cross touches every aspect of your thoughts, words and decision making.

God wants believers to walk in oneness with Him and live by faith and not by what they see with their eyes. This happens by giving the Holy Spirit authority over your life and learning to listen to the voice of God.

The Christ follower must learn how to operate like God without the influence of ego and pride. You must also learn how to reject worldly wisdom and actions which are engrained in society.

God wants your loyalty and obedience even though it may be very costly and painful.

It is impossible to live for Christ without experiencing the death of self and the purification of your inner self.

Dying to self gives you the fullness of the life of Christ!

Good Morning,

The Holy Spirit gave me the title for this narrative along with words describing His most important priority in gaining loyalty with Jesus. He told me a believer must accept the unabridged version of the words of Jesus without editing or rejecting any script. Many believers accept what they like about Jesus and reject the hard and more difficult precepts. This is also widely practiced by many religious leaders.

God understands the precepts in the Bible contain some very tough instructions. Jesus just wants believers to just be open to learn how to appropriate His truths into your life. This is a lifelong process and does not happen overnight.

The primary condition for securing the loyalty of Christ is to be willing to lay down your life for Christ. You must be willing to give up your freedom and desires to live for Christ above all else.

Jesus speaks and the believer obeys without delay or questioning His wisdom. He wants obedient and loyal believers regardless of the logic or cost to comply.

Abraham gave up everything and moved to a foreign land at the request of God. This is why he was blessed as the Father of many nations and was favored by God. Abraham was far from perfect but He was obedient to the voice of God.

Loyalty is believing in the promises of Jesus and walking by faith not by sight. Faith is believing your help comes from the Lord who created the Heavens and Earth. David lived by this principle and this is why he was anointed with the favor of God. And, David made many mistakes in his lifetime.

Loyalty comes by centering your life on Jesus through prayer, reading the Bible, and listening for His voice.

Loyalty to Jesus is achieved by submitting to the authority of the Holy Spirit and committing your works each day to Him.

Religion does not build loyalty to Jesus. It will lead you into keeping laws and doing works. Religion presents a superficial view of Christ and does not teach a believer how to live in the reality of our almighty God.

Loyalty is a process of dying to self and living for Christ. You enter into the baptism of the crucified and resurrected Christ. Your life no longer belongs to you. It belongs to Jesus who can do with you as He pleases.

Who is going to write the script for your life?

The Holy Spirit has recently been speaking to me about Satan and his tactics.

Satan was created by God. He is a very powerful spiritual being. At one time he was very loved by God. The Bible tells us Satan was God’s anointed guardian.

Satan wanted to be like God and have authority over all things. For this reason, God threw Satan and his multitude of followers out of Heaven.

Satan is alive and at work on the earth. He wants to destroy the presence of Christ and cause human beings to turn away from God. He is the enemy of all Christians and wants to steal, kill and destroy believers.

Satan has a command structure of many demons. Each demon is assigned an evil power like sexual lust, greed for money or power, alcohol and drug addictions, lies and deceit, and mental health dysfunctions. Any other evil you can think of there is a demon assigned to harass believers. They attempt to entice you to walk in darkness. And, many times they are successful in creating a stronghold over a human being.

There are religious demons who have been very successful in denigrating the scriptures and the purposes of a Christ follower.

Satan can put evil thoughts in your mind and knows your weaknesses. He attacks humans by trying to tempt you into pursuing an evil action. He attempts to convince you everyone does this and don’t worry about God. Remember, Satan is a liar.

Satan also works through the adversities in your life to disprove the love and protection of God. He plants the idea why would a loving God allow this to happen and discourages you from seeking God.

Satan is actively at work behind the scenes and overtly trying to deceive you with lies.

As a believer, you must turn away from every temptation and walk in oneness with God. Commit your works to God and give the Holy Spirit authority over your thoughts, words and actions.

Pray vigilantly seeking the will of God. Test every Spirit when in doubt by yielding to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

Put on the armor of God and rebuke Satan with the promises of God.

You might want to read The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. This classic book gives insight into the dark world of Satan.

There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God, and counterclaimed by Satan. C. S. Lewis

Every human being is tempted whether you are a believer or not. Temptation is rooted in your human nature.

If you think you are above temptation you are living a lie and will probably fall.

The temptations come from genetic dispositions and weaknesses in your personality.

There is nothing wrong with experiencing temptations. Jesus was tempted three times by Satan.

You can give into the temptation or yield the temptation to Christ.

If you give into the temptation you will face misery and destruction. This is taking a shortcut to the goodness of God.

If you yield the temptation to Christ, He promises not to let you be tempted beyond what you can endure. And, He will provide a way of escape so that you can overcome the temptation.

Paul, the writer of this scripture, cites the Israelites as an example of falling into temptations. They worshipped idols, practiced sexual immortality, and complained bitterly about God’s methods.

God responded by releasing poisonous snakes which killed several thousand of the Israelites.

If you give into temptations, you can expect the retribution of God.

You can avoid falling into temptations if you walk by unyielding faith believing in the promises of God. Submit to the authority of the Holy Spirit and pray for the will of God. When in doubt, inquire of the Lord for wisdom.

Walking with Jesus must be built upon absolute trust and obedience. This begins when you make a decision to live for Jesus above all else.

Your commitment to Jesus triggers the act of sanctification. You become a new creature in Christ Jesus and are born again.

Jesus sanctified Himself so that you can be sanctified by the truth. The believer must worship Jesus in Spirit and Truth. This includes prayer, reading the Bible, and listening for His voice.

Your relationship with Jesus cannot be defined by experiences or emotions. This will just create an up and down spiritual walk and you will never know the Living Christ.

The Holy Spirit is how a believer enters into the reality of Jesus. The Christ follower must live under the authority of the Holy Spirit and be in contact with Him at all times.

The attributes of Jesus are dispensed by the Holy Spirit and He teaches you how to live by the values of Jesus.

The life and ministry of a believer will be a demonstration of the Spirit and power at work inside you. This is what changes lives not religious or intellectual based teaching..

The believer must be living in steadfast faith believing in the promises of God. There is a big difference between someone who proclaims the Word and someone who is a doer of the Word. The evidence of the Living Christ is seen by all.

The Holy Spirit authenticates a believer’s ministry and creates the Living Water which is life changing.

The challenge is to commit your works each day to God and invite the Holy Spirit to transform you into a powerful witness for Jesus.

The Holy Spirit has burdened me lately with believers who don’t listen to God. This is a very dangerous habit and can bring destruction and misery into your life.

It would be nice to sit down a have a cup of coffee with Jesus. Unfortunately, this can’t happen because the person of Jesus lives in Heaven.

God did provide a way to enter into a conversation with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. And, Jesus confirmed how to draw near to God by worshiping Him in Spirit and Truth.

The Holy Spirit is sealed in all believers. He is the essence of Jesus. And, He desires to have a living relationship with you.

Prayer is not a one way dialogue where you unload your needs upon Jesus. Prayer is a rich, two way conversation and part of a symbiotic relationship with Jesus.

Prayer is asking God to convict you of sins and provide forgiveness through the blood of Jesus.

Prayer is committing your works to God each day and seeking His wisdom for your life.

Prayer is coming before God with a quiet mind and listening for His voice. God wants to have a dialogue with you to teach you His values, and guide your footsteps. He wants to protect you from evil with a powerful buttress of support.

Prayer is reaching out to God with all your needs.

Prayer is allowing the Holy Spirit to bring up those people or circumstances He wants you to pray about. And, He wants to show you how to pray powerful words coming directly from heaven. And, not just a lot of religious words.

You have the mind of Christ. It is impossible to walk with God unless you are yielding to the Holy Spirit and hearing His voice.

The Christ follower recognizes his utter lack of self sufficiency and the importance of hearing the voice of God.

God’s voice is not confined to prayer. Be open to hear Him at any time.

Jesus has life changing words for you!

This powerful Bible verse describes the essence of God. If you believe this truth how can you ever doubt God or fall into unbelief.

Faith is not an intellectual concept. It does not come by participating in religion. Faith is not created by doing works or keeping the laws of God.

Faith is total dependence upon God regardless of your circumstances. Faith is reaching out to God for your every need.

Faith stems from the depth of your personal relationship with Living Christ.

Faith is obeying the voice of God even when He makes no sense or the request is costly.

Faith is believing in what you cannot see and understanding God calls things that don’t exist as if they did.

Faith is believing and praising God when there is no evidence of His promises.

Faith is having confidence in Jesus while ship wreck at sea and holding onto a piece of debris floating in the water with no help in sight.

Faith is believing in the gift of salvation and walking in oneness with Jesus.

Faith fills you with the righteousness of God. There is no other way to live in the holiness of God.

Without faith you cannot please God.

Your lack of faith makes God angry. He punishes believers who live in fear or doubt and reject the promises of God.

Faith is believing in the miracles of Christ!

We get into trouble by making decisions that seem to be logical but without inquiring of the wisdom of the Lord.

God knows you better than you know yourself. You see a small view of your personality but God sees the essence of your inner being. He sees your hidden motives and desires to live for self.

God sees all your inner depravity and weaknesses.

God is omniscient and knows every detail of your future.

If you are a believer you must commit your works each day to God and seek His will for your life.

Pray each day for the Holy Spirit to convict you of anything that is not of Him. Take all your challenges before God prior to making decisions.

Take the time to listen to God. You have the mind of Christ.

Read the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you the values of Jesus.

Walk with Jesus with an attitude you can never match up to His standards and yield to the authority of the Holy Spirit.

The righteousness of God does not come by works or participating in religion. God calls you to walk by faith in obedience to His voice. Without faith you cannot please God.

Faith is believing in the promises of God and not what you see with your eyes.

The Christ follower is vulnerable to the tactics of Satan. He wants to destroy your life. Wear the armor of God speaking the promises of God and ordering Satan to flee from your life.

At times you will not know how to pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to make intercession for you to break the power of Satan.

As a believer you cannot avoid the trials of life. They are ordained by God. Your steadfast faith, resting in God, and patience will deliver you from all adversities.

You cannot think or act like God but you can live in oneness with the Living Christ.

This is about building your life on the oracles of Christ and rejecting the falsehoods of religion.

There are are several trends taking place today which are corrupting the Body of Christ.

There is a movement to worship God with little attention to true repentance and then attempting to take His blessings.

The teaching in the Body is filled with the practice of claiming the promises of God as if you are entitled to them. The leaders neglect the retribution of God and the importance of a making a serious commitment to live for Christ.

Jesus told believers to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and the other things in life will be added. This is not the priority of most believers.

Seeking God is about prayer, listening for His voice and a genuine desire to do His will. Are you really willing to be crucified and die to self?

Walking with Christ is giving up your freedom and desires for the purposes of God.

Jesus wants your loyalty and obedience to Him whether His instructions make any sense or may be costly.

Repentance tends to be minimized and is usually just a ritual to get out of the way.

The truth is your relationship with God is defined by light and darkness. And, sin is only a moment away from you. You and I are self driven people who need to be covered with the blood of Jesus every moment of our lives.

The great revivals in the past were all started with repentance.

Faith tends to be a topic not an expression of life.

The whitewashing of God’s truths will give you a wall that will crumble and lack any protection.

Stand firm on the precepts of God and do not accept any deviation from the Word.

Walk with the Living Christ in oneness with His Spirit and Truth. This will provide you a wall with the eternal shields of Christ.