Presenting ...
... a weekly letter of encouragement.
6 August, 1997 - Singapore
Good Morning!
WHY DOES IT OFTEN TAKE A CRISIS BEFORE WE TOTALLY SURRENDER
OUR LIVES TO GOD?
- A disintegrating marriage
- One of our kids on drugs
- A failed business venture
- Cancer
My guess is that total surrender to God is not something
that comes easily for you, especially if you are the
kind of person who can "make things happen" rather
easily.
After all, why bother trusting God when you can pull things
off so effortlessly on your own?
St. Paul, a man of no meager ability, also struggled with
total dependence upon God. The fact that he was the product of
an enviable pedigree, possessed the equivalent of two or three
Ph.D's, and had political connections that would be the envy
of any power broker, made dependency upon God just that much more
difficult.
After all, if anyone could pull things off on their own, it was
Paul.
SO...GOD BROUGHT HIM TO THE BRINK...
"We do not want you to be uninformed...about the hardship
we suffered...We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability
to endure, so that we despaired even of life...Indeed,
in our hearts we felt the sentence of death..."
TO TEACH HIM THE IMPORTANCE OF DEPENDENCY UPON GOD:
"But this happened that we might not rely upon
ourselves but on God..." (2 Cor.
1:8,9)
So...if you tend toward cool-headed self-reliance that pushes
God to the edges of your daily life, hold on to your hat:
YOUR LOVING FATHER IS COMMITTED TO ARRANGING THE CIRCUMSTANCES
IN YOUR WORLD
- TO GET YOUR ATTENTION, OR
- TO TAKE YOU TO THE BRINK, IF NECESSARY,
IN ORDER TO TEACH YOU "NOT TO RELY ON YOURSELF BUT
ON GOD."
My prayer is that you are having a great week.
Dwight Hill
- 1 Coleman Street #02-34
The Adelphi - Singapore 0617 .
- Phone: 337 6498; Fax: 336 9913
(c) Copyright 1996 Dwight Hill. Unlimited permission to copy or use is hereby granted subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.
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