SOLEMN WHISPER DEVOTIONAL
\nSaturday, 5th September, 2020
\nCHARACTERISTICS OF SUBMISSION
\n(Gen. 22:6-9, Luke 1:38)
\nMEMORY VERSE: "And Mary said, Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word..."(Luke 1:38 KJV)
\nIn our previous devotional, it has been established that submission is the act of yielding or giving way to something. As children of God, submission involves focusing on God while shutting ourselves out of other ungodly alternatives. For us to be effectively submissive, we must portray and have certain characteristics in our lives, these include:
\n- Trust
\n- Obedience and
\n- Surrendering
\nWith these three, we can build strong convictions in us as followers of Jesus Christ.
\nTrust is putting all our hopes in God, believing without having any alternatives, fear, doubts or worries that everything is and will be alright no matter what is happening presently. We can all bring ourselves to the point where we trust Him fully. Look back at the Bible stories and recall people who trusted God, see the pattern of how God is incapable of disappointments. The three Babylonians - shedrach, message and abednego
\n- Daniel in the lion's den, to mention but a few.
\nSecondly, Obedience is humbly following a command without questions, and our opening scripture has Abraham in full obedience to God's instructions without questioning, murmuring or complaining. We have to come to a point where we push aside murmuring and complaining whenever we receive an instruction from God and learn to follow headlong.
\nFinally, For submission to be effective, we need to surrender our entire being to Him who formed us, because He knows what is best for us. Our memory verse portrays Virgin Mary surrendering fully to God's will and allowing God to have His way. We often sing "Have your way o Lord" while we continue to sort ways to fix things on our own.
\nToday the Holy Spirit is calling us to submit to God effectively by trusting, obeying and surrendering.
\nPrayer: Dear Lord, help me to trust, obey and surrender to your will in Jesus name Amen
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\nPeace Harrison