Power Point - February 4, 2005

February 4, 2005

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ …  that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…

-Ephesians 3:14-17

In the days of the great Western cattle ranches, cattlemen had an interesting way of breaking wild horses. An unbroken stallion would be harnessed to a little burro, and the two of them would be let loose out onto the range.

At first the stallion would kick and buck and drag the burro around like a sack of wheat. The two might be gone for days, but eventually they would return with the burro leading the now-docile horse. That wild stallion had exhausted itself trying to break free of the burro, but it had give up the fight, and its power was now harnessed, ready to serve the rancher.

That’s exactly what it means to give up without giving in. Jesus Christ calls us to yield control of our lives to Him, so that we might be useful to Him by becoming all that He wants us to be.

Admittedly, this is not always easy to do, because most of us like the feeling of being in control. Besides, giving in sounds like giving up, as if we’re quitting. Even though that’s not the case, this may be the most difficult of all heart issues to put into to practice. We’re afraid that if we give up control, our lives are somehow going to spin out of their orbits. So we try to guide our own destinies and call the shots.

But it’s not until we yield control that the Lord can take His rightful place of lordship in our hearts. The lord does not simply want a place in our lives, or even priority. He demands pre-eminence. So the call today is to give yourself unconditionally and unreservedly to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and the lordship of Jesus Christ.

IF JESUS IS NOT LORD OF ALL,

HE IS NOT LORD AT ALL.