Monday Morning Musings ...

Here's hoping that the snow we received Saturday night is the last we have to deal with and that we can get on with Spring. The slick conditions Sunday morning did not hamper attendance in worship. In fact it was the best attendance this calendar year and only 2 other Sundays were higher in the past 12 months.

We seemed to engage better well in the singing right from the start of worship. There was an encouraging time of testimonies during one of the songs. People also hung around for quite a while after the service talking with each other, that is a good sign.

I continued the series "Breaking Bondages", this time the focus was on what it takes to be free no matter what the bondage. I Corinthians 6:12-20 is our foundational passage of scripture and we examined Romans 6:1-14. We must recognize the price has already been paid for our freedom through Jesus Christ. Andrew Murray said, "God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him." We must recognize when anything other than Christ becomes our master. All the sin nature can do is take, it cannot give and if it appears to give it to manipulate in order to take something else. Recognize what is available in the Holy Spirit. The cleansing and power available through the Holy Spirit.

Healing is possible, we need to count/reckon ourselves dead to sin according to Romans 6:11. Quit messing around in areas you know you should avoid. Quit making excuses. Quit believing the lies that say you cannot be free. Let grace be grace in your life. How different would you live if you really lived with the knowledge of grace in all of your life? How different would your church be if you extended God's grace to everyone for whom Jesus died? You, and your body, are a member with Christ, how then should you live? Should you be controlled by pornography, bitterness, drugs, food, alcohol, money or fear knowing that you are members with Christ? It takes surrender of yourself to God, to his will and to the cleansing of the Holy Spirit. True surrender means an emptying of myself so that I can be filled with Christ and the Holy Spirit. D.L. Moody said, "I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God's law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God. We must be emptied before we can be filled."

What, or who, is your master? If is anyone, or anything, other than Christ and his Holy Spirit then something needs to change. What will you do? When?