Bob Jones on 2013: Decision & Commitment


This is the year to make a decision and commitment! The decision brings us to commitment so we can commit our entire life this year. Then we will serve God and obey the written word and the Holy Spirit in the way He directs our lives. When we make this commitment to God we will see the faithfulness of (Isaiah 11:5.)
 
And righteousness shall be the girdle of His waist and faithfulness the girdle of His loins. (Isaiah 11:5)
 
Through obedience to the written word we learn righteousness; right standing with God. By developing relationship with God we take on the divine nature of Christ and sanctify the imagination (thoughts). When we surrender our soul to our spirit we allow the spirit within us to rule over the soul.
 
And having been set free from sin, you have become the servants of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in thought, purpose, and action). (Rom. 6:18)
 
In this way our thoughts, purpose and action will be committed to God’s will. And being led by the Holy Spirit of Truth, Who leads us into all truth; we walk the highway of holiness. Then our entire bodily members will be in complete obedience to the Holy Spirit because we are obedient to the law of Love. (Rom. 13:10) It’s from the place of mature love the greater works flow. Then what is seen in our sanctified imagination we speak according to the will of the Father bringing “on earth as it is in Heaven” into the natural realm.
 
Christ was obedient unto His death on the cross. Christ was separated from the Father when He cried out “My Father, My Father why have You forsaken Me?” When Christ became the atoning sacrifice for man’s sin, the Father could not look upon Him. Therefore, obedience is greater than sacrifice. Christ yielded all His bodily members to the Father so we could become the righteousness of God through His Son. Jesus lived His earthly life totally committed to the Father’s will. Therefore the Father’s will was being done on earth as it was in Heaven. For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son. This was the Father’s greatest act of love, giving His Son to mankind. (John 3:16)
 
It is in the DNA of every Christian to hear the voice of God and be led by His Holy Spirit. John 10:4 says His sheep hear His voice and follow after Him. His sheep commit to follow Him because they know the voice of the Good Shepherd. We must follow His voice and be totally obedient to what He tells us to do. Obedience leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to sanctification. Sanctification is the beginning of holiness and holiness is the beginning of the greater works. The greater works begin with unconditional love toward one another.
 
 And he replied, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27)
 
God is calling for us to conform to His way with all of our natural being; heart, soul, strength and mind. We are being called to walk the straight and narrow way, the road less traveled or perhaps better known as the highway of holiness. We must surrender to Him the dictates of our own heart in order to walk according to His will.
 
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8)  
 
When we make the decision to walk the way of righteousness and arm ourselves in commitment, we begin to walk in sanctification. Sanctification is the belt of truth we put around our waist and commit our mind, will and emotions to God in thought, purpose and action.
 
Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God. (Eph 6:14)
 
You shall know the truth and it will set you free. The truth we gird our mind with is His Word. His word will always tell us what to do. The real thing that we commit our self to is love.
 
Love does no wrong to one’s neighbor [it never hurts anybody]. Therefore love meets all the requirements and is the fulfilling of the Law. (Rom 13:10)

This is the word for 2013; make a decision for Christ that you’re going to walk in righteousness. And make for yourself a commitment to obey the works of righteousness which is our thought purpose and action. We live with the consequences of decisions we make whether good or bad. Let’s choose to make God the Master of our life and let Christ ride in the saddle of our mind. Let us commit ourselves completely to Him this year! That which we have committed to God He is faithful to commit to us. Once we have made the decision to commit our whole being unto God and come into His righteousness, we must not stray from it.
 
For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. (2Timothy 1:12)