Psalm 100:3, English Standard Version’

“Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”

Become His (Part One)

Life is God’s gift of grace to us, who we become as we choose to honor Him as one of His Own, is our gift of love to Him. I was not raised in a religious home and only heard ‘about’ Jesus. Ever since I can remember, I embraced Him as my Savior, but did not talk about that with others, until I was moved to do so numerous years later.

Initially I only knew Jesus died for our sins and that we needed to repent; I did so regularly. Even though I believed He forgave me and wanted to give me a fresh start, day by day, shame haunted my soul deep within. I hoped there was more to having a personal relationship with God as our Father than that, as it bothered me that I did not have the power to change my corrupted heart. I was making a lot of foolish choices, some of which had caused me to live an oppressive life, mostly out of ignorance, at times out of rebellion, thinking I knew better. It was not until 1978 when I heard His good news( through being born anew of His holy and righteous Spirit,) His Spirit within changes-renews our minds, day by day; His plan for each of us is good and not evil. His Father’s heart toward us is motivated by the purity of His Love. His love cannot be earned nor destroyed. Receiving and embracing these truths as our own, causes us to experience His gift of grace and life more abundantly. Take note: I am not talking about monetary gain which is temporal, but an inner transformation-restoration of our souls, which is eternal and begins while we are still on earth.

At twenty-nine, I heard of our need to surrender our will for our heavenly Father, so we could become who He created us to be. Through our union we are enabled to hear the voice of the Most High God, and to learn to walk with Him in the Spirit as His Spirit within transforms our innermost beingness. The possibility of this not only excited me and gave me hope, but it frightened me. Could we really come to experience the presence and truth of the Most High God relationally as one of His Children while still on earth? Hope overcame the fear and I surrendered my all. My greatest desire beginning in that moment was to come to know God as our heavenly Father and to love Him in return as much as possible in this lifetime and beyond. I wanted to honor Him with my life!

Please come back next week to read, “Become His”  (Part Two)