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THE GREAT RELEASE
“Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.” Psalms 31:5
Something special and of eternal significance occurs when I pray as our LORD p
rayed while dying on the cross for our sins - "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” (Luke 23:46)
A greater release from the gravitational and downward pull of the sinful nature transpires at the moment the believer releases himself afresh to the Father. The divine and resurrection life, by “the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead” floods our being the instant we call to Him to fill us as we empty ourselves.
“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (give life to) your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Romans 8:11
His wonderful example here, prayed in His very dying breath, is for every disciple throughout the entire New Testament era. There is the deep need for and within every saint to fully release himself to the LORD. Our spirits cry out to be fully His - "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matt. 26:41) How shall we do this? How shall we release ourselves fully to our Heavenly Father? I find no better way to release my life to the One who gave it than to pray as Jesus prayed in His final breath on the cross - “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” The Son of God prayed this prayer to the Father as He was giving up the ghost - dying to be raised again. What do dying and releasing ourselves to the Father have in common? Lots. Can one be raised up if he is not first laid down? Can a life be resurrected if it is not first dead? Does not one compliments the other? Isn't dying the essential prerequisite to being raised? Like all who truly possess a heart after the LORD, John the Baptist declared “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (Jn. 3:30) In another place the Savior taught “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn (grain; seed) of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” (Jn. 12:24-25) In this sense, losing and hating one’s life refers to caring for and elevating the life of Jesus above our own. In this sense we must hate our own life in order to have His life or to prefer having His to our own. Isn’t this what has been predestined for each of His children? Isn’t this what He is after in my life - full release from self-will and conformity “to the image of his Son”? Isn’t this why He has redeemed those He calls His saints?
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Rom. 8:28-29)
The Potter not orchestrating “all things” in our lives to cause us to be “conformed to the image of His Son.” Are you seeing His perfect molding hand in your own life? Are you now willing to submit to this process?
The Key to Be Made Free
Are you truly ready to be made free from the shackles that bind? Are you willing to obey what the LORD showed us in His last breath?
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32
Here Jesus didn’t say that those who simply know the truth would be made free but rather those who “continue in my word are my disciples in deed; And ye (ye who continue to walk in – do - the truth) shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
We all toil with the sinful deeds of the flesh or sinful nature. A war rages (Gal. 5:16-17). So many times we seek to ‘put out fires’ by wrestling with a particular sin we struggle to overcome. Perhaps it is a full releasing of ourselves to the One who died and rose again to save us that will solve this problem.
So, if doers of the Word/truth of God are made free, the such begs the question - Are you ready to be made free? To be fully God's and not your own? To be crucified with Christ and yet He living in and through you? Ready for this freedom He promised and instructed us to enter into? Here we go....Bow your heart this moment and ask Him for this very thing sincerely and from the very depth of your being and your life will never be the same: Father into Thine hands I commend my spirit. I release myself fully, unreservedly to You LORD at this moment. I am all Yours and You are all mine! Take me Jesus. Make, mold and use me my Master. Amen.
The Laid Down Life
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