(Today’s devotional is a continuation of yesterday’s!)
Our body is the instrument through which our soul and our spirit operate. Our soul consists of our mind, will, and emotions. Our spirit is the core of us, the place where the Spirit of God has taken up residence and become one with us (1 Cor. 6:17). We can either be emotionally driven, or Spirit led; either way, our soul or our spirit will determine our behavior, and our body will carry it out. (The movie Inside Out does a marvelous job of illustrating how a human’s bodily actions can be driven entirely by emotions).
The more we grow into maturity in the Lord, the more His Spirit will direct our decisions, through our spirits. Consequently, we will increasingly learn to surrender our bodies to Him day to day. Rather than our arms, legs, hands, feet, and tongue reacting to emotional impulses, they will operate under the direction of Holy Spirit. This, according to Romans 12:1, is our spiritual act of worship. A life entirely yielded to Him is the best way to show Him our passionate devotion.
The body prepared for Jesus, according to our Hebrews passage, was written of in God’s book before He lived in it. Did you know that yours was written of in God’s book too? The Psalmist writes eloquently, “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Ps. 139:15-16, NIV).
Ahead of time, He saw the body He prepared for you. Ahead of time, He crafted and wrote down a fearfully, wonderfully made plan for every day that you would live in it. What an immense privilege, to daily offer our bodies to God for His purposes as Jesus offered up His!
Today, will you echo Jesus’ words? Will you say to your God in surrendered worship, “Daddy, here I am! You have written about me in Your book. I have come to do Your will!”?
*******************************************
When we know that God has written about us in His book, how does that inform our daily living? Our mundane routines?
Feeding On Jesus 
This post was so good to sit with, reflect upon and pray through. I remember the few years after Jesus brought me home in 2014, His Spirit continually prompted me through the Word to speak up and say things to others that I knew could cause conflict between us. I didn’t want to, but the Spirit pressed me until I did. And sure enough, it did cause conflict and in that conflict my body experienced massive trauma triggers, as the enemy accused me, quoting Scripture, just as he had when I was little.
But now, rather than acting on what felt right (the accusations of condemnation against me), I cried out to God to speak His Word to me and He took those Scriptures the enemy quoted to condemn me and empowered me to discern the truth by His Word and Spirit within me and to release what was not from Him.
Now, I see how He is inviting me to receive His compassion in my body to heal from all the trauma of spiritual abuse – to freely express Christ’s pure emotions in me that I hid and bottled up and deemed “wrong” for so many years.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amen. Praying right now in agreement with Him and His beautiful healing work within you, dear Anna!
LikeLike
I see now how the Spirit enables us to obey His impulses, rather than our fleshly emotions (fed by pride and shame and fear), but also how through this process of learning to obey His impulses, He works to restore to us His pure emotions of grief, joy and peace (untainted by pride and shame and fear).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful revelation!
LikeLike
“All the days ordained for me…” A good reminder that the seeming chaos around me is actually God’s will being worked out in history. Thanks for the reminder.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know the Holy Spirit showed you that, and I feel the breath of God on it, so thank you so much for sharing and encouraging my spirit!
LikeLike
Amen! Daddy, here I am! You have written about me in Your book. I have come to do Your will!💟
LikeLiked by 1 person
That just made me smile real big. I feel His delight in your worshipful prayer!
LikeLike
Amen🙏
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
“A life entirely yielded to Him is the best way to show Him our passionate devotion” –and the best way to experience joy, fulfillment, and the abundance of all that God has to offer! Why would I ever rebel against complete submission when those are the results–and yet I do. Thank you for guiding our attention back, Jennifer, to what really matters!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amen, amen, and amen, dear Nancy! Truly this is the path to life more abundantly. And thank YOU for your lovely comment!
LikeLiked by 1 person
THANK YOU, This is a reminder to reflect upon. If it is our body in hospital being subjected to an op or whether our sorrows at a loss threaten to overwhelm us surrendering all to HIM we are to continue lifelong to be a His child learning and growing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are welcome, my precious sister! May He minister His deep love to your heart of hearts today as you continue to walk in surrender to Him!
LikeLike