What I love about God is he doesn’t force himself upon us. We have the beauty to choose to follow Him or live our own way. Even after we do choose Him, He give us the option to grow deeper in our relationship or stay at the surface. While God knows every thing about us, he still allows us the opportunity to share our vulnerable moments or to keep silent. He allows us the option to live in our flesh or follow the Holy Spirit. While there are benefits and sacrifices to both, the choice is ours.

While I’ve known Christ all my life, as of late I’ve decided to dig deeper in our relationship. I chose to fast and surrender my body to Him, which has opened my spiritual eyes, given me a greater sense of discernment and wisdom. Growing deeper in Christ has revealed areas of my life where I was still broken and believing the lies of the world, not the truth of who God has called me to be.

I love that when I choose to completely surrender my problems and fears to God and not partially surrender with one hand, while still holding on with the other; but, really surrender arms stretched raised how he takes my burdens, ungodly thoughts, pain, sin, unforgiveness, and washes me clean given me a new perspective, a new way to live.

New REvelation and Wisdom

My cry lately has been, ” Lord give me more of you. Help me to understand You so that Your words and ways aren’t just in my mind but in my heart so that Your words will transform my soul and help to me to connect with you more deeply and personally.” Is this anyone else’s heart cry? My yearning for Christ right now is unquenchable, because in His presence I receive deeper revelations of His word and love for me. Have you ever read His word, a simple passage, and a light bulb goes off? Not only do you understand it, but also you can visualize the word, and see how it applied to past situations, thus changing your whole perspective on how you’ll address or view something in the future.

I was reading Ephesians 6, verse 12 suddenly resonated differently in my soul. While I had recited the scripture,

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

I understood visually the attacks I had experienced my life. The simple scripture that all have seen and heard finally lit up my spirit in a way that caused me to pray harder, respond to people with patience and compassion, and reduced my frustration. In that moment I realized it wasn’t the people. There was no need for me to verbally fight back but truly stand firm in prayer so the angels could fight on my behalf. This is just one example of how choosing to go deeper in your relationship with Christ is transformational to your mind and actions.

The Sacrifice and reward

Now I will admit, making the choice to follow Christ this closely isn’t always easy. You’ll have to surrender some friends, places you frequented, music you once enjoyed and even your time. But the God we serve is faithful in that he’ll replace all those things with joy, peace, holiness, new friends that sharpen you and hold you accountable to God, new hobbies, and adventures. The greatest benefit of choosing to spend more time with Christ is the ability to walk in the promises of God and no longer desiring what the world deems as valuable, and restoration of your true identity.

You may be asking what does choosing God look like in the practical sense?

Four ways to choose God today are:

1. Make the decision to follow the word of God even if it will cost you something. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” – Matthew 16:24-26

2. Seek God’s direction for your life. Ask God to show you the areas of your life where you need to exercise the beauty to choose. Where you can surrender the things you’ve made idols or crutches in your life. The people or activities you rely on to comfort you instead of the presence of God and his word.

3. Spend daily time reading your word and praying. One pastor states you should take you age divide it by two, then spend that much time in the morning and evening reading your word and praying (.i.e. If you are 28 years old, you would spend 14 minutes in the morning and 14 minutes in the evening with God). For some you are already doing that and more, so don’t decrease your time.

4. Fast a few times a year. Fasting brings about spiritual clarity and brings us closer to God. Fasting also helps us to break free from sins that have been difficult to give up. You can fast for short or longer periods all have their benefits. The Bible shows fasting in the range of 3 to 40 days.

Do you want to see the world in a new way?

Do you want to reignite your relationship with Christ?

I urge you today to say yes to a new level in Christ. Commit to 30 days of surrendering to God’s will and watch your life and mind change. Exercise your beauty to choose.

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants.”  ~Deuteronomy 30:19