Please respond to Marketplace Meditations            T O D A Y    G O D    I S    F I R S T
                  Marketplace Meditations
                       by Os Hillman

The Door of Full Surrender

But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will
come forth as gold.
- (Job 23:10)


I was recently sitting with the leader of a marketplace
organization as he described a question he poses to
businesspeople. "What if there were two doors to choose from;
behind one door was the complete will of God for your life and
behind the other door was how life could be according to your own
preference. Which door would you choose?" The struggle for most
lies in the desire to follow God completely and the fear of what
might be behind the door of full surrender. Most of us desire to
follow God, but few of us will do it at any cost. We do not
really believe that God loves us to the degree that we are
willing to give Him complete permission to do as He wills in us.

If we desire to fully walk with Christ, there is a cost. We may
give intellectual assent and go along with His principles and do
fine; however, if we are fully given over to Him and His will for
our life, it will be a life that will have adversity. The Bible
is clear that humans do not achieve greatness without having
their sinful will broken. This process is designed to create a
nature change in each of us, not just a habit change. The Bible
calls it circumcision. Circumcision is painful, bloody, and
personal.

If God has plans to greatly use you in the lives of others, you
can expect your trials to be even greater than those of others.
Why? Because, like Joseph who went through greater trials than
most patriarchs, your calling may have such responsibility that
God cannot afford to entrust it to you without ensuring your
complete faithfulness to the call. He has much invested in you on
behalf of others. He may want to speak through your life to a
greater degree than through another. The events of your life
would become the frame for the message He wants to speak through
you.

Do not fear the path that God may lead you on. Embrace it. For
God may bring you down a path in your life to ensure the reward
of your inheritance. "For our light and momentary troubles are
achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2
Cor. 4:17).




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This daily devotional is published and distributed by
Crosswalk.com.  It is written by Os Hillman, president of
Marketplace Leaders, located in Atlanta, GA.  His email address
is <os@marketplaceleaders.org>.  For more articles and books
by Os Hillman you may visit his web site at
http://www.marketplaceleaders.org.

Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com:
<http://devotionals.crosswalk.com>
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