“Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: ‘Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.’” (1 Chronicles 29:10-13 ESV)
“’I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.’” (1 Chronicles 29:17-18 ESV)
It is God who has made us. He is the one who formed us in the wombs of our mothers. All the days that were formed for us were written in God’s book before any of them came into being. We would not even be here on this earth if God did not create us. And he created us for a purpose, that we should serve him with our lives and honor him as Lord. All of us who believe in Jesus Christ were predestined of God to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ and that we should be holy and blameless before him.
[Jer 1:1-19; Psalms 139:13-16; Acts 26:18; Rom 1:6-7,18-23; Rom 6:15-21; Rom 8:28-29; 1 Co 1:9; 1 Co 12:1-31; Gal 5:13; Eph 1:3-4; 1 Thess 4:1-8; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Pet 1:14-16; 1 Pet 2:9; 2 Pet 1:3]
We who call Jesus Christ our Lord are not to live independent of our Lord and of his guidance and direction in our lives, for he created us for a purpose. He has a plan for each one of our lives which can only be fulfilled in his power and strength and wisdom, as we yield control of our lives over to his control. So we must come to that place in our lives when we not only acknowledge his rightful place in our lives, but when we submit to his will and we surrender our lives to his control to do what he created us to do and to be.
And then we must rely upon the strength and wisdom of God to guide us every step of the way, and we must also give him all the glory for all the good that he accomplishes in and through our lives for his glory and purposes. For we can only be his and do his will in his power and strength, and not in our fleshly strength and wisdom. For all that we have that is good has been given to us by God, and we can only do the will of God in his power and strength. So he is the one to be exalted as head above all.
So, when we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, this means that we surrender control of our lives over to him, and now we are his to serve him with our lives. Our lives are no longer our own to be lived however we want to live them, in our flesh, but now we are to live for God’s will and purpose for our lives, in his power, by his grace. And it is God’s will that we should live holy lives, pleasing to him, and that we should no longer walk (in conduct) in sin, but that we should now obey his commandments.
For our Lord takes pleasure in uprightness. For the grace of God, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce (say “No!” to) ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works, the works God prepared in advance that we should walk in them (Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10).
So, our service to the Lord should be done with uprightness of heart and mind, with all sincerity, and in truth and in righteousness. For the Lord knows who is faking it, and who is doing service for the wrong reasons or from selfish motives, and not to give glory to God, but to themselves, and so that people will like them. He knows who is walking in the flesh and who is walking according to the Spirit and who is being led by the Spirit and not by the flesh. For they are those who are submissive to his will and purposes.
And it is good for us if we regularly examine our own hearts and motives to make certain that they are of God, and not of the flesh, and that our dependency is in the Lord alone, and not in the flesh. And the prayer of our hearts should be that the Lord would keep forever his purposes and thoughts in the hearts of his people, and that he would direct our hearts always towards him to make certain that we are doing his will, and that we are doing it in his strength and wisdom, and not in our own fleshly strength.
For if God has called us to himself, he is the one to empower us with the strength and wisdom to do what he has called us to do. For it is not of him if we go it alone without him. It is important, thus, that we realize our dependency upon the Lord and on his strength and wisdom in order to follow him on the path on which he has marked out for us to take. For then the power and wisdom come from him and not from our flesh, and then he is the one who gets all the glory for all that he accomplishes through our lives.
[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:11-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]
Jesus, Hold My Hand
By Albert E. Brumley
As I travel through this pilgrim land
There is a friend who walks with me
Leads me safely through the sinking sand
It is the Christ at Calvary
This would be my prayer, dear Lord, each day
You help me do the best I can
For I need Thy light to guide me day and night
Blessed Jesus, hold my hand
When I wander thru the valley dim
toward the setting of the sun,
Lead me safely to a land of rest
if I a crown of life have won;
I have put my faith in Thee, dear Lord,
that I may reach the golden strand,
There's no other Friend on whom I can depend,
Blessed Jesus, hold my hand.
Jesus, hold my hand
'Cause I need Thee every hour
Through this pilgrim land
Protect me by Thy power
Hear my feeble plea
And O Lord look down on me
When I kneel in prayer
I hope to meet You there
Blessed Jesus, hold my hand
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