It Really Is a Mercy Killing

    As soon as one's emotions get stirred in a situation, they are vulnerable to react in the flesh, instead of giving it to God in trust and faith. I found myself in that place last night, and I didn't like it. My desire is to take everything to the Lord, as the Only Faithful, True and Trustworthy One, but intense situations lure me in unsuspectingly. More dying is needed.
     Comfort is given when I see that the emotions are calmed so much sooner than in the past, revealing God's work in me. My opinions, my perspective, my "shoot from the hip" reactions aren't needed, and yet I give them anyway when my emotions are stirred. Dying to self is an agonizing process.
    "Let God be true and everyman a liar" is the cry of my spirit! Nothing we bring to the table within our own selves apart from God is effective or helpful or needed. Oh yes, brother James, it is hard to bridle the tongue-what man can? Only by allowing the soul to be crucified can anything within ourselves be tamed. So go, we must. For God to be truly glorified through our being, and for Him to have the pre-eminence; we have to die.
     It won't happen by us singing, "In my life, Lord, be glorified" over and over. No, for Him to truly be glorified in our lives, we've gotta go. We need to have the John the Baptist mindset of "less of me, more of Him." Again, saying this won't do it either, unless we are willing to die, and this dying is painful. Out of the death of us, comes Life, which is Christ in us, the hope of glory. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
     Have you entered into this process? Would you like to? Tell God, and you will begin to apprehend that which Christ has apprended for you on the cross, called sanctification. He not only justifies, and reconciles, but He sanctifies too! This means He goes about the business of cleansing, setting apart, and transforming you! All things, indeed, have become new!