Submit to God 
As I was preparing a short devotion for a men’s breakfast about submitting to the will of God I became more interested in the subject and found more information than I needed. That led me to expand my thoughts and to write this post. There is much difficulty in Christians submitting to God. Starting with myself I might add.
I have always been a guy that wants to be in control. Control and submission are like oil and water I regret to say. I know the control issue is an issue of the flesh and the submission issue is something done through the spirit. And so the battle rages on. Why do I have such a problem doing this? I believe most people in the Christian community continue to be hard headed and fail to submit as well, why ?
It’s not a new phenomena as we see in the Old Testament writings. Submission to God has always been avoided by the human race. And this occurs even when we know that the wrath of God will come.
In a discussion with my pastor this morning we agreed that less than one percent of God’s Church today is in submission to God. What a rebellious society we are living in. God’s word says to submit to His will, however most of us are not doing it while claiming to be Christians. What is the answer to this and how can we please the Lord? It’s clear that without submission there is eventually a price to pay. At the very least something negative will occur in our lives that we could have been protected from if we had submitted to God’s will. We know this yet we continue.
The definition of submit from Merriam Webster is to yield oneself to the authority or will of another or to surrender. Definition of surrender is to give oneself up into the power of another or to yield. The definition for yield is to give way to pressure or influence: submit to urging, persuasion, or entreaty.
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
God’s word, the Holy Bible, clearly indicates we are to be in submission to God.
“Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.” (2 Chonicles 30:8) This was written by Hezekiah after the Assyrians came and took the northern kingdom. They took the people captive and there was not much of the people left. He is telling them to turn back to God. He is saying if they would turn back to God then God will provide and their families that were taken away will returned. He is practically begging them to turn their hearts to God and worship Him. He told them if they were to turn back to God then surely God would bless them because God is gracious and merciful.
For the people that will not submit to God and reject His grace and mercy, their lives do not go very well and then destruction occurs. God is merciful and compassionate, but He won’t protect us forever if we choose to remain out of His will and fall under the control of Satan. Eventually you will reap what you sow and everything that goes around comes around. When that happens to people they blame God for the judgement that comes on them. But the only thing that can keep you from the judgement is God’s protection.
“Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.” (Job 22:21) In other words, submit to God and you will have peace and some good will come of you.
And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, “Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.” (Exodus 10:3) In other words – how long will you refuse to submit to me???
“Serve the LORD with fear, rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” (Psalm 2:12) The bottom line: Blessed are those who put their trust, or, happy are those who put their trust in Him. Submit to God’s royal son.
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) Jesus tells his disciples not to worry about daily needs and to seek first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness, then all these things will be added to them. So let us have a good look at this, we know that the Kingdom of God is where the Lord reigns. That is where God is. If we have God reigning over our lives then we have the Kingdom of God within us.
So then, if we keep our priorities in order and do what is right we would, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”
Moses said to the children of Israel, “Set your hearts unto all the words which I have testified to you this day, and you shall command your children to observe and do all the words of this law. It is not an option for, it is your life.” (Deuteronomy 32:46)
“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” (John 5:30)
In other words- submit to the father…He (Jesus) is declaring that He is in perfect harmony with the Father with all the work He is doing. Then He told Philip, “The works that I do I do not of Myself, but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” And this is the same kind of testimony he gives here, “What I’m doing, I’m only doing because I’ve seen the Father do it. I’m doing the works of the Father in your midst.”
Jesus modeled submission to the Father. We would be wise to take the example.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2) No transformation without submission. Do the will of God.
“Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; and 7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.” (Ephesians 6:6)
Do what you do as unto the Lord, not to please men but to please the Lord, as a good witness for Him. Submit to the Lord.
“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Romans 8:7) You will need the help of the Holy Spirit to be able to submit to God. You won’t be successful on your own fighting the battle of the flesh.
“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8)
“And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:17)
This passage is from a commentary by Check Smith:
You see, our problem is that we so often lose sight of eternity. As we are in this world we get so involved in the worldly things, that our vision becomes clouded and we lose the sense and the consciousness of the eternal. And when you lose the consciousness of the eternal, then Satan can just really do a trip on your mind. The seventy-third Psalm, Asaph speaks about that trip that Satan did on his mind, when he got his eyes upon the world and the people in the world. He said, “Now I know that God is good, but when I sought to understand a few things I was almost wiped out. Because I began to look at the prosperity of the wicked, I began to see how they got along and they didn’t seem to have any problems,” and this that and the other. And Satan just really started to put a real trip on him. And he said, “When I sought to know these things, I almost slipped.” He said, “It doesn’t pay to try and serve God. It doesn’t pay to try and be good. And when I sought to know these things I almost slipped. Until I went unto the sanctuary of God and then I saw their end.” In the sanctuary of God his vision was corrected and he got sight now of the eternal. “God, what are You doing? God, how can You say You love me? God, if You love me, why is this happening to me?” It’s because I have my eyes on the temporal, material advantage and God is looking at the eternal plan and the eternal advantage. It’s important that we step back and we get the long view and realize that the world is gonna pass away and the lust thereof. He who does the will of God abides forever.[1]
So why are we – men and women alike so hard headed? We must learn to listen and we must obey and submit. We are stiff-necked children. We want it our way and we keep doing it our way. We want to be in control instead of letting God take the wheel.
Let’s try it Gods way.
Pray that we will kindle a deeper relationship with God. Pray that all Christians would be convicted toward turning to God and another great awakening takes place. Praise the Lord, King of Kings. Pray for healing in our land and that our nation would turn back to God. Lord have mercy on us. Please save us from ourselves Lord for we have lost sight of eternity!
God bless you,
The Tubthumper
[1] Smith, C. “C2000 Series on 1 John 2:12 – 3:24 by Chuck Smith.” Blue Letter Bible. Last Modified 1 Jun, 2005. https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/smith_chuck/c2000_1Jo/1Jo_002.cfm