You Belong To God, Act Like It

Through prayer we experience a greater consecration and sanctification.

Every time that we pray - "Lord, not my will be done…but Your will be done in my life" we go deeper with God.

And we should expect the fruit of that prayer to result in lining up our thoughts, words and actions to the word of God.

The more that we submit to Him and obey Him the more we think, talk and act like Him.

Since we belong to Him we should act like it.

Sanctification
A lot of the church “or those claiming to be Christians” today are not displaying Christ in their lifestyle. They are claiming one thing and acting like another, and this is a problem. It is a reproach on God. If you are indeed His child you should act like it.

When our daughter was growing up we used to teach her - you belong to us and to God and you will act like it.

There were just some things we didn’t give her a choice about. Especially if the Bible taught, that’s what we expected.

This sounds like "hardline" preaching...A lot of do’s and dont’s. What you should wear and not wear. But actually it is deeper than that.

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, NKJV)

"Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, NLT)

The Amplified version says that our body is a "gift from God".

It is our license to live on this earth.

It is the temple of the Holy Spirit, keep it holy.

Paul was just referring to sexual immortality in the previous verses.

So we could say that if you are violating God’s word and living in sexual immorality it is not giving glory to God. And it will affect your life of prayer, your worship and communication with God.

Your spirit belongs to God
He gave His life for you and He doesn’t think that it is too much to ask the same from you.

We think that He saved us so that we can be free. And He did, free from condemnation, free from the devil’s bondage of fear, shame, and lies. But He didn’t make us free to do what we wanted to do without checking with Him first.

Are we concerned about the standard of the word of God that He wants us to set in our lives?

You may say Pastor Bruce, what has this got to do with prayer anyway?

Well, prayer is all about relationship and when my relationship is right with God....
I am seeking first His kingdom in every area of my life, in my thoughts and my habits, there is a confidence and boldness that we have in prayer when we know that we are following His plan.

This confidence increases when we are totally dedicated and committed to doing all of His will.

We can’t live a half-hearted life for God and expect full answers to our prayers.

Or we can't expect full power in prayer.

Declare with us today - Not my will (or the will of my flesh) be done, but Your will be done in my life, Lord!