A new me in 2010!

Can I make my goal in GPT this year?

Saturday, December 12, 2009

"Please take my Life from me"

As a sat doing my daily readings (a couple books and my Bible) last night, I kept being hit in the face with one concept. We are to die to Christ. The Bible is obvious in this (or at least it is to me.) Gal 2:20 says "I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (KJV)

Paul is speaking here telling us that the old Paul (the sinner) has died but through Christ he lives because Christ lives in him. I have always loved this verse, but I don't think that its meaning fully set in until last night.

I don't have a specific pattern I follow when I read my Bible. I pray before I even open it that God will show me what I need to learn and will guide me to what He wants me to see. I then open my Bible. It may seem simple or silly to you, but I have never had it fail. I always take something from it.

Last night was no different. I prayed for wisdom and God's teaching and opened my Bible to Jonah. Now we all know this story well I'm sure. God told Jonah to go preach in Ninevah, Jonah disobeyed and was swallowed by a great fish. He repented and God caused the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land. Jonah then went into Nineveh and preached the destruction that the Lord had planned for the people. The people repented and God showed his mercy on them.

What I didn't know is that Jonah was displeased by the fact that God showed them mercy. He prayed to God about his anger. Jonah 4:3 says "Therefore now, O LOrd, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."

This verse struck home with me. The circumstances were entirely different than how it hit me b/c Jonah was literally praying for death, but it made me think.

This is what we should be praying. We are to die to Christ. To essentially kill the old us and replace it with what God wants us to be. In Christ we are made new people. It is better for us to die for/in Him than it is to continue to live as our former selves.

Anyhow, I'm rambling. My point is that we should all be praying Jonah's prayer. We should all be asking the Lord to take OUR lives from us and replace them with HIS life for us.

I certainly know that I am. When God speaks, I listen. :)

Have a good one all.

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