House Blessing 5

* Dedicating our lives unto the Lord * When we dedicate our lives unto the Lord, (surrender ourselves unto God) we give God freer reign over us and easier access to work in our lives to prepare us for holy living, to mold us, to protect us etc. Why? By that invitation to do so and by what we proclaim and claim for ourselves in that dedication. In that dedication we proclaim before heaven and earth the desire of our heart and in whom we are putting our trust in (God, His Son and the Holy Spirit). In that dedication we are proclaiming our willingness to submit ourselves unto God's authority and His way of living. In that dedication we are calling upon God to bless us and every aspect of our life.

One of the greatest spiritual weapons we have is our mouth and it is one we should use often. In the name of Jesus Christ we can counter every work that satan puts against us. How? By speaking against those works. And in the name of Jesus Christ we can speak our Lord's protection in place over our lives. There is much we can ask for and receive by praying to God and there is much we can speak forth in the name of Jesus Christ and accomplish for the Kingdom of God here on earth. Our words can be powerful and so as to give God the fullest access to reign over us and to mold us into a new creation we should make our petitions clear.

There is much we can do in prayer if we have the knowledge to know what we can accomplish in prayer and as scripture says it is God's will that we should pray often.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV 16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus

James 5:13-16 NIV 13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise

Another weapon that works with and compliments our mouth is our faith and the righteousness of our walk. Faith and righteousness is a powerful thing when praying. Much faith and righteousness in our walk accomplishes much. Little faith and little desire to live righteously accomplishes little.

Matthew 21:21-22 NIV 21 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

James 5:15-16 NIV 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

In dedicating our lives unto the Lord we would be leaving satan little room to believe that we would desire to live independent of God like Adam and Eve had and would be sending satan an official notice that our life is spoken for and not his for the taking. In surrendering ourselves unto the Lord we would be setting up some boundaries with satan, posting a Do Not Trespass All Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted for this is God’s property and we would be officially making God the overseer of our lives to reenforce the boundaries of our life.

Note: God will guard the outer parameters of our life while working on the inside of us, but we need to watch what we allow to come inside. We need to guard over our tongue (our words) and over our actions (what we do, or don’t do) to keep God in that headship position to work with and to protect our lives. Remember we can't live for the world and expect heaven to bless our life and we can't expect God to protect our lives from satan when we are the ones who are giving satan the opportunities to come into our life. Even after confessing that Jesus Christ is our Saviour if we bring sin into our lives, or acquaint ourselves with anything that resembles sin (anything that falls short of God's plan for us) then not only will God have access to work in our lives, but we will be giving satan access to work against our lives.

Satan will use the front door into our lives if that right is given to him, but satan will also jump fences (trespass) and illegally claim possessions for his own even when our "do not trespass" signs are posted, if there isn't much opposition for him to do so. If our possessions are not secured and tied down he will take them, (if were not secure in the Lord, grounded in Him and His teachings, are passive in our decisions and our walk with the Lord, not living according to His will etc.) If we are not grounded in the Lord even after receiving God's seal of ownership then satan will put his seal along side of God's and there isn't much God can do about it until we begin to walk the Christian walk and talk the Christian talk.

What sm I saying? Asking Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of our life and dedicating ourselves unto God alone is not enough to protect our lives from satan if we don't work at making God number one in our life. Satan can breach our walls. If God's name is not stamped on each article that is within our fence lines it makes it easier for satan to take and if there is no clear identifying marks on those articles showing that it belongs to God it will be harder for God to get it back for us. Every part of our life should be in the process of growth and should have something identifying us to say that we belong to God and that we are in the process of growing by His Spirit in that satan can't say there is an area of our life not surrendered unto God, or not living for God.

Satan is a scavenger and will claim those things of us that we don't surrender unto the Lord, or don't know how to surrender unto the Lord such as our burdens, our fears, any pride, bitterness, or un forgiveness issues etc, we may have, or any hurtful areas of our life we have buried and don't know how to deal with etc, and so when surrendering ourselves unto the Lord we need to really examine ourselves and make sure we are giving God access to work on every part of us so that every part of us is more in God's hands than satans.

In that every part of us is surrendered unto God including our sins and burdens, when surrendering our lives unto the Lord we should also do some repentance and forgiveness work. When we first come to the Lord and surrender/ dedicate our lives unto God we may still have some things yet to work out and satan may still have some strongholds on our lives that we yet need to be delivered from, but our submission unto God will give God the control He needs to work those things out in us and prepare us for more growth. Unless of course we become irresponsible in our walk with the Lord and continue to live our lives more according to the ways of the world than the ways of God.