Am I willing?

This weekend we had a teen retreat at our church which we like to call "Mid-winter Retreat" because we have it usually the last weekend of January.

This year we went over the topic of Growth. Starting the weekend off, we went off with an adult to a corner of the building(two teens, one adult) and shared with each other what we wanted God to do in our lives, and then we prayed for each other.

A common theme with my group was to learn how to grow, another prayer request was to learn how to apply the lessons learned, then how to be consistent. So we prayed right then for each other and for ourselves that God will work in our lives.

I can't remember exactly how the services were ordered, but one service touched on the mega-promises given to us by our mega-God.

2Pe 1:3-4 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.


So, God, according to his divine power, has given us everything we need for life and godliness. And in addition to the power, we are given promises--mega and precious ones-- that by the things we are given for our need to live as God would have us live we are able to partake of His divine nature. We are able to be holy like God!


During this service, I was reminded of a certain area in my life that Satan seems to have a stronghold, a place where I find myself falling again and again. But, God told me(through His word and through the preacher) that He has given me everything I could possibly need to live the Christian life he wants me to live; to be the Christian He wants me to be. I have the power to resist Satan. I have the power to have victory of sin.

However, just because the power has been given to me doesn't mean I automatically live a life of victory. I must choose to claim His promise of his given power. I must be [i]willing[/i] to claim it.

Who doesn't want a victorious Christian life? I definitely would! But...am I willing to live such a life? Am I willing to surrender to Him so I can have this power? I can't be producing good fruit and bad fruit at the same time, I can't drink bitter and sweet water from the same well. I must make my choice--God, or Satan. I must be willing to surrender the temporary pleasures of sin and claim the promise God has given to me to live a life of both temporary and eternal pleasures--pleasures that honor God. The promise to live with the chains broken from my wrists--and thrown hundreds of miles away!

It is my choice. Am I willing to be everything He wants of me?

To quote a song by a Christian artist as my ending note:

I am willing to be
Anything you want from me
Cause you have given
New life to Me



I should be willing to be anything God wants me to be because He has given me new life. Why should I live in the ways of my old life if I have a new, amazing, awe-some, wonderful life? A life where I CAN have victory, a life where I CAN have everything I need for life and godliness, a life where I CAN have power.

Am I willing?


-Kevin