Holiness Part 11 by Tanner – age 18

One thing that many believers and lovers of Christ struggle with is trying too hard to please God. These people that do this are not totally in the wrong. Their heart motive is correct- they want to please God. The only thing that is wrong is that they lack understanding concerning how they please God. God is pleased with submission and relationship; not periodic gifts or occasional acknowledgement, he’s not even pleased when someone uses all of their strength to give Him a gift they think He would want. The problem is that what they are offering God originates in their flesh. It is their effort, their ideas, their strength, their will. Submission is what pleases God. As soon as you are submitted to God, all of His power, His love, His grace, His mercy can be made manifest through you. The only thing that is worthy to be given to God is something that originates from His spirit. That is what God is searching for, men and women who live according to His spirit. If you have been filled with the Holy Spirit; God is in you. And if you submit yourself to God’s spirit in you; your life will be God’s will manifest on the earth. As long as you truly love God with all that you are, you will always be pleasing to God. Your love is enough for God, but He will not settle for some of it, He wants all of it. When you truly love God you will do anything He asks of you without a question, but you must love Him more than anything else. Peter, without a doubt loved Jesus but when it came down to it and his life was endangered, he abandoned his love for Christ because it was of lesser priority to him than his love for his own life(Matthew 26:33-35). Because Peter had not been born again yet, he lived according to the flesh . A man that lives according to the flesh can be very fickle. Peter sure felt like he loved Jesus when everything was going right, but he sure didn’t feel that way when things were going wrong. In the flesh you live by feelings, in the spirit you live by faith. Unless you submit yourself totally over to the spirit, you will deny Jesus throughout your life. Give Him your whole life and He will give you His whole and complete life more abundantly. He wants all your love and affections. Will you give Him what He really wants?…(you)