submit – The Jesus Chick

It’s Sunday! My favorite day of the week. I spent the bulk of my Saturday preparing for a Sunday two weeks from now. During our Easter Cantata I’ll be putting the finishing touches on 7 paintings as the choir sings; paintings that for me tell the Easter story. I hope I’m “writing” one that the congregation can understand, sometimes my warped way of thinking doesn’t connect the dots like everyone else. But what a privilege it is to have your hands used by the Lord, especially when you know that there are likely more skilled hands in the congregation of the Lord for such a work as this.

In 1^st Chronicles 29:3-6, King David is getting ready to pass the holy baton to his son, Solomon for the building of the temple. But before he does he lays a charge to the congregation of the Lord about their responsibilities for the house of the Lord.

Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house. Even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal: The gold for things of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers. And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king’s work, offered willingly,

The charge still stands:

Setting your affection

Sunday mornings don’t come easy for any of us; the last thing Satan is going to do is allow a child of God an easy ride to worship. He’ll use any and all methods of distraction to make sure that your heart and mind are in a thousand other directions and not on the things of God. Setting your affection is a lot like the setting of the foundation of the house of the Lord. It’s putting the idea of your service in concrete so that no matter what other things arise in life your heart is set on serving Christ.

Sacrificing your assets

David summed it up in verse 14 when he said “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.” The reality of the matter is you’re not sacrificing your assets, you’re returning the smallest of portion which God gave you to begin with, and what a privilege to be able! It’s also a mindset. Given the choice, most will choose to keep it for themselves.

Submitting your artistry

Everyone has talents! And David as leader searched those talents out and used them all in the building of the house of the Lord. Our church house may be built but the church is far from finished, else God would have called us home. I hope today you’ll discover a talent worthy of the Lord’s service either in you, or in someone you lead and when God asks “Who then is Willing?” your hand will be lifted high in praise and service for the Kingdom of God. “It’s me O Lord! Ready and Willing!!!”

Ephesians 5:21~ Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Submission. It’s almost a dirty word in society today. You can drop any vile, profane word in a room full of men, women and children and nobody turns their head; but speak about submission and you’ve got a fight on your hands. There are two definitions for submission, the one (which causes the fight) is the “The action or fact of accepting or yielding to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person.” I love the dictionaries use of it in a sentence. “They were forced into submission.” Even the dictionary thinks it’s a bad thing. And then there is the second definition, the one I want to focus on today (and not because I fear the first, I believe in submission as a wife and a servant of God). The second is thus: the action of presenting a proposal, application or other document for consideration or judgment. That doesn’t sound too painful does it?

As a matter of fact, in my world it sounds exciting. Submitting an idea to someone for consideration leaves open the possibility for a new project or venture and that’s the stuff excitement is made of. What if each one of us went into the house of the Lord, knelt at the altar and submitted our ideas before the Lord. He may in all reality send you back to the drawing board, I’ve experienced that many times. But He may just say, “Let’s do it!”

That apostrophe “s” in the word “let’s” is you and Jesus. That’s where the first submission definition comes back into play. I know… tricky, tricky…. Right? You were excited right? New projects do that to people. Or at least me! But take it from the queen of trial and error, leaning much heavier on the error side; if you want success in your life submission is key. Whether we’re talking about family, career or the church, there’s an order, and without it there’s a battle.

Life’s a project.

If you submitted your life for approval what do you think would be the result? I know the answer in my own life. ~ REJECTED: You need to do a little more work on this and resubmit, Shari. Clearly some of your ideas have not been well thought out.” Mainly because I set myself up for failure by not having submitted myself to Him. God knows we have great ideas, He gave them to us as an assignment. But He didn’t give them to us to be changed and manipulated into our own and for our own glory. They were His and for HIS glory.

He gave us a family as a project for us to work on together, and submit ourselves to each other in love and mutual respect, understanding authority and accountability to God, and for His glory.

He gave us a career as a project for us to work on together, and submit ourselves to each other in love and mutual respect, understanding authority and accountability to God, and for His glory.

He gave us the body of Christ as a project for us to work on together, and submit ourselves to each other in love and mutual respect, understanding authority and accountability to God, and for His glory.

So… what’s your project idea? Have you submitted it to God for approval? Have you submitted to the authorities involved to get it accomplished? And most of all, will it glorify God?

Tag: submit

Who Then is Willing?

If Your Life was a Project Proposal, Would God approve it?