Yielding To God Or Yielding To Lust

Romans 6:16 (NIV)

16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

God convicted my heart today with two scriptures as I was thinking about the waiting period for my custody hearing and legal separation from my husband. One of the main things that I pray about all the time is that I don`t harden my heart and fall back into my old ways of living (carnally, sinfully, legalistically), and this scripture spoke to my heart to remind me that I cannot desire the court turnaround dates on a whim of the moment just because I am too exhausted to wait anymore because it would be lustful and selfish on my part. It would be the first step for me towards Yielding to Lust rather than Yielding to God because my immediate desire has to do with what I want and not with what God wants for now.

In today`s devotion Oswald Chambers said:

The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him… (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,” whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was reminded yet again by the Holy Spirit that it`s not the immediate answer to my prayer, but God`s timing for everything, that`s what matters. If I stump my feet and demand that I want solution now, it would only mean I yielded to my lustful flesh rather than to God, and I don`t want to go back to that road because it brings only destruction.

If I yield to lust, I tend to make hasty decisions based on emotions, and that prevents God from doing His work through me. Our hearts are deceitful and wicked, and we don`t know them well enough ourselves, so to rely on emotions is foolish, yet it`s unavoidable when one yields to lust because one seeks the resolution of the situation immediately.

9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah said 17:9 NIV)

It`s important to recognize that there is no one else who knows us better than God, and that`s why when we yield to Him and to His purpose, it only brings blessings. I had to remind myself of that once again and pray that He would help me wait patiently for the next court proceeding, so I don`t make any hasty costly decisions for my case.

As I am looking at the story of Joseph and what God showed me a couple of days ago regarding the waiting period to change both sides: Joseph`s heart and his brothers who betrayed him by selling into slavery, and that I am going through the same waiting period where it`s not only about my heart`s change, but also about my husband`s heart change. Joseph had to wait for almost 20 years before he saw his brothers again and was able to test their heart`s attitude and authenticity of their repentance. It wasn`t necessary that it was Joseph who needed that many years to forgive his brothers, but it could be that it took that many years for his brothers to see that toll that the grief took on their father Jacob once he found out his favorite son was “killed”.

Also, I keep reminding myself that because my battle is not against flesh and blood, “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12 NIV), and since I don`t know what kind of battles taking place in the spiritual world when I pray and intercede, I can only wait for the outcome with patience. Daniel had to wait for 21 days in fasting before the angel came to bring him answer to his prayer request to interpret the vision that he had because he was confronted in the spiritual battle with the “king of Persia” (Daniel 10:2-14)

12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.” (Daniel 10:12-14 NIV)

God answers our prayers when we come to Him with clean heart, but we have to take into account spiritual world and the impact it brings in what we see physically. That`s why faith is such a crucial part in believer`s life.

1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1 NIV)

I cannot see right now the outcome, but I can hope and be assured that when I yield to God, His will is only for the better, and He will bring all my circumstances together for good. I am obligated to put aside all the desires of my flesh and take responsibility for my actions when I don`t do that. I pray that God continues to apply all these scriptures to teach me to yield to Him with everything I encounter, so it`s not my boasting pride takes glory, but His holy character.

12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Corinthians 10:12 NIV)

I have to be careful that I don`t yield to my lust because it would bring pride, and pride would sow emotional costly decisions because my current emotions go against what`s holy and what`s obedient to God. My heart`s emotions and thoughts cry out for my husband`s blood for all the evil he is doing to me and to our daughter, and I have to capture my thoughts into obedience to Christ on a daily basis, but God is gracious and supportive of me because He sees my brokenness and authenticity when I come to Him. That`s why I am grateful to be able to examine my heart every day and to make sure I don`t “stand firm” on my own, so I don`t fall.

I pray that you examine your heart just like I do and yield to the Holy Spirit to show you whatever it is that needs circumcision to cut out in order to produce the right result to bring glory to God. I pray that you would yield to God rather than to your lust, and God will honor that and sustain you in your struggles just like He does it with me.