Die Daily By Sharon Killion E-mail, sparrow557@aol.com Website, cherubimnetwork.com/brokenbread
	“The most important thing is to give up your will to the will of God. God wants to lead you, and all He needs from you is for you to let Him. In order for this to happen, you must allow yourself to die daily, moment by moment. In all the events of life allow your desires, and the things which annoy you, to be consumed within you. As you disregard them, they will suffer and die. “This is the way of pure faith: to lose your will in God's. This is not easily accomplished: for when one prop is removed you find yourself immediately clinging to another. As you let go of some things, you may tighten your grip on others… “What brings about the death of self in another may not do so in you. Your suffering, as you advance toward God, comes from your resistance to God's will, even though this will may not be understood at the time. This resistance, however innocent, causes a deep disturbance within you.” (From “Guyon Speaks Again” (a.k.a. "Intimacy with Christ") pages 136-137) I'm convinced that the quickest path to union with God comes as we "allow our own desires and the things which annoy us to be consumed within us." You ask, "How do I do this?" Well, I'm glad you asked. I'm convinced that the footsteps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. In other words, everything that comes into the life of one of God's children is God's will (either His permissive will or His perfect will). And because of this I can live this present moment, as well as every other moment, submitted to the will of God. When someone comes insisting on their own way in a situation (and it is not sin to me), I can submit gladly...laying aside my desires to meet the need or desire of the other. I no longer need to be in control of every event and every other person. I can allow others to be who they are and can accept them where they are. When situations come that annoy or irritate me, I really need to be still and submit myself to God. As I "disregard" the irritation, it will go away. Whatever you feed with your words and thoughts, will grow, but whatever you starve, will die. I need to allow others to express their opinions, but I don't have to follow the advise given. I can be polite, and even give a polite answer. Ultimately, I must decide to "let it go" if I'm annoyed or growing irritated or angry. It is my responsibility to submit it to God....cast that care on Him. Ultimately, all of our responses are a result of a choice that we make. We can choose to live at peace with all men. We can choose to walk away from conversations that are grieving to the Holy Spirit. We can choose to give a soft answer and turn away wrath. We can choose to prefer our brother in love. We can choose to think more highly of others than we do of ourselves. And most important, we can choose to forgive everyone for everything. If we want to please God then we must choose to please Him. There is suffering in this path. 1Peter 4: 1,2 (Amp) says… "So, since Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you, arm yourselves with the same thought and purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God]. So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites and desires but [he lives] for what God wills." No one said this was easy, but to walk in union with Him is worth it all. By His grace, He can live His life through us.....be blessed.