All to Him I Owe

This morning I awoke singing..."You're all I want...You're all I ever needed...You're all I want...Lord, help me know You're near (here)..." (Sorry, I'm not sure about the last word of this chorus..) And I've been pondering...and the other hymn that has come to mind is..."Jesus paid it all...All to Him I owe...Sin had left a crimson stain....Jesus washed it white as snow."

There's a theme....He's all I want. He's all I need. And because He paid it all, ALL TO HIM I OWE. He's My All in All...and All to Him I owe. It was with great sadness (and anger) that I heard a previous pastor of mine ask our congregation, "Wouldn't you like it if you had to transfer your money from one bank to another, because you had so much that the one bank couldn't handle it all?"...And I have to ask you? Is this what our Christianity is all about?...How much money I've got in the bank? But to listen to today's "prosperity preachers", that's where it's at. Why? Because they are fleecing the flock and getting rich off our foolish, misplaced desires. I've been there. I've been down that road! God finally got my attention to the point where I listened. I had fallen for the "God's going to double your return" one too many times. I realized that it was my own greed that made me vulnerable to the smooth manipulators telling me to send such and such amount and how God would "bless" me for it. We have been lulled into thinking that it's about us! "Going to get my blessing."

This past Sunday our pastor preached on the difference between Jesus, The Good Shepherd and hirelings. He made an excellent point that a shepherd does not feed off his own flock at the expense of his flock, but a hireling will. Is that not the epitome of greed? Forget Wall Street!
They're non-believers! But what about THE CHURCH???? Why do we think that Jesus said to those who thought they were His..."I never KNEW you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." Matt. 7:23.

Saints, the way of the "christian", western mentality is that for some reason God owes us this wonderful, stress free life; full of bliss, happiness, tranquility, money, a big house with three garages for our three cars and...and....and....all I have to do is make a positive confession of faith...and voila!....genie god! And the doctrine of demons marches on....to the point where unless we have all this "stuff", we've determined that God has not blessed us!

Saints, this is just pure garbage from the pit of hell! God HAS blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the spiritual realm! THAT'S WHERE OUR BLESSINGS ARE! (Eph. 1:3) We are to lay up our treasure IN HEAVEN - not on the earth!

Jesus paid it all - on the Cross! Do we not owe Him our hearts, our life, our service in return? He IS the fulfillment of all we need! When we look to Him, seek FIRST the Kingdom of God, then He promises to provide all that we need. He didn't promise to stuff our "Grinch Bag" full of our greed....No, it's our lust for stuff that takes us off track and makes us vulnerable to the doctrine of demons - and they use Jesus' Name, too!

Saints, there are extremely difficult times coming. Every time I turn around, the Lord is speaking through another vessel, "TIME IS SHORT! TIME IS SHORT!" We need to know how to do without - and not only survive, but minister to others in their time of need. We are to minister the Gospel of Peace to a severely shaken world. We need to be able to persevere in the face of adversity so that we can overcome! We are to be people of faith. Jesus asked His disciples if He'd find faith when he returned to the earth.

In closing, there is nothing flowery about what I'm going to say. We have got to learn how to suck it up...pull up our boot straps...tuck our head down into our coats and trudge against the onslaught of the oncoming storm...looking ever to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.
He is the Glory and the Lifter of our heads. He IS our reason for living...to love God, to love our neighbor as our self, to serve Him by serving others, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, to glorify God and to share the Good News wherever and to whomever the Holy Spirit directs.

He's all I need....therefore, ALL TO HIM I OWE. What is He asking us to do? To whom is He asking us to minister? Faith without works is D-E-A-D....Dead. Faith is not going to church or watching Christian television. Faith is going through the tough things in life; looking unto the Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith...trusting that He who promised IS faithful and true.

Look up, Church! Our Redeemer draws nigh! The time is short....All to Him I owe! Why?...There's a lost and dying world who needs Jesus. Our bodies are not our own...they were bought with a price - the Blood of Jesus. We are the Blood bought Body of Christ - We are the army of the Living God! We are called to die daily....laying down our lives at the foot of the Cross. Soldiers don't drag a lot of stuff onto the battlefield....just their uniform, helmet and weapons of war. They've committed their lives to their commander in chief. Church, it is time for us to do likewise. ALL TO HIM I OWE.