Offer Yourself by Gloria CopelandPosted on June 3rd, 2009

gloria-copeland

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service. And be
not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God”
(Romans 12:1-2).

This scripture in Romans 12 is talking about
crucifying the flesh, as is Galatians 5:24-25: “And they
that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also
walk in the Spirit.” We are admonished to offer our
bodies as living sacrifices. We are to lay aside our own
natural desires in order to fulfill God’s desires. The
Wuest translation of Romans 12:1 says we are to
“place [our] bodies at the disposal of God….”

According to the Bible, then, this is only our
reasonable service—though it might seem an
unreasonable demand to some. Why is it our
reasonable service? Because Jesus gave His body as a
living sacrifice for us. We have been bought with a
price, and we are to glorify God in our bodies and in
our spirits (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

The Greek word translated Lord means “master”
or “owner.” Jesus became your new owner the moment
you made Him the Lord of your life. Most Christians
want to be born again but will not allow Jesus to be
Lord in their lives. They want to continue to walk in
the darkness of this world, when they could be
walking in the light of God.

“[The Father] has delivered and drawn us to
Himself out of the control and the dominion of
darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of
the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13, amp). We have
been transferred into the kingdom of God and are to
place our bodies and minds under His authority,
allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us how to live
under the dominion of God.

This sacrifice of our bodies is to be a holy and
well-pleasing (acceptable) sacrifice. The Greek word
thusia, translated sacrifice, denotes “the act of
offering.” We are to make an offering of our bodies.
We are the offering God desires. He wants to change
our bodies from a dedication to worldliness to a
dedication to godliness.

How do we do this? We are to be transformed by
the renewing of our minds. W.E. Vine says the word
renew means “the adjustment of the moral and
spiritual vision and thinking to the mind of God.” We
are to adjust our thinking to the mind of God. The
Holy Spirit teaches us to think like God thinks and
to act like God acts. As we do this, the outward
expression of our bodies will begin to match the
inward expression of Jesus. We will begin to walk in
the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.
Offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God. Lay
down your own desires in order to fulfill His desires.

This is not an unreasonable thing for God to ask. It is
only your reasonable service, because you have been
bought with such a precious price. Jesus purchased
you with the crucifying of His own flesh, and shed
His own blood to redeem you. He became a living
sacrifice for you. The least you can do is give your
body to Him, for you are not your own. (See
1 Corinthians 6:19-20.)

There is a decision to be made. Are you going to
serve your own interests or the Lord Jesus? I believe
you are going to decide to offer yourself as a living
sacrifice. And when you do, you’ll find you don’t have
to fight the war between your flesh and spirit, but
your spirit, controlled by the Holy Spirit, will stop the
war! As you obey the Holy Spirit, the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus will make you free from the law
of sin and death.

Gloria Copeland

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Filed under: Gloria Copeland, Kenneth Copeland Ministries

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