The Aftermath of Giving it all to God

The Aftermath of Giving it all to God

　
　

     The first step we need to make in this process is to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. When you accept Him, all your sins you have committed, and all the sins committed against you have been nailed on the cross, you are forgiven of your sins, and you are set free from the sins committed against you.

Acts 10:38-43
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 39 And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. 40 Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42 And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. 43 To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins."
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    The next step is reading the Bible and praying.

2 Tim 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
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     Many things have been instilled in us as we have grown up and the environments we have been around throughout our lives. We have a lot of bad things instilled in us. In my case, feelings of not being loved, loneliness, self destructive behaviors, feelings of being useless and worthless, thinking there is something wrong with me, etc. Reading the Bible helps us see ourselves how God sees us. 

     Believing and doing God’s Word comes with reading it. Here are some victories God has given me by giving everything to Him.

1. I have unlearned my thoughts of being worthless, and learned that Jesus paid a precious price by dying on a cross for my sins, and no one would pay that price if I was worthless. Jesus considered me valuable, so He did that.

1 Cor 6:20
20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
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2. I have unlearned my thoughts of being useless, and learned that God has created me for His workmanship and He will use me to do great things.

Eph 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
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3. I have unlearned that I was not loved, and learned that God loves me even if no one else did. He would not have died on a cross for me if He did not love me. (see John 15:18-25 - later in this post)

John 3:16-17
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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4. I have unlearned that there was something wrong with me, and I have learned that God created me for who I am. He gave me the measure of wisdom and knowledge that He sees that I need, and He uses what I have to accomplish His will. He has given me the gifts and talents He desired me to have and to work that out also for the building of His body. I am a part of that body and I have my functions as that part, and every part of the body has its own unique, useful function. (See 1 Cor 12)

5. I am different than other people. I have learned that it is ok to be different. God has created everyone to be unique, and no two people are the same. Each person is a different part of the body and each person is equally valuable in God’s sight.

Gen 1:31
31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.
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6. Repent of any known sin, change from it. We may have all sinned from the beginning, but Jesus has died and washed them all away. When we have repented and turned from our sin, and Jesus washed them away, we are completely clean of all sin and Jesus sees us as spotless.

Acts 3:19-21
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
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Rom 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
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Heb 10:16-17
16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," 17 then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."
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7. I have also learned that God created me for who I am, and what He created was beautiful and good. God has loved me enough to create me in His image, just like He has created you in His image. God has created us all equally in His image and we are all equally beautiful in His sight.

Gen 1:27
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
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8. I was able to vent all my hurts over to God. God has lead me through His word to forgive all who wronged me and to pray for them. By doing so, a huge burden was lifted off, and many of my hurts have been healed.

Matt 6:14-15
14 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
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John 20:23
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
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9. I have learned that God can take all the evil things in our lives and turn them around for good. It takes faith and trusting in Him to work that out, but once you put your faith and trust in Him, those things start to work out. Now I am running my page and groups to reach out to others who have been hurt by abuse or bullying. I have been able to encourage many people who went through different types of trials that God will work them all out by sharing some examples of how God took the abuse I went through and worked it out for good.

Rom 8:28-30
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
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10. I was also able to come to a point of accepting myself for who God created me to be. God allowed the things to happen to me for a reason, to broaden my understanding of what it is like, so I can minister to others out there who are hurting, and I would be able to understand them. Had I not gone through the things I did, I would not be the person I am today, and what God has done is very beautiful.


11. God has freed me from repeated self destructive behavior, which kept getting worse and worse with a vicious emotional cycle with flash backs. He has freed me from that. I may get tempted to self harm, but He has freed me from that vicious cycle.

The bad things I have unlearned, and the good things I have learned, it takes a long time and much reading of the Bible and self examination to see these things. All these things had to be worked out one by one through the continuous reading of God’s word.


12. My relationships with others have improved. God has taught me the importance of listening to others and also to share in conversations with smaller groups of people. People in church were more accepting of me than anywhere else. My social skills have greatly improved when I was around people who accepted me and I found that being accepted was much easier among other Christians. I was withdrawn at first, but as I got to know people, I became less and less withdrawn. I do not socialize much in large crowds mainly because of noise and I cannot hear people when there is noise, and I get withdrawn because of that. I do much better in smaller groups and one on one with little or no noise in the background. God has sent people to help me in these areas, and also reading His word has helped too. It is more about focusing on others and putting them first rather than putting yourself first.

Mark 10:42-45
"You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their geat ones exercise authority over them. 43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
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Mark 9:34-35
34 But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. 35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."
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13. I was always a sensitive person and from the abuse and bullying I have taken throughout my life, I have become like a robot where I had no emotions and lived just to exist. When I accepted Jesus into my life, I have seen His love even if no one else loved me. My emotions were restored and my sensitivity came back. The scripture that has helped me realize that I am loved is here:

John 15:18-25
18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. 25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'
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14. When we have been hurt too many times, we learn not to trust. Sometimes we learn not to trust even those who can normally be trusted. It can be hard to open up and share your feelings with another person when you have had others shoot you down for that. Even when we need someone, we tend not to trust and end up bottling things up. I have learned that there are some people who I can trust - those who I discern to be Godly people, and have been able to open up to them. I have developed close friends from being able to open up to them. I had never been able to develop close friends before coming to know Christ. The close friends I developed have helped me where I was at and helped me to learn how to interact with people.


15. Ability to accept love and kindness - it was overwhelming to me to know that God loved me enough to die on a cross for me and to set me apart from the world because He considered me His child. It was difficult for me to accept love because I thought it was not real. Even when my mother and step dad told me that they loved me no matter what, I had a hard time believing that. I tested their love and found some stumbling points, but then I backed off when I found their stumbling points because I did not want them to hate me. I found out that God truly loves me and nothing can separate me from that love. He died for every sin and He forgives every sin I have committed. I have seen that “Apostle Paul” murdered Christians and God still loved him and saved him from his sins and he is now in heaven. I realize that God loves me too. It took time for me to accept love from others, but now I realize that it can happen and that love is real. 


16. I have grown up getting spanked with blunt objects and when I was about 8 I started to like getting spanked. I did not know why I liked getting spanked at that age, and after studying about that, I found that the spankings with blunt force would have physically triggered some sensations that caused me to like it even as early as age 8. I felt there was something wrong with me because of that and I had asked God to free me from that. God did not free me from that because it was not a sin as long as it takes place between husband and wife, I learned from that experience that we should only call things a sin if the Bible says it is a sin. I have also learned to accept myself for who I am and only try to change sin in my life, and accept the things in my life that are not sins. I also learned what it is like to struggle and learned not to judge others. This whole thing has humbled me, and taught me how to treat others with grace and mercy rather than judgment. I have also learned that I do not have to be ashamed of who I am and I do not have to be ashamed of who God created me to be, I only have to be ashamed of the sin in my life and repent and change that. I also learned that it is ok to like anything that is not a sin. Had I not liked getting spanked from age 8 and forward, I would have fell into legalism and went along with it. I also would have done more judging others rather than treating them with grace and mercy. I have also learned that it is ok to like what I like, even if it is not popular and even if no one else would like it, as long as it is not a sin, it is ok.


Rodney Calmes