Serving Jesus as Lord is something that you do not have to, but something that you get to do. Meaning that it is a choice that you GET to make, not something that is FORCED upon you (in the same way that salvation is a choice). Our choosing to submit to Jesus as Lord is another way for Him to show His love us.

It is important to understand that Jesus is both Lord and Savior (Acts 2:36). Yet, it’s possible to acknowledge Jesus as Savior (to be born again) and still not serve Him as Lord. (See my previous blog “Is Jesus Lord and Savior?”.) So the real question is, “If we are willing to trust Jesus with our souls for all of eternity, why won’t we trust with our day to day living?” This was Jesus’ question too, “Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord and do not [practice] what I tell you?” Luke 6:46 [Amp]

The Greek word for Lord that Jesus used was Kurios (koo’-ree-os) meaning “supreme in authority”. What Jesus question does is to bring us face to face with one of Satan’s greatest lies, “That God doesn’t have our best interest at heart. That no one can or will take better care of us than we will do for ourselves.” Who or what are we really serving as Lord? Who or what are you really trusting? Who or what are you placing your faith in?

Most of us want to have our cake and to eat it to. We want to cover our bases as far as the afterlife is concerned, yet we want to “Do our thang” as the old song goes while we are still here on earth. We want to get into heaven (or to avoid Hell) and we want to have it all today. We want it all NOW, not realizing that this is playing directly into the hands of Satan.

What we have to take into account is that we are in a spiritual war. Unless your mind is renewed, you will always be using logic or psychology to win a spiritual battle. It just won't WORK!!!

“For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:4 [Amp] Verse 5 in the King James goes on to say, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God…” Yes, the battle takes place in the mind but Satan’s key weapons are spiritual, mainly, the spirits of fear, doubt and discouragement.

The flesh nature of fallen man will always seek for the most amount of pleasure for the least amount of effort (or responsibility). And most of the time it won’t make any sense at all because we are trying to understand a spiritual issue from a logical point of view.

What the “unrenewed mind” doesn’t have the ability to understand is that Satan gives us the pleasure up front ( in the forms of gratification and/or avoidance) and then we pay for it for an eternity and God’s ways are for us the do the work up front (through obedience and/or preparation) and then reaping an everlasting reward.

What the “unrenewed” mind doesn’t see are the benefits of submitting to Jesus on a daily, if not moment-to-moment basis. And we will get to the benefits of choosing Jesus as Lord in part 2.

Pastor Michael Larkins is the Author of “Victorious Nuggets – Transforming Self-Esteem into Christ-Esteem.

For more of his blogs go to his web site www.thewealthresponse.com