God often calls us to give up our rights
Today's Devotional
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone —Phil. 4:5 (ESV).
The very test of consecration is our willingness not only to surrender the things that are wrong, but to surrender our rights, to be willing to be subject. When God begins to subdue a soul, he often requires us to yield the things that are of little importance in themselves, and thus break our neck and subdue our spirit.
No Christian worker can ever be used of God until the proud self-will is broken, and the heart is ready to yield to God’s every touch, no matter through whom it may come.
Many people want God to lead them in their way [not his] and they will brook no authority or restraint. They will give their money, but they want to dictate how it shall be spent. They will work as long as you let them please themselves, but let any pressure come and you immediately run up against, not the grace of resignation, but a letter of resignation, withdrawing from some important trust, and arousing a whole community of criticizing friends, equally disposed to have their own opinions and their own will about it. It is destructive of all real power.
About the author and the source
A. B. Simpson (1843–1919) was a pastor, revival leader, and the founder of The Christian and Missionary Alliance. He also wrote a daily devotional, Days of Heaven upon Earth.
A. B. Simpson. Days of Heaven Upon Earth: A Year Book of Scripture Texts and Living Truths. Brooklyn, N. Y.: Christian Alliance Pub. Co., 1897.