Building up believers and the New Testament church

Submission - A Place of Grace

All Submission Is Unto God

If we are to be set free in the area of submission, the first thing we must see clearly is that all submission is unto God. Submission signifies that authority is being exercised. Jesus said, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18). That is an all-inclusive statement of truth. He is revealed as master over all. While Jesus walked on the face of this earth, there was no situation which He was not in complete control of. Death is perhaps the greatest enemy of man, and yet the Lord showed His mastery even over that in the case of Lazarus (John 11).

If there is a power higher than God, or there are some areas outside His control, then we do have something to fear in submission. But in the cross, He "disarmed principalities and powers, made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them" (Colossians 2:15). He is Lord. That is a reality. When we realize that by revelation, and respond in faith to God to that revelation in our hearts, it brings us to a place of quietness. Now everything is in God's hands. What do we have to worry about? Worry or fear is never of God. These only enter in when we have lost our vision of God and His authority over all.

Paul holds the same truth before us in 1 Corinthians 15:27,28: "For 'He has put all things under His feet.' ...Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." Here we see the fullness of God's purpose, which is that God may be all in all. His way to this purpose is that He has put all things under Christ. At this point we see Christ as Lord. This was the doing of God, based on what Christ did at the cross. It is the basis of our submission, namely "that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

Anytime we lose sight of the fact that we are always dealing with God in submission, we see only man, and fear enters in. We begin to have reservations, and quietness in our hearts is replaced with turmoil. We start to try to work things in our own strength and wisdom. Our submission ceases to be spiritual, and the grace of God stops flowing to our hearts. The only way out is repentance, and putting our eyes back on Jesus our Lord. He is the author and finisher of our faith, and He does not fail. We fail when we do not yield to Him and acknowledge Him as Lord, so we must never lose sight of Christ as Lord. That must be a reality in our hearts, not a concept in our minds.