I am going to begin this book by speaking on a topic that “Takes Faith”.
This topic is to be considered as we, The Bride of Christ, prepare to be raptured, and are commanded to make ourselves ready for our Bridegroom, Christ Jesus. He is soon to come for us, and we are filled with hopeful anticipation! It is so wonderful that we have the Holy Spirit to prepare us. We can’t “get ready” without His help!
This topic is not something I had really focused on before. We are “being helped” by the Spirit of God, as He declares these words:
True Submission is going to be required of us.
I’m going to delve right in to what I feel I am to share with you all… Please open your hearts to receive.
“Agreement” is not submission.
“Submitting my will to another’s will” is submission.
Let me repeat that, so you can really get it:
“Submitting my will to another’s will” is submission.
Now, I will go on to emphasize this:
True submission – cannot be forced!
In other words, you and I aren’t “made to” submit or it’s not true submission.
True submission will NOT go against my own will.
I purposely submit my will to another’s will.
“True submission is an act of my own will.”
Essentially, it takes “FAITH”.
This is why submission to Christ is not just following a faith principle without intimacy and seeking Him.
I recognize the Lord has THE AUTHORITY over me and the ability to do as He says… and it is my “heart toward Him” that enables the surrender of “my will to His will.”
God gives all his sons and daughters FREE WILL – to submit or not to submit – when His will is not our will.
Whether we disagree with him or agree with Him is not relevant!
We have a free will, and every single day we exercise that will, whether we are aware of it or not.
So, if we do not have a choice … what is that called?
It is called “control”. Right?
So, friends, in this world, if you are being “forced to do” something that is not your will, then you are under a “spirit” that is not the Holy Spirit. It is a “Control Spirit”.
Now, Satan, who calls evil good and good evil, will whisper in your ear that to obey God is to be controlled. But it is just the opposite!
Hear me, as I declare this now:
The Lord desires True Submission – an act of your Free Choice… and this is possible when you have “faith” in who He is and his ability to make things go well for you as you put your will under His will.
I will clarify: God has given you a free will. To submit “your will” to His will is your Free Choice to do, or not to do!
When you choose to do it, I refer to that as True Submission.
Often when Christians think of submission, their minds immediately go to thoughts of wives submitting to their own husbands. Husbands who desire wives to submit to them are not able to “force them”. They may try, but this is operating in a “control spirit” and will pull their marriage apart. Rather, it’s best for a husband to draw his wife into ‘close intimacy’ and ‘build trust’, as the Lord does for us, so that your wife, of her own free will, will choose to place her will under your will. Yes, even if she doesn’t agree with you. This may take love, prayer, patience, and holding your own ground. It may also take gentle instruction from the Word of God, like viewing Colossians 3:18-19; so wives understand submission to their husbands is an act of submission to the Lord. Usually, if a husband is known to be regularly submitting to Christ, his believing spouse doesn’t have a problem with True Submission. This is, however, not the case when people are “unequally yoked” or a “Control Spirit” is operating within the home. This authority invokes fear not faith.
True Submission takes on many forms… so I’ll move on to say, Ruth, from the scripture’s Book of Ruth, is a wonderful example of true submission. She submitted herself to a mother-in-law, to a change of locale, to a different God (the true God), the foreman of Boaz’s field, and then to Boaz, as the authority over the fields she worked in…and then eventually to Boaz, as her husband.
Boaz is a type of Christ, and by studying his person while you read through the Book of Ruth, you can be given great ease and understanding in knowing that true submission is to a person who is worthy of respect and only has your best interest in mind. Boaz is a picture of God’s authority in our lives: He blesses us, protects us, provides for us, and sees after our well-being, just as Boaz did for those under his authority. Amen?!
Ruth chose to put her will under other’s wills throughout her life, but we see how that turned out for her! True submission led her to being blessed… Richly!
In many ways! Her example teaches us that we need not fear True Submission…the kind that comes from our free will, and the kind that is led by the Lord. God’s true authorities will look out for us. And in our trusting of them we reveal that we trust God foremost! …That He will look after us, as we submit our wills to those He has placed in authority over us.
But Friends, it is important, who you and I submit to!
In these last days, who you put our own will under, in submission, will determine your course… and your degree of entanglement with the world… and whether you can be brought into God’s perfect plan. It could even become a matter of life or death.
Therefore, who you are under True Submission to, must be carefully considered!
One warning I am to give you, by the Holy Spirit, is to be alert to “false guilt”: False Guilt is guilt that others will “put on you” to get you to come under “their control”. Don’t agree to it. It is a form of manipulation.
Submit to God and Christ above all!
Scripture tells us in James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.” Note, the first step in this verse is to Submit to God…only after that can you resist the Devil.
Covid brought with it “a choice” to submit or not to, for example. It was a person’s “free will” to get a vaccine or not to get one… to go to open churches to worship or not to… to travel requiring a vaccine or not to…and I could go on...Or…Did you feel you had no free will at all? That you had no choice?
Did you feel pressured and coerced? Controlled?
Perhaps “that season” was “an exercise” for believers in decision-making and what is “true submission”.
Arguments ensued within the body of Christ as to whether to obey governmental authority, or whether these were simply guidelines given, and not a matter of submission to authority.
People were feeling “pressured” and way out of their comfort zones.
Fear dictated people’s choices, not faith.
So, let’s talk about that. I believe the Lord is trying to help us discern.
You were placing your will under another’s will. Right?
Yet, we just established, it was difficult to discern if what you were practicing was “true submission”.
In other words, what did you feel “free” to choose?
In God, we know we have a choice.
Were these many decisions a “matter of true submission”?
Or did you discern you were resisting “control” and being forced to do something “not your will”?
Did you feel pressured to give into “control”?
In the Devil’s domain, we…as Believers…will feel as if we “don’t have a choice”. We will be dealing with a “control spirit”…or worse; a power or principality controlling whole groups of people.
Because it will get more and more difficult for believers to discern.
We must know THE HOLY SPIRIT to discern the controlling spirits all around us, especially as the Antichrist Spirit becomes more and more pervasive in our world.
The abundance of witchcraft and occultic practices also makes it of the utmost importance that you, as a Christian, recognize “control” and the “loss of your own free will”. We must know the “real thing” to be alert to “the fake”; as is the case in identifying counterfeit money.
So too, we must know God’s established “real authorities” to be alert to how “illegitimate” authority tries to take over the life of a Christian man, woman, or child.
So, I’m going to help you here:
There is authority established in God’s Kingdom. What this means is… We can know, as believers, God’s real tangible guidelines for “putting our will under another’s will.”
This means true submission can come without torment, false guilt, questioning, and fear. It can come easily.
Most believers know, or have been taught, from God’s Holy Word that Christ submits to God, man submits to Christ, and woman submits to man (I Cor 11:3). And in the home, husbands submit to Christ, wives to husbands, and children to parents (Eph 5 and 6). In the family of God, we are also to submit one to another (Ephesians 5:21). However, many believers aren’t aware of other authorities we have…who we can exercise true submission toward…and be blessed by doing so.
Hebrews 13:17 speaks of our spiritual authorities. It reads, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”
I’ll go back to the past Covid season, and give you an example…See this in your mind’s eye, so you can ponder it:
If your current pastor had gone before the Lord God, who he is accountable to for your souls, and then declared “We will still have services regularly”, then your household would have been “at liberty” to exercise true submission to this decision, and attend, regardless of all the fearmongering. (Incidentally fearmongering means, “the action of deliberately arousing public fear or alarm about a particular issue.” – which is exactly what took place at the time of Covid.)
Your submission to spiritual leadership would have had to “take faith”, right? Faith that your pastor was leading the congregation according to the will of God. Faith that you would remain well and not die. Faith that when he prayed, God gave him His decision. Right? Yet, did you know, if you obeyed your leader, then you opened yourself up for God’s blessing?
In this scenario, True Submission could be done easily… for you had a free will…to choose to submit or not submit to your Spiritual Authority...i.e. your pastor, or church’s decision, in how to lead you forward as a Covid response.
True submission always takes faith! And yes, usually humility too. To put your will under someone else’s will …”on purpose”…takes trust!
Fear prevents True Submission.
Faith activates True Submission.
For a man to submit to Christ, he has to have faith that the Lord will lead him, protect, provide, and guide;
For a woman to submit to her husband, she has to have faith that he has her best interests at heart and that God will take care of her as she submits to her husband;
Children must trust (have faith in) their parents for all things pretty much. But they have an easier time usually, because fear has not yet come in to prevent True Submission.
For your pastor to hold his position as shepherd of a church, he more-than-likely had to prove himself faithful to God, before God called him to that position. And those in the church must have faith that they have the right man in the pulpit leading them, right? Otherwise, why would they be going there and following him?
When “truly entrusted” all legitimate God-given authority will take their charge seriously and give proper care to those under them. Christ will look after the husband; The husband will look after his wife; Parents will look after their children. Pastors will do their best to lead their church to maturity. Why? Because they realize they are ultimately responsible to God! (I’m talking true legitimate God-given authority here.)
God leads His established authorities as they lead others. This is why God always required His Leaders to be faithful followers of Him. They had to respect authority before they were given authority. They had to follow Him before he’d require others to follow them. It’s His way!
Let’s look now at other authorities spoken of in God’s Word:
In Ephesians 6:5-9 we read of submission of servants to masters, and we can liken this to employees to employers in our modern world. If you were under an employer and that employer stayed open during Covid (I’m back to our example), you’d be expected to stay working; If your employer closed, true submission would mean you’d be off work for a time. Right? In scripture, your employer has his own set of guidelines to look after those “under him” … not threatening his workers, being fair in wage, etc. God holds employers responsible, just as He does spiritual authorities, for how those under them are treated.
So, ponder this… Why would anyone submit to working, or not working, based on an employer’s choice, but hesitate when it comes to submission to a spiritual authority’s choice? It’s because they want to be blessed, right? They want a paycheck! They don’t want to lose a position, right? But mainly it’s because they “recognize that employer’s authority” in these types of matters. Whether to work or not to work is the employer’s decision to make. Those employed submit if they want to remain.
What would happen if Christians everywhere realized that God’s spiritual authorities are as established!
What if Christians realized that God’s established authorities can also make decisions that affect others? …often times many others! …And that they too carry “blessing” to those under their authority as their authority is recognized!
I mean, look at Moses! He led an entire nation! But what if those people had not been in True Submission? They would have been left behind as the exodus began. And I guess, later on, we actually discover some had issues with submission, who started out following their leader, but didn’t finish in a submissive attitude or action. It didn’t fare well with them!
If we can keep in mind that “established authorities by God” are to be viewed from His Perspective we are empowered for True Submission. We have free will to choose to put our will under their will.
Christians are also instructed to listen to and submit to governing authorities.
Clearly, our government has laws that are put in place for the well-being of us all. The men and women in governmental positions have the authority to enforce these laws. This passage clearly spells out that those who do wrong in not submitting to the law of their established government(s) will be punished. Verse 4 above even says “They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
Wow! Agents of wrath? What a descriptor!
This is God’s perspective on things?
So, think about this: Our policemen, border patrol, and other public servants…actually “have the legitimate authority” in God’s Sight to “bring wrath upon someone” who is not following the law.
So why are we not respectful of their rightful authority?
It says we are to pay taxes if we owe taxes.
So why are we not respectful of the IRS’s rightful authority?
For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended.
If we do right, we will be protected! Commended! Rulers hold no terror!
But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason.
Do you think a sword is worse than a slap? or a shove? or a knee? or even a harsh word? You bet it is! It has to hurt to deter the wrongdoer! A sword is a symbol of wounding or killing! It isn’t a scratch of the nails upon someone, but of a blade put inside someone!
Friends, we can turn the world upside down if we can come into an understanding of True Submission, and who it should be toward: God’s rightful authorities!
Let’s speak about some of this:
Why are so many Believers troubled by the invasion of our USA borders? It’s because these people are “not in submission” to our laws and governing authorities, and the immigrants who are in “true submission” , doing things legally and the right way are now facing huge time delays due to the ones coming in illegally. Think about it: If outsiders do not exercise True Submission “coming in” to our country, it stands to reason that they won’t submit to our laws once in our country.
Christians, therefore, understanding what “true submission” is, understand that those coming in to our nation are to adapt themselves (i.e. submit) to “our laws” and “our culture” and “our government” – not require our government to adapt and submit to their ways… but them to our government. Things are upside down now friends! But, with the Lord, and our understanding of His ways, many things can be put back upright. Those that understand True Submission can realize it is up to the immigrants to “submit” if they want to come in and remain in our nation.
God’s enemies would have you believe it has to do with lack of love and compassion toward refugees. This is a lie! What makes it so, is that it is not based on how God looks at things. God loves the alien and those who come into our country for refuge. Just as Ruth was welcomed into Bethlehem in the book of Ruth. But, friends, she had to adapt to her new surroundings, and immigrants to any country must adapt to their new country’s laws and ways. This is God’s way. Immigrants must come into True Submission to God’s ways, and to our Nation’s ways. Amen? Then they are received. God had even given me a song about the Foreigner, in our land, so I know He has a heart toward the ones who enter in with True Submission. Here is a link to that song on my ministry website if you want to listen: https://receivefromme.com/track/1861843/poor-and-foreigners-accepted
Not being in true submission to authority creates so much anarchy and lawlessness in our homes, in our schools, and in our government.
Money, for the time being, keeps those in business in a fairly-stable submission, for they want to be paid or to keep their jobs and homes. But what happens when people begin “not obeying employers”? What happens when the rebellious stop working, and destroy the stable economy of all the good, hard-working people of society? What happens when no one exercises True Submission to God and his authorities anymore? When Christians forsake the assembly of themselves together? When they stop visiting the poor or needy, but leave it to a broken government? I won’t go on, because I really don’t want to “think about it!” It’s downright disturbing! Because it is a downward trend
So, WHO and WHAT we submit to is so very important in these end times.
II Peter 2:19-21 gives us a warning:
In short, this is what this means. True submission is a choice. If you submit yourself to “The World”, who are servants of corruption, and then disregard your true God-given authorities, you will be brought into bondage, even if right now you’ve escaped the pollutions of the world. Your latter end will be worse with you.
Jesus Christ is our example. Read the gospels and you will see that his whole mindset was True Submission to his authority: God His Father. This simplified things for him! If he didn’t see the Father doing it, he didn’t do it. If he wasn’t told to do something, he didn’t. When he was facing the time of his will being different than the father’s will, at Gethsemane, He exercised True Submission, even unto death. In Luke 22:42 He declared, “Not my will but thine be done.”
And Philippians 2:8 says, “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
John 2:24-25 tells us his focus: “Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.” Ultimately, Christ committed himself TO the Father, not to men.
You can follow his example and do the same. Let the Lord be your ultimate trust… your ultimate authority. Then as you trust the established authorities over you, HE is ultimately who you are trusting when you submit yourselves to them. Right?
Job 22:21 says, “Submit to God, and be at peace with Him; in this way prosperity will come TO you.”
Verse 22 goes on to say, “Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.”
We are to know what HIS WILL is so we can know if we are exercising true submission to him and his authorities, or not. Amen?
If we know something is not of him, then we need not submit.
If we know it’s the world pressuring us, we can have our lives “simplified”.
Will it maybe “cost us”? It might.
We may be persecuted, misunderstood, lose our position, leave money behind, etc.
But, friends, it will cost us “WAY MORE” not to submit to God!
We have some precious promises that Job 22 goes on to tell us about! Let’s look at Job 22:23-30 and look at submission in a whole new light. Some of you may not even know these verses exist… but they do! (smile) I will paraphrase them for you:
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, If thou put away unrighteousness (iniquity) far from your dwelling places.
24 And lay you “your treasure” in the dust, And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks (i.e. let the world’s wealth lose its importance to you, even the purest gold of the highest value!)
25 Then the Almighty will BE your Treasure, And BE as precious silver unto you.
26 For you will delight thyself in the Almighty, and will lift up your face unto God.
27 You will make your prayer unto Him, and He will hear you; And you will pay your vows.
28 You will also decree a thing, and it will be established unto thee;
And light will shine upon your ways.
29 When they cast you down, you will say, There is lifting up!
And the humble person He will save.
30 He will deliver even him that is not innocent: Yea, he will be delivered through the cleanness of thy hands. (i.e. A guilty person you may be praying for can be delivered through the purity of your own life!)
Don’t rush away from these verses. Look up Job 22:21-30 in your own bible’s translation.
You will realize that True Submission takes “returning, putting away iniquity, letting money lose its value, delighting yourself in the Lord, and praying and decreeing on your part… but it will lead to the reward of the Almighty “hearing those prayers”… “being your money” (i.e., He will provide everything), being “built up” and having “light” upon all your ways (i.e., you will cease from being tormented by darkness and confusion, and torn down by condemnation, fear, or indecision.) You will perform your vows…i.e. You will be enabled to keep your own commitments to your family, your workplace, your community etc.
It’s all good, friends…When it all starts with True Submission.
If you make it a priority to come closer to God, He will come closer to you. See James 4:8! Then as complication comes upon the world, bringing fears and torments, questioning and indecision, you will be built up instead. Being true to Christ will simplify your life just as being true to God “simplified Christ’s life”…meaning, every single decision need not be a heavy weight upon you. Christ’s yoke is easy, and his burden is light. He gives you free will, and when truly submitted, will lead you in making the decisions that are of His Will. Submission ends up being an attitude of the heart, that Faith leads you into having. No fear. Just faith.
If you don’t know Christ, accept his love and the sacrifice of his blood for you, and be free of guilt and sin. With him, comes “clarity” and “wisdom” and “belonging” and “freedom from fears”. Then let your True Submission be unto him. In so doing, He will align every other authority in your life, and where there may be questionings, you can go to His Word or a trusted believer and get clarity upon your path. He promises LIGHT WILL SHINE UPON YOUR WAYS (Job 22:28), so you can face the unknown future in perfect peace and confidence.
For those who already know Jesus and walk in truth, I encourage you to continue to trust His ability to simplify your decisions by bringing you awareness of who not to submit to, and who to exercise True Submission toward, bringing you into freedom and rest of soul.
This article is written to bring you to an alertness of who your True Submission should be toward: your authorities as established by Almighty God, with him being your Highest Authority!
You do not have to submit to Satan’s “control spirits”, loosed upon mankind. If you feel you’ve lost your free will, you’ve entered into Satan’s camp, so get out quick!
When something regarding submission comes in question, ask for the Holy Spirit to give detailed guidance…pray…and seek the Word of God. He has made it clear to me that He wants to give each of us complete understanding between what is “CONTROL” and what is “TRUE SUBMISSION”!
Guard your free will, friends. Only surrender it to God’s established authorities. If we remain under the authority He has established, The Almighty will be ultimately responsible for what comes thereafter.
God gives you free will. True Submission is “your choice” to place your will under another’s will. God has established “authorities” so you can do this “comfortably” and “without fear”, knowing He has your back.
Don’t give to the Enemy what is meant to Be God’s.
Submission need only be unto God.
Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Please become mindful of what Galatians 5:1 says:
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
Submission to your God-given authorities does not put you under a yoke of bondage. Rather, it brings you into liberty... and under protection. It will bring peace.
If you’re submitting to someone or something that is not bringing you closer to God, and closer to liberty, but is instead taking you further away from your will, then you are probably UNDER a Control Spirit somewhere. Maybe even witchcraft. You are probably not under God-given authority, so Be loosed in Jesus’ Name, and Be free to exercise True Submission to Christ! There will be agreement between your heart and your mind when you’re submitting to who are to, upon making the decision. If your mind is telling you one thing, and your gut (your heart) another, then it is time to go to prayer! Until you know the will of God.
As I said at the beginning, True Submission takes “Faith”.
When a person, or a place, or a thing controls you, or forces you this is not the kind of submission God requires of you. Absolutely not!! Submitting your will “to God” and to “his authorities over you” will bring you to joy, peace, and righteousness. You will consciously choose to make the choice to submit your will when it is to God’s rightful authorities in your life. This true submission is done in faith, and not fear.
So let those in faith, really hear what the New Testament passage II Cor 6:14-18 says:
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will live with them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
Therefore, “Come out from them
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”
I will close now, and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to each one of you individually. This article is “all over the place” as far as who he might talk to, and about what, so I feel I’ve shared what I was to share, and will leave the rest to Him.
God bless each one of you with a heart of True Submission toward His Will and His Ways.