Jesus, I have been crucified with You and I no longer live, but You live in me. The life I live in my body, I live by faith in You, the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Yourself for me (Gal 2:20).

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live: Jesus, teach me that in submitting my life to You, the second thing that is required of me in The Six Biblical Principles is, I must STUDY it. Help me keep in mind that the Bible makes it clear that submitting my life to You has already been credited to my record with God; but, help me let You show me how to ACTUALLY submit my life to You. Teach me that actually submitting to You is a VERY interesting system; help me let You live Your life through me. Train me by You showing me how You live in and through my life. Help me discover that this powerful system is going to work miracles in my problems with loss of a loved one.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me: Jesus, make it clear to me that You won’t take over; You will require my permission moment-by-moment and issue-by-issue; but, if I give it to You all day long, I will experience a relationship with You that will be incredible. Show me that I will get a chance to see through Your eyes, feel Your feelings, experience Your thoughts, and be used by You to do God-sized things. Help me see that You will take me into the spirit realm with You and let me learn how to live as a child of God. Help me realize that it is the most dynamic, wonderful training system in all of existence.

Jesus, help me REMAIN in You, and You will REMAIN in me. Show me that no branch can bear fruit by itself; it must REMAIN in the vine. Make it clear to me that neither can I bear fruit unless I REMAIN in You (John 15:4 ). Jesus, teach me that all day long, everyday, I have the opportunity to decide to include You in on MY decisions, MY actions, and MY life. But, help me see that this is a life that I have already created for myself. At this point, I am just inviting You in on something that I want You to join ME on. Teach me that the next step in this journey into submitting to You is, me joining YOU in YOUR life. Help me leave MY life and join You in the life You want to live in and through me. As I yield to You, help me see that I will not only get healing from my difficulties with loss of a loved one, I will get a powerful new life that I didn’t even know was available to me.

Mat 4:18-20 (NIV) As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed Him. Jesus, show me what would have happened if Peter and Andrew had said, “No, Jesus, You come and join us. We want You in our life; we want to be mightily used by You. Come and join us so we can be trained by You as we go about OUR life.” Help me see that, that would have been a totally different relationship than what You had in mind.

Jesus, You said in Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV): “COME TO ME, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Jesus, when You were in a human body, all who followed You had to physically leave the place where they were and physically follow You. Show me that it was easy to see where You were and make sure they were with You. But now, help me understand that I am joining You by the decisions I make all day long. Show me that You may want to decide one thing and I may want to do something else. It may NOT be a decision to go anywhere; it may be a decision to do something. Sometimes I feel I know what I need You to do so I can be helped and healed from my struggles with loss of a loved one; but help me discover that You are MUCH wiser than I am.

Jesus, help me see how to apply the Bible to my everyday life so I can travel together with You. With You working through the Holy Spirit, Who is ALREADY IN me, help me see that I am ALREADY following You; I don’t NECESSARILY have to go anywhere. But, make it clear to me that if I am going places that are wrong, bad, or evil, then I WILL have to physically leave; but, show me that typically, following You is more spiritual than physical.

Jesus, teach me that if IREMAIN IN You, You will REMAIN IN me. Teach me that no branch can bear fruit by itself; it must REMAIN IN the vine. Show me that neither can I bear fruit unless U REMAIN IN You (John 15:4). Teach me that remaining IN You has to do with my approach to life; if in my life I want to use my human efforts, talents, skills, abilities, and world training I won’t be remaining IN You. Help me see that to be trained in as a child of God, I must be willing to learn a whole new system for life. Make it clear to me that if I feel I already have what I need and am already good at it, I am detaching myself from You; make it clear to me that Christianity only works through yielding to Your way of doing things.

Jesus, help me realize that You are the vine; I am the branch. If I REMAIN IN You in me, I will bear much fruit; APART from You I can do nothing (John 15:5). Teach me that emaining IN You is a LITTLE BIT like trying to stand in someone’s shadow; as they move, I would have to adjust my position to stay in it. Their shadow wouldn’t do anything physical to me; it would be totally up to me to make the adjustments. However, teach me that in this case You would give me the power and training on how to adjust to Your shadow.

Jesus, teach me that if I do NOT REMAIN IN You, I will be like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned (John 15:6). Help me see that remaining in You is similar to remaining in Your shadow; show me that this is because I have a God-given free will that makes it super easy for me to NOT remain in You.

Jesus, help me always keep in mind that any time during my day, if I don’t want to submit to You over any issue, it is as easy as stepping out of Your shadow. However, if I want You to, You will give me the training and power to remain in You. Teach me that You won’t just leave it up to me; You will leave it up to my will or DESIRE; but, You won’t leave it up to me having to use my human effort or world training. Help me see that You will give me Your power and Your training, if I will “do what it takes” to get it.

If anyone does NOT REMAIN IN Me: Jesus, help me see that some don’t remain IN You because they don’t like Your life and salvation. They try it and decide that they like human effort and the world better. BUT, some start to detach because they are living the Romans 7:15-24 life of human effort and world training. Help me see that it isn’t because that is the way they want to live; they live that way because that is all they know. They think that, that is what You and Christianity are all about. Show me that they need to study the Bible and find out how to live The Victorious Christian Life.

(John 15:7) If you REMAIN in Me and My words REMAIN in you: Jesus, help me see that if I don’t know what the Bible says, then I am left with what I believe. Help me see that I am basing my life on what I think, what my friends think, what world leaders and trainers think, and what I hope will work. But, show me that if I study the Bible, I will get the most powerful and effective information in existence. Make it clear to me that God, Who knows everything, is teaching and training me in the TRUTH. Teach me that there is no hypothesis, there is no trial and error, there is no guess work, there is no hoping that it is true and hoping that it will work. I will know for a fact that I am basing my life on the knowledge, foreknowledge of the future, understanding, and wisdom of God.

Jesus, teach me that if I REMAIN in You and Your words REMAIN in me, I can ASK whatever I wish, and it will be given me (John 15:7). Make it VERY clear to me that this is the second most important FACT about You and Christianity. Help me realize that rather than me TRYING to obey a Biblical assignment I am given through the Bible, I must ASK! Teach me that the more I learn to stop TRYING and start ASKING, the more I will move out of the Romans 7:15-24 life.