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Definitions:
The word, "Resignation" does not appear in the King James
Bible. It expresses a spiritual feeling and attitude.
"Spiritual resignation" means:
1] Unresisting acceptance of something as inescapable;
submission.
2] A giving up of a possession, claim, or right:
abandonment, abdication.
3] The capacity of enduring hardship or inconvenience
without complaint: forbearance, long-suffering, patience,
tolerance.
A firstfruit is to have an unresisting acceptance of their
calling, the Word of God, the Law, Christ and Almighty God
and His plan. A firstfruit gives full submission to
God. A firstfruit abdicates his or her life as it was
before their calling. A firstfruit has the capacity of
enduring hardship without complaint unto the end.
Quote:
"At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in
its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one
had no choice."
General Scriptures:
Job 5:17-23 Behold,
happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not
thou the chastening of the Almighty: For he maketh sore, and
bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole. He shall
deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no
evil touch thee. In famine he shall redeem thee from death:
and in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid
from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid
of destruction when it cometh. At destruction and famine
thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts
of the earth. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of
the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace
with thee.
Psalms 4:4-5 Stand in
awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed,
and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
and put your trust in the LORD.
Psalms 46:10-11 Be
still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the
heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts
is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Romans 12:
A firstfruit must have unresisting
acceptance of the following admonitions:
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that
good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man
that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than
he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God
hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members
have not the same office:
5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one
members one of another.
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is
given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to
the proportion of faith;
7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that
teacheth, on teaching;
8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let
him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence;
he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is
evil; cleave to that which is good.
10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love;
in honour preferring one another;
11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the
Lord;
12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing
instant in prayer;
13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to
hospitality.
14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them
that weep.
16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high
things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in
your own conceits.
17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest
in the sight of all men.
18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live
peaceably with all men.
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give
place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I
will repay, saith the Lord.
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst,
give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of
fire on his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Philippians 2:5-15
Christ invoked resignation in His
life on this planet.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him
a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as
in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do
of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse
nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
1 Thessalonians 3:3 That
no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves
know that we are appointed thereunto.
Commentary:
That no man should be moved by
these afflictions,.... ----Which the apostle
endured for the sake of preaching the Gospel among them, and
which he feared might be a means of troubling their minds,
of shaking their faith, and moving them from the hope of the
Gospel; for though none of these things moved him, who was
an old soldier of Christ, and used to hardness, and an
apostle of Christ; yet these were young converts, and not
used to such things, and therefore might be staggered at
them, and be offended, as stony ground hearers are; and
though the apostle hoped better things of them, yet was he
concerned for them, that no one among them might be unhinged
by them, or succumb under them:
for yourselves know that we are
appointed thereunto----by the immutable decree of
God: afflictions, as to their nature, measure, and duration,
are appointed for the people of God, and they are appointed
for them; this is the case of all who will live godly in
Christ Jesus, and especially of Gospel ministers; of which
these saints had been apprized by the apostle, and therefore
was nothing new, unheard of, and unexpected, or to be looked
upon as a strange thing; and seeing this was the appointment
of heaven, and the will of God, they should be patiently
endured, and quietly submitted to.
- John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
2 Timothy 2:1-5 Thou
therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many
witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall
be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure
hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that
warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life;
that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not
crowned, except he strive lawfully.
Commentary:
Thou therefore endure hardness,....
----"Or afflictions"; as in 2Ti_4:5. The same word is used
there as here, and properly signifies, "suffer evil"; and
means the evil of afflictions, as persecutions of every
kind, loss of name and goods, scourging, imprisonment, and
death itself, for the sake of Christ and the Gospel:
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
----Christ is the Captain of salvation, the Leader and
Commander of the people, who are made a willing people in
the day of his power; or when he raises his forces, and
musters his armies, these are volunteers, who willingly
enlist themselves into his service, and under his banners
fight his battles; and such who manfully behave against sin,
Satan, and the world, are his good soldiers; such are all
true believers in Christ, and particularly the ministers of
the word, whose ministry is a warfare, and who fight the
good fight of faith; and besides the above enemies, which
they have in common with other saints, have to do with
teachers, who are wolves in sheep's clothing.
-John Gill's Exposition of the
Entire Bible
2 Timothy 4:1-5 I charge
thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his
kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of
season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and
doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall
turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned
unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof
of thy ministry.
Commentary:
endure afflictions----meaning
reproaches and persecutions for the sake of the Gospel, from
without, and all trials and exercises from within, through
the infirmities and ill conduct of the saints themselves;
all which are to be endured patiently, cheerfully, and
courageously; so as not to be moved by them to desist from
the work of the ministry: - John
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
James 4:7 Submit
yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you.
The key phrase here is "Submit yourselves." Let us look at
some scriptures that show the attitude or submitting
ourselves. "Submit" is the other word for "resignation."
Matthew 11:29-30 Take my
yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in
heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke
is easy, and my burden is light.
1 Peter 2:13 Submit
yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake:
whether it be to the king, as supreme;
Acts 9:3-6
which is
speaking of Saul [Paul] on his way to Damascus
And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly
there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he
fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou,
Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest:
it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he
trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the
city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
Ephesians 5:15-21 See
then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be
ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord
is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be
filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your
heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto
God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
2 Chronicles 30:7-9 And
be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which
trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, who
therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see. Now be ye
not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves
unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath
sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the
fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. For if ye
turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children
shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so
that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your
God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his
face from you, if ye return unto him.
2 Chronicles 33:12-13
And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God,
and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard
his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into
his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.
Job 1:21
after all things had been taken
from Job including his children
And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked
shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath
taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
Daniel 4:34-37 And at
the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes
unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I
blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that
liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he
doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among
the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or
say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason
returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine
honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors
and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my
kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I
Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of
heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment:
and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
Hebrews 12:5-13 And ye
have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as
unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of
the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom
the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you
as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth
not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are
partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore
we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we
gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they
verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure;
but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his
holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang
down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your
feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but
let it rather be healed.
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