Showing posts with label Surrender. Show all posts

Built Upon a Rock

Saturday, May 24, 2014

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Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock -Matthew 24:7

 These are convicting words; words that came to me this morning, a day before my 26th birthday. I was beginning to feel restless, stressed and heavy with burdens. Something was not right. 

"My thoughts have been in a tailspin..." I wrote in my journal. "Things seem messy to me at the moment. And to be quite frank, they are. I don't like messy when it comes to my life. I like pretty, put together, planned ahead--all with a pretty pink bow on top! (Thank you very much)!"

But as I continued to pour my heart out in my journal this morning, I realized that in my attempt to have my life neat and tidy, I began trying to build my house on my preconceived notions of what I thought my life should look like. Those preconceived notions were born out of many different things, some good, some not so good. But it snowballed into something that turned sour and I believe has only hindered me. 

Fruitlessly I've trying to build my life into what I believe it should be without waiting for God. I've taken control and run ahead of my Lord. That's why my thoughts have been in a tailspin, that's why I've been stressed and carrying burdens I'm not meant to carry.

 "Let go" God says. "Let go of it all and hold only onto Me." 

 I realized that in my attempt to build my own life I was like the foolish man Jesus talked about to His disciples.

"But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:26-27

 What have I building my house upon? Sinking sand, that's what! Every time my preconceived notions fell with a crash I began trying to rebuild again. It didn't work. It just kept falling down. 

 "I've run ahead of God trying to build my life into what I think it should be. But I can't do it. It's impossible for me to do. Only God can rebuild the mess.... A layman doesn't build a new house on his own. He needs an architect to do it for him; someone who knows what they're doing. If a layman set about building a house all on his own without an knowledge of how to go about it, then I guarantee that house will fall. He'll be left scrambling to pick up the pieces." 

 Isn't that just what Jesus is teaching us here in Scripture? As His words came into my heart this morning, I realized my grave mistake. By building my house on all other things besides Jesus Christ my Rock, I set myself up for failure, heartache and ruin. 

 I made a choice to let go, give God control, let Him take my mess and build my house on the Rock higher than I. Jesus is the Master Architect. 

I realized that by building our house on Him alone, we therefore set ourselves up for victory. We can trust the Master Builder to build and rebuild if necessary. Didn't Nehemiah rebuild the house of the Lord by God's grace? How much more can Jesus build and rebuild our own house starting with the firm foundation of Himself?!

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I
Psalm 61:2b


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Unspeakably Beyond

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

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Help us Lord to trust in your goodness mercy and love;
To trust that Your will above all else is best.
Help us Lord to look to You when our doubts and fears overwhelm;
Give us Lord the grace to know that You are working all things for our highest good. 


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Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us -Ephesians 3:20 


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Willingness

Friday, April 18, 2014

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"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."
Luke 22:42

It's hard to even begin to imagine what it must have been like the night before Jesus' crucifixion. Knowing the road before Him and what it was He would have to endure must have been terrifying. The Scriptures give us a glimpse of what He went through that night saying that He sweat drops of blood whilst praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

The photo above shows a rather serene looking Jesus praying to God in the garden, but how I see see it my mind is strikingly different. I see our Savior sweating drops of blood, prostrate on His face, pleading with His father that He does not have to be separated from Him for a period of time. I see Jesus in pure agony through the pain He is about to endure; physical, emotional, mental and spiritual pain that you nor I could ever begin to imagine. Yet despite all this Jesus endured the shame and public humiliation to save you and I. He carried the cross, was crucified dead and buried for our eternal salvation. Out of His death came life. Jesus chose to carry out His Father's will and gained an untold amount of souls for eternity.

I have a rather strong will. It's often hard for me to fully surrender my will to God and allow Him to do His will in my life. God is still working with me on this very thing. Jesus had a will too. We can clearly see this when He prayed "not my will by your will be done." 

I once heard someone liken our own wills to that of an untrained horse. All that power, strength and agility is just waiting to be harnessed. But without breaking in that horse, none of the power that horse has within will ever be useful to it's master. It cannot perform at it's peak unless broken. Only when the horse it broken and trained, and it's will one with it's master, can the horse ever become useful at completing the tasks before it. Once I heard this illustration given though, a light bulb went off in my mind.

The same holds true for us. We have a will and we have the freedom to roam about and do whatever we want. As a friend of mine pointed out to me recently though, God does not want us to be wandering Israelites with no goal in sight. Our wills must be broken. This doesn't mean we don't make decisions or use our will at all. It merely means we must daily align our will to God's and, if need be, surrender it completely just as Jesus did before He was crucified. 

I don't know if we will ever do this perfectly, like Jesus did, on this side of eternity. Perhaps some people do. I do know that Jesus will continue to mature us, challenge us and show us the way in which we are to walk. After all, we not only remember Jesus' death and burial, we also celebrate the truth that He is Risen. It's precisely because He lives that we can daily align ourselves with God's will and surrender ourselves to His greater purposes.


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God Laughs

Thursday, January 16, 2014

"Sometimes we plan and God laughs." -Annie Camden, 7th Heaven

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I laughed when I heard this while watching re-runs of one of my favorite television shows. Something about what was said just made sense. I can't count how many times I've planned something only to have God surprise me with something different.

Why is it that I've such a hard time in letting go of my own plans? After all Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans that I have for you" says the Lord. 

Jeremiah 29:11 doesn't say "I know the plans you have for yourself." It says "I (God) know the plans that I (God) have for you."

I find it hard to surrender my own plans to God's sometimes because of fear. Fear He won't fulfill the desires of my heart (which is not true according to Psalm 37:4); fear He's going to ask me to do something I don't want to do; fear He might tell me "no" to my own plans.

While I know that surrendering my plans to God's may sometimes be difficult, I also know it's worth it.

Jeremiah 29:11 goes on. The verse continues with God telling us the types of plans He has for us. It's in the latter part of the verse where my fears are stilled. The Lord says:

"Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans for hope and a future."

God's plans, regardless of my questions and unprecedented fears, will always be good. His love is so beautiful that I often don't realize that I may be underestimating His plans for my life because I don't fully realize His immense love. God's love and His plans go hand in hand.

This new year I've made a commitment to surrender to God and watch in amazement as the plans He has for me unfolds. While I still hope and pray for certain dreams to come true and will continue to dream for them, I also want to surrender each moment to God. Surrender for me is a moment by moment decision. It's definitely not the easiest thing to do. But the amazing thing is, each time I surrender my day to God a peace washes over me and a burden is lifted. 

I know God's plans are good. Jeremiah 29:11 attests to this. May all us us be the kind of person who laughs with God as we realize the glorious plans He has for us all. (Plans that are so big and so awesome that we too will laugh when we compare our own plans with His.) Because God's plans are always the best.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4


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5+ Scriptures on Surrender

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Have you ever stopped to watch the waves of the ocean crash and recede? I mean really stop and watch? I have. Every time I do I'm overtaken with a sense of awe and beauty. Subconsciously and without little to no effort on my part I'm drawn closer to God. An atmosphere of calm and an indwelling peace that I'm unable to fathom wash over me like the very waves I'm watching. But why is this?



Aside from the creation of God proclaiming His majesty His creation also is fully surrendered to Him. The waves crashing on the sand are fully surrendered to Him. The crashing, rolling, receding waves are at every moment fully abandoned to the Creator.

“Who shut up the sea behind doors
    when it burst forth from the womb,
 when I made the clouds its garment
    and wrapped it in thick darkness,
when I fixed limits for it
    and set its doors and bars in place,
 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
    here is where your proud waves halt’?
Job 38:8-11 

The endless striving for my own plans and purposes to come to pass cause strife and weariness. I want things to be done now or never so I struggle against God's timing and His purpose. Often I do this without even realizing it. Like a little child I want my own way. If only I could learn to be like the waves of the sea; fully surrendered to God and His purposes. I'm still learning.

 God's word is full of inspirational verses that remind us what surrender looks like. Here are some of my favorites:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Matthew 16:24-25

 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’"
Matthew 22:37

So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
Luke 5:11 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Romans 12:1 

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
1 Corinthians 6:20


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