This is one of my all time favorite Scriptures because it reminds me daily that it is the Lord in whom I must put my trust in and to set aside myself. It's always been a profound Scripture for me throughout my journey because it means SO much and yet at the same time, teaches us a command that ends with a promise.....that He WILL direct our paths! We must put our trust and faith into action in order for Him to direct our paths. Sounds so simple, yet, as I've experienced many trials in my life, I've found it to be quite difficult if we don't stay focused on Him daily! I've also found that the more I practiced this command, the easier it became but moreso, the more it became a big part of my daily life. It found a home in my heart and soul and because I put this into action, it became a starting point for my day. To trust Him implicitly and to have Faith in His provisions and promises, we must do what is probably the most difficult thing in our walk and relationship with Jesus Christ....SURRENDER, BELIEVE and DEPEND! Ah, there's such freedom in surrendering to Him so why do we find it so hard? Why do we always want it OUR way? The answer is simple. SELF. We are selfish, self centered beings. So why wouldn't we want to control our lives here on this earth?
 |
| Empty Your Hands! |
It is in these Scriptures that we are told why we often don't and can't understand the "why's" of what God is doing. Isaiah 55:8-9, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. v9) “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts." God sees EVERYTHING. He sees the beginning and the end. He sees the entire picture, but us? We only see a minuscule of the picture and we self righteously think we have all the answers! So you see, in order to trust in the Lord with all our heart means we can't place our own right to understand things ABOVE His right to direct our lives the way that He sees fit, for His purpose, His plan and His way. When we keep insisting on God to always make sense in our finite minds, and we continue to demand to understand, than all we are doing and achieving is setting ourselves up for spiritual trouble. Not everything is ours TO understand and we shouldn't expect to understand the things that God does in our lives. Our limited knowledge of what we see and understand, can more often than not, lead us astray and down paths that aren't chosen by God for us to be traveling down. Our limited understanding takes us into places that we ought not to go but it's exactly what happens when we try to direct our own paths, when we try to lean on our own understanding and knowledge and when we think we know what's best for us and control the outcome. Proverbs 16:25, "There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death." Well isn't this the truth?!! When we think something is right in our own flesh, the end is death because we didn't seek God's way. We didn't surrender to His directions. Our standards ALWAYS changes and that's one of the reasons I love Proverbs 3:5-6 so much!!! It reminds me that I don't have to rely on my own understanding because I'll fail miserably and God's standards NEVER changes! He is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow! We humans have emotions, motives and agendas. Those three things changes course and directions along with our emotions and they can't be trusted. Hence to trust in the Lord with ALL of our HEART!!!! The heart? Remember it's the most deceptive of all.....
Proverbs 3:5-6 is such a powerful verse, full of God's promises and if you believe what it says fully, your life will be drastically changed! Why? Because you won't be able to live the same way that you used to live your life! It becomes so easy to trudge along in our Christian life, well equipped with our Bible verses that are dear to us, the Christian doctrine of the Bible, being totally convinced that we have an undying Faith in God. From time to time God will allow us seasons of relative freedom from our trials of faith. More often than not though, if we are walking closely, doing what we've been called to do, being obedient to His will, then those seasons of freedom are more rare than they are not. There are some Christians who "appear" to not be going through anything, nary a trial that wasn't caused by a bad decision or an impulsive choice, or one that they were led INTO by the Lord. It won't last long and internally, there is always something going on inside of them. The one who never is tested and tried through the fires, will have a harder time dealing with true faith and trust when that time comes when they ARE tried and tested. I prefer to be prepared than not. When one is never tried, when one is never tested in their faith and trust and sent through the fires, then one isn't really growing in the way that they should. It's during these times of trials and testings that AREN'T from our bad choices or impulsivity, that our Faith GROWS, that the Lord shows Himself clearer, that we learn to depend upon Him MORE. Without those, what would be the purpose? Eventually, if we're walking with Jesus Christ, professing our faith and trust in Him, we will go through the fires, coming face to face with the basic question: "Do I REALLY believe? Do I believe to the point where I'm WILLING to risk everything, on the faithfulness of God?" And preparing to answer this question with a resounding YES is what the ultimate ideal is.
When we are sent through the fires, deep into the wilderness that our Lord has led us to, and we're in the thick of it all, inundated with contradictions and every kind of turmoil our minds can imagine, it may seem like God is indifferent, apathetic, and unreachable. It may seem like He isn't listening to your cries, or cares enough to pluck you out of the burning embers. He who will trust Him wholly finds Him wholly TRUE. So rather than these things giving way to faltering faith in us, it's precisely the VERY reason that during those tumultuous times that we MUST BELIEVE! It's only then, in the middle of a CRISIS, that we'll either move FORWARD or we'll sadly fall BACKWARDS! In these verses, God is asking us to stake everything upon His faithfulness to us. Everything. He is asking us to give Him everything that is important to us, everything that means anything to us, and basically become a total "sell-out" to Him. I'm not talking religious stuff here either. I'm not talking about a "said-faith" kind of a thing where there is a Biblical belief of being true scripturally. I'm talking about active, costly, sacrificial and sometimes terrifying faith......when life seems to be falling apart all around us of NO FAULT OF OUR OWN. That's the kind of surrender to Faith I'm talking about! That's the kind of Faith that is built through testing and trials and tribulations in this life. Do we need to understand the "why's" of everything? Hardly! If we trust the Lord with all of our hearts, then there is NO need. Sure it's OK to ask Him the "why's" and you might even get an answer or two, now or down the road. But really, if He wants to reveal it to us, He will, but He'll do it in a way that we will understand in our finite minds. In His time and definitely for His purpose. Otherwise, we'll just have to accept Romans 8:28 for exactly what it states CLEARLY, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."
In order to begin to fully trust the Lord and to have the kind of unfaltering Faith that will get you through the hottest fires, and the longest wilderness, we need to learn to let go. As I pondered this post and why I was feeling led to write on Letting Go, I had to ask myself, "WHAT" does God really want us to "let go" of? Control. Pride. Comfortableness. Our need to control everything, and that includes knowing and understanding things that we really aren't capable of unless God graciously reveals something to us. Control is a stronghold to many people that I've encountered along the path in my walk. And we ALL have a certain degree of it as a natural part of being fallen into sinful natures. The difference between having a certain degree of control and it being something that controls US to the point that it becomes a stronghold is that the natural degree can easily be run off by a prayer and a quick conviction to step aside. Whereas the stronghold that controls us is not so easily set aside. Due in part to a fear of being vulnerable, exposed and not getting one's way. The latter is the biggest one that needs to be dealt with firsthand. Letting go of the things that God wants is to rid ourselves of those things we put before Him, what we find important to US and that takes away from what He is trying to tell us, teach us, or direct us. I've got a pretty good grip on being able to surrender my own need for control and I recognize it fairly quickly when it rears its ugly head! I'm in tune closely with the Holy Spirit and the conviction is overwhelming so I'm able to thwart the efforts off. On those rare occasions, when I take the reins and take control, to be blunt here, it's a total DISASTER. Not only the outcome of whatever it was that I controlled but worse, my spiritual well being! I get spiritually embattled when I take the reins away from the Lord and as soon as I've done it, I am immediately convicted!
Control is a big part of what God wants and if we take a look at just some of the things that we control, we will see it all links together. We want something to turn out a certain way, so we control it so that it does. We manipulate the outcome. We are stuck in a bad relationship that is not of the Lord but we want it to work out knowing it's not good for us. We control what we want to do in order to stay in the bad relationship and go against what we know the Lord is telling us. We want a prayer answered in the WAY that WE want it, or think it should be answered, so we control our reactions TO the answer we receive. We manipulate the answer given by shunning it and turning from it because it wasn't what we wanted it to be. We want to do something that we know is sinful or that we shouldn't do so we justify and compromise in order to "control" what WE want to do. The flesh is weak. We do this all the time. Some WAY more than others because they just haven't learned how to surrender and how to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit speaking immediately when we are being convicted. Some people perpetually live in this stronghold because it "fits" with who they are and what they aren't willing to give up. And what exactly aren't they willing to give up? SELF. But see, we want to be "instantly fixed" so we don't like to learn patience and waiting on the Lord. We THINK wrongly that we'll "fix" it. Sometimes paying a high price in doing so! Control will fix everything the WAY WE want things but it can't and won't "fix" anything the way that God WANTS it!
It is here that I will profess that I'm NOT a big fan of the saying, "Let go and Let God" for many reasons which is why my title finishes off what I believe to be the better part of the saying. Letting go and letting God is a coined phrase from years ago when the New Age movement was getting up and running and all the "self-help" gurus were coming on the scene. There is not one Scripture to support this "phrase" however, it still enjoys much popularity even unto today. The basic meaning of this particular phrase, and why I don't like it nor do I use it in my vocabulary, is that it implies to just sit back, adopt a kind of a spiritual inertia, say nothing, feel nothing, do nothing and let everything happen as they may without effort. In fact, the opposite is true. It's an exact contradiction to Scripture. 2 Timothy 2:3 says, "You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." This tells us to ACTIVELY be a good soldier of Christ and ENDURE hardship. 1 Timothy 6:12 says, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." The Christian life is a battle that we are told throughout the Bible to prepare for and fight and wage diligently. Fighting requires ACTION. Ephesians 6:11, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." As you can see in this verse, we are given the armor of God to stand AGAINST the wiles of the devil. To fight off, to run from, to withstand all testings and temptations and all of these require ACTION, diligence and being battle ready. But letting go in the literal sense of sitting back and watching the circumstances and life's events unfold in whatever way they may is definitely NOT biblical. I've heard some people explain that by "letting go" we cease to strive and struggle. And my argument lies in the Scripture where it tells us the exact opposite. Luke 13:24, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able." And by striving, He means we should be diligent, active, and earnest in making every effort in overcoming our sinful tendencies, and temptations, while also striving to do the work of the kingdom, whatever form that takes in our lives through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I do NOT hold to that saying. However, letting go of what GOD WANTS is more fitting and I prefer to continue to use that which was spoken to my spirit. God gives much but He also demands much!
Here are some things to ponder for a moment......
1. We can't control all the negativity around us, or in the people we know or meet on the streets, but we CAN choose joy in our own hearts.
2. We can’t control the words that once came from our deceptive hearts, but we can definitely replace them with truth from Scripture.
3. We are not able to control the past, nor should we continue to revisit it, relive it or reside in it. But we sure can focus on all of the miracles and blessings that are all around us right now, here in the present. God speaks the same warning and same truth to us.
4. If you hold on too tightly to the things of the past, you will SURELY miss out on all the NEW and lovely things that the Lord wants to show you NOW.
5. We can't control the outcome of being sent into the wilderness, but we can learn to grow in our faith and trust that God will not leave us behind and will walk beside us as we learn what He is teaching us or preparing us for.
Isaiah 43:18-19, God spoke to His people through the prophet Isaiah saying: "Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. v19) Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert." Letting go is never easy, especially in the beginning. Holding onto things, to control, to people, to whatever it is that you are afraid of surrendering, is our natural response, our fleshly response. If you look at the above Scriptures, just as the prophet Isaiah describes new roads in the desert and the rivers in the wilderness, it's when we give up what we can’t control and shouldn't control, in order to embrace what we can change through the power of the Lord, and then we are given new and wonderful ways of thinking, in relating and in living. They become carved into our very being. And one of the biggest reasons for letting go of what God wants is so that you will be able to make room for what God's plans are for your life!!! THAT, my brothers and sisters, should be the biggest initiative you have to surrender, believe and depend so that you can let go of those things that God wants in your life! God has a plan for your life but if you stand in His way, if you continue to operate in your flesh and push aside and set aside the faith and trust of God, you may easily miss that blessing!
 |
| TRUST! |
So what are some of the things that we should say "no" to that we know we should LET GO OF because it's what God wants? Here are just some examples of many......
1. Something WE do in the flesh, that makes US look good, that we brag on about ourselves, instead of making God look good.
2. A hobby that isn't a hobby any more but consumes more time, and/or resources, than it should.
3. A toxic relationship, whether a friendship or otherwise, that isn't edifying or is one sided.
4. Some activity that is busy work, bearing no fruit.
5. Extra church or volunteer activity that we didn't pray about FIRST and wait for an answer but accepted because we didn't want to say "no" to but committed to anyway. We didn't hear the voice of God leading us there nor giving us permission.
6. ANYTHING that makes us too busy that takes away from one-on-one time with God
7. Something we know isn't from God but we are a bit too hard headed to stop so we continue against the will of God
8. Holding onto a business adventure or partnership that isn't producing any profits or the partnership is not flourishing the way a partnership should in a business
9. Living in the past revisiting regrets and old wounds that will steal your joy and take away your blessings that would have been coming your way.
Now I'm NOT saying there aren't time when we really need to hang on and have faith in some circumstances because there are those times when it is necessary. There's also seasons and sometimes reasons that we are to do specific things for someone or help others out when we're called to do so. These are the sacrificial times when we offer our time or resources, but once again, as we are called to do so. The "feeling" is unmistakable. You'll KNOW. Usually if you jump right into something without thought or prayer or asking for guidance and then WAITING for His response, then it's a good indicator that you're not being led by the Holy Spirit. What I'm specifically referring to in the above is if we feel absolutely no grace and have no desire to do something or get/be involved in something, thereby making it more of a chore than a calling. If doing it becomes the hardest thing to do, and it gets in the way of what the Lord wants us to do or is trying to ASK us to do, or even if it gets in the way of our relationship with Jesus, then our priorities are out of order. It's about letting it go when we realize our motivations were wrong. Greed. Fame. Acknowledgment. Pride. (There's that ugly word again!) If we start something that we weren't supposed to start, and the moment we realize we shouldn't be continuing it, we need to stop and let it go because it's what God wants from us.
God asks the hardest thing from us. He asks us to totally suspend our common sense, the very thing that is second nature to our own being, close our eyes, and ourselves, to everything around us, put aside our own knowledge and understanding, albeit limited, of this earthly reality and logic…and TRUST HIM. Yes, trust Him to be REAL! Trust Him to be the Great I AM! Even when you think NOTHING is happening, God wants to see if you'll still trust Him. He wants to see if you'll still trust Him and have Faith even if your prayers don’t turn out the way YOU wanted them to turn out. He's simply just trying to help us grow in our faith, and in order to do that, He has to continue to raise the bar a little bit at a time. Each notch the bar is raised, the harder it's going to get. But as we grow spiritually, He will continue to ask us to believe more. And when things become REALLY difficult, when they surpass all of our understanding, He asks us, and WANTS us, to believe EVEN MORE. Relinquish your mind’s control over all of your easy and difficult situations and take your hands off the steering wheel! Let go of your own fears and unbelief and stop trying to figure things out all the time. TRUST GOD TO WORK! He WILL, you know! As I said before, some things He'll reveal to you, but more often than not, you're not going to know the "why's" or get the answers you're looking for especially why you are going through them. If the answers come at all, it's usually long after you've been out of the wilderness, or they're given for a specific purpose. Besides, even if you did get the answers, would you REALLY like what you heard and would you REALLY receive it anyway!?
Delays are sometimes God's plan for us. If WE try to jump ahead and control the situation and force by our own choice, a speedier outcome, it's safe to say that we won't get the blessing He had planned for us had we relinquished our control and put our faith into action. He may have turned your choice around for the good BUT it would be a different blessing. It's kind of like something that God lays on your heart to do. It doesn't mean He wants you to do it RIGHT NOW. He may be giving you this as a way for you to PREPARE for first, and then when the time is right and perfect, then you will do it. Delays are good in many situations especially if we aren't sure it's the voice of God we are hearing. It could be our voice, Satan's sneaky voice or it could very well be the Lord's. But delaying until we KNOW for sure and we've stepped aside and out of His way, can be a good thing for us. I kind of relate a delay to you knowing a secret. Let's say there's going to be a big surprise birthday party for a co-worker that you are close with but you know you can't tell them or let it slip or you'll ruin the surprise. So you do everything within your power to keep that secret a secret, even to the point of maybe even avoiding the person altogether. You divert the conversations. You tip toe around the subject being careful to maintain SELF CONTROL so as not to spoil the surprise. Same thing for God's delays. Sometimes we have to surrender, believe and depend while being delayed. It's ALL for a reason so no use in fighting it, right? If you're one of those people that ALWAYS says, with belief, "God's in control." then you really need to practice that statement and LET Him BE in control. It gets easier the more you allow it to happen. God uses delays to prepare us. God uses delays to test us. God uses delays to train us. All of these are good things! Your test of maturity is how well you handle the delays in your life.
In Exodus 13: 17, it tells us, "And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:" In this Scripture, we find that God didn't take the short route. He NEVER does actually. We like to take the short cuts and the smooth roads. Not God. There's no lessons in that way. When God wants to take you somewhere He may take you on the long, rough path instead of a shortcut to show you, to grow you and teach you. One might ask, "why did God take the long way which caused a delay in taking the children of Israel into the promise land?" But you see, this delay was designed specifically by God for a particular reason. Deuteronomy 8:2, "And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not." God uses delays to test how we'll respond under pressure, under distress and to test our obedience and loyalty to Him.
We can't cleanse our own hearts because only God can do that for us. However, we can take an active part in getting rid of the DIRT! God has great things in store for each of us, He has great plans for us, but rarely are we willing to let go of what’s in our hands in order to allow the Lord to FILL THEM UP! Empty your hands, let go of all that God wants and trust in the Lord with all of your heart! If you think about it, really, that’s the underlying theme in so many of the stories in the Bible. Abraham had to let go of the place that he called home in order to receive the Promised Land. What would have happened had he tried to hold onto it? What if he refused to let go and listen to God? The thought is sobering. What about Moses? His mom had to let go of him in order for him to lead his people out of slavery. Moses had to let go of all the the riches of Egypt and his title of being the grandson of Pharaoh. He could have lived a life of luxury and had it easy but that's not what happened. Hebrews 11:26 says, "esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward." When he let go of what was in his hands, which were the things that God wanted, God was then able to use him for a much greater purpose. For God's purpose. Then look at David. He had to let go of His sheep in order to rule a nation. He had to let go of what was deemed comfortable to him. He had to let go of the very job he'd known since he was a young boy in order to be king. That was what he had to sacrifice to trust in the Lord. Think about this.....he could've looked at the greatness God had in store for him and chose to watch sheep instead. It sure would've been less stressful but that's not what he chose. He chose to let it go, to get out of his comfort zone and allow God to direct his paths. It would've been much easier and required much less faith to choose the shortcut and the easy way out, but he chose to let go of what he had in order to totally embrace what God had in store for him knowing it was going to be greater. I wonder if we would have the Psalms today had he not chosen to let go?
There are many examples of these stories throughout the Bible as a good example to us in letting go of what God wants us to relinquish. It could be a bad attitude. A jealousy. Pride. Control. Hate. Regret. Guilt. The Past. Or a number of other things that would ultimately get in the way of trusting the Lord. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He shall direct your paths! You must seek to do His will, rather than your own, even if you aren't quite clear about what His will is. And sometimes, His will isn't clear, but even that is for a reason. This reason is faith. You have to be willing to take the next steps in life NOT knowing where you're going but trusting the One that is leading the way! Even if that means that you can't discern exactly where He is, it's trusting Him through it all! Acknowledging God in all your ways means that you don't live for yourself and don't live in any kind of independence apart from God. There's no division in you between what's yours and what's God's. We must all be unconditionally surrendered to HIM! And He shall direct your paths......In order to be led by God, and that IS what this is all about afterall, we first must Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Then Lean not upon your own understanding. THEN In all your ways acknowledge Him. And FINALLY He will direct your paths. This means that you shall end up in the right place at the right time, and more importantly, in the right spiritual condition. First, we must trust. Then He will lead. But why? Because God is working an eternal purpose, an eternal plan. He wants us to eventually be conformed to the image of His Son. A fundamental aspect of this is that He builds FAITH in us. God will direct our paths, true, but it doesn't mean we'll always know that He's the one doing it. Notice: Much of what God does He does in ways which aren't dramatic, miraculous, or even noticeably HIM. Yet He gives us exactly what He promises to give us, which is His will. Both for this life and the next. However, it is here that I will caution those of you who seem to "require" an "experience" when God moves in your life. As I just said, He often isn't dramatic, miraculous or full of sensationalism. Those are the things us humans WANT Him to be, but not really who He IS. Often it's subtly. Often it's a still small voice. Often it's a quiet calm. Often it's peace. Often it's a whisper. Often it is a extended hand or a word from a friend. Often it's a stillness in your spirit. Seeking and requiring an "experience" can get you into trouble spiritually and maybe at a later date, I might write about that in an expanded manner.
In closing, there will be difficult times ahead. There will be trials and tribulations. There will be seasons of testing and being sent through the fire. There will be seasons in the wilderness. But letting go of what God wants you to is the ultimate in receiving what He has planned for you! Surrender, believe and depend! It does get easier but it has to start somewhere....
What are YOU holding onto that God is asking you to let go of? What are you holding onto that God has already done? If you know that you aren't letting go of something, this is a perfect time to do so! Relinquish it all to the Lord, emptying your hands and let the Lord fill them up with the things that He has in store for you! Don't delay what you feel in your spirit. It's better to let the Lord delay things for you than for you to control it and delay things in your own will and desire! Take this time to do some spiritual inventory of what you may need to let go of soon....
God knows exactly what He is doing. And He's waiting for you to surrender all.......
Top Blogs
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments are welcomed but please keep it PG rated.