I have a word for you today. Like, literally, a word. One word that when I heard it it stopped me in my tracks. I have a feeling it will do the same to you. Are you ready? Here’s the word:
RESURRENDER
Yes, resurrender. It’s releasing once again what you have taken back.
What is it in your life that you once gave to God? You surrendered your life to him. You surrendered control. You surrendered the outcome. You trusted him with this (this specific area of your life), but somewhere along the way, you took it back.
Now, here you are holding it in your own hands again. Worrying over it. Stressing over it. Trying to control it. Concocting your own plans of how to force it to go as you wish. And in the process, you’ve made a mess, huh?
God is asking you for a resurrender. Give it back to him once again. Whatever it is you once trusted him with, then ended up taking it back for yourself, resurrender it now. I know this much for sure, God can do a much better job with this than you can on your own.
For my single ladies, why are you trying to force that relationship? Remember when you once surrendered your love life and dating to God? Remember how you said you didn’t want him if he wasn’t God’s best for you? Now you’re stalking that boy online, looking completely ridiculous as you fish around for compliments, trying to fan flames God put out. You’ve taken it back! God is asking for a resurrender again.
But this isn’t just about dating, this is about your finances. This is about your dreams, hopes, plans and goals. This is about what is working and what isn’t working. This is about your marriage. This is about your kids. This is about school and your career. This is about the first hour of your day. This is about the music in your car. This is about your weekends. This is about your drinking and your eating.
Have I hit your area yet?
Yes, the specific area of your life that you once surrendered to God, but now, you’ve taken it back. And, if you’re being honest, you haven’t done real well with it in your hands. You started out okay, but dang you’ve gotten off course. You’ve drifted. Now you’re over here shipwrecked on some deserted island, longing for the days when you were letting God navigate. Yeah, you took back control, you did it your way, and look where that has landed you.
Now, here’s the good news, God has always, always, always been waiting for you to turn back towards him.
One of my favorite stories in the entire bible is the story of the Prodigal son. It’s my favorite for many reasons, especially if you know the story of our family for the past 5 years. This one little story in the bible, just a few short paragraphs in length, has been a continual guide for my broken heart, my creatively negative imagination, and my anger that would only make things worse. This story has taught me grace and forgiveness from the parent’s position, but you see, I’m not only the parent in the story, I’m also the wayward child. The child who has taken something and made a mess of it. The child who’s father has never given up on their resurrender.
Let’s read the story again, looking for the resurrender and the Father’s response.
Luke 15: 11-24, Jesus tells the story:
“There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandere...