I Give Up
Being in process…transition…the in-between space…growth or whatever you want to call it is such an odd place to find yourself. Being a fixer and a doer have caused me a bit of trouble when it comes to resting in God, trusting He is working. Thankfully I’m still growing and learning and I hope that you are too.
I’m learning rest has its place; as well as solitude, meditation and sitting at His feet in worship. In the quiet He often speaks. As I was in that very position this past week worshipping, He showed up so sweetly. I love His visits. What the Spirit of God imparted to me I felt I needed to pass on to those reading who need it also.
A song was playing that arrested my attention, New Wine by Hillsong. The lyrics say:
In the crushing, In the pressing, you are making new wine
In the soil I now surrender, you are breaking new ground
So, I yield to You into Your careful hand
When I trust You I don't need to understand
Make me Your vessel, make me an offering
Make me whatever You want me to be
I came here with nothing, but all You have given me
Jesus bring new wine out of me
Cause where there is new wine, there is new power
There is new freedom, And the Kingdom is here
I lay down my old flames, to carry Your new fire today
As I listened the Holy Spirit began to speak so strongly, a revelation of the surrender He is looking for washed over me. I felt consumed by this reality of letting go. God ultimately only wants one thing from us….US.
To give Him more of us means we get to keep less of us. Surrender is to relinquish possession or control of to another, to give over, to give up…
Each time we surrender another piece of ground to Him, he begins to break it up and turn it over to plant the new thing He wants us to produce; more of His character, His attributes, His ways that people can see when they look at us.
In that process new things come, new power, new freedom we hadn’t experienced yet. In being willing to lay something down, we are not giving up, only exchanging for something better.
I began to think how Jesus lived his life…a life devoted to surrender. He said in John 6:37, “I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.” He didn’t come with an agenda of his own. He came on mission to sacrifice himself for us. Nothing was about what he personally wanted. In the Garden we see him wrestle asking God to find another way. In the end He surrenders and accepts the way He must go…the way of the Cross. #selah
Surrender is taking up our own Cross and following Him. Letting Him have His way in us. This feels hard until we see the rewards of it…realizing how our own personal brokenness and surrender brings joy unspeakable and full of glory. Like Jesus, we never lose in surrender. We only gain.
I’m hearing Him say to the Church now…let it go. Leave it at my feet and let me do what I need to do in you. I love you. My ways may seem strange, they may be painful at times and hard to understand but as you surrender to Me, you will understand what I am doing is for your ultimate good and the good of My Kingdom. My ways are far above your comprehension. Let go…give in…give up…