Trying to control life puts
a tremendous amount of pressure on us. We strive for perfection and insist on
everyone around us doing so as well. We suffer mentally, emotionally and
physically because we try to hold everything together by our own self-effort.
We carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. We think that it is up to us
to keep us and our loved ones safe.
This launches us into a lifestyle of
controlling.
Our
dependency on anything other than God - addictions, people, places, jobs,
things, pets, etc - puts us into bondage to them. When we are overly attached
to these things, we give them permission to brandish inordinate power over our
life. Every person who ever lived has some form of dysfunction. There are no
perfect human beings; that also means that there are no perfect parents and no
perfect children. Jesus Christ holds the patent on perfection.
Surrender is the doorway to
freedom. It is a state of brokenness, of total dependence upon God, of
receiving God’s forgiveness and of having a personal, daily relationship with
our living Lord Jesus Christ. When we surrender to God, we say, “Go ahead,
Lord, and have Your way with me.” We allow Him to break our pride and our
self-reliance. We put our life into His capable hands. Then, He recreates us
into the person He intends for us to be, free of emotional pain and shame and
equipped to serve Him in His chosen ministry for us.
We cannot change people or
circumstances, but God can. The key to surrender is to believe that the power
of God can truly overcome any person or circumstance in our life. We also give
His Spirit permission to replace our negative characteristics with His Fruit
during the process of Sanctification (Galatians 5:22-23). Then, He reveals our faulty beliefs to us one at a
time and produces
in us both the desire and the ability to do what pleases Him (Philippians
2:13).
“Dying to self” (Matthew
16:24) does not mean to diminish our God
given identity, personality, needs or giftedness. It is simply allowing God to
replace our old, carnal sinful nature with His Godly nature. We surrender our
will to God, in order for Him to direct us according to His will (Titus
3:3-7; Romans 6:6; Galatians 2: 20; 2 Corinthians 12: 9). We echo Jesus’ prayer,
"Father, …not My will, but Yours be done" (Luke
22:42).
Prayer:
Lord
Jesus, we are the strongest when we are weak (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). When we stop trying to
control life and give You control of our life instead, we allow You to provide
for and to protect us. Your mighty power starts working in and through us, and
You accomplish infinitely more than we could ever ask or think (Ephesians
3: 20). Life is
chaotic when “self” is on the throne, directing us. However, our life is
peaceful and calm when You are on the throne. Help us to daily take up our
cross and surrender our life to You.
Thought
for the Day:
We live and walk in true serenity, if Jesus is
on the throne of our life.
