Daily Dwelling

Does anybody else struggle with the desire to control every aspect of their life? For me personally, throughout my life many people have broken my trust. As a result I have this deep desire to just do things myself because I know that I am faithful and will measure up to my expectation. Maybe for you you’re extremely type A and a natural planner who finds rest in knowing what’s to come. Whatever your reason may be for gripping on to control, it contradicts what is expected of us in our walk with Christ.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” All throughout scripture, God encourages us to let go of what we think is right, what we want, and follow Him. Sacrifice is hard. It seems so simply put in scripture, but when applied to our life, it seems impossible.

I have found that in my attempt to grow in the spiritual discipline of surrender, these three things have helped abundantly. I pray that they may also help you.

The first is simple, we must trust God. In 1 Corinthians 12:9, the gift of faith is mentioned. I believe some people are born with the natural ability to trust the Lord. In every circumstance they are able to remind themselves in sober mind, what is true about God and what that means for the outcome of that season. My husband is one of these people and I thank God that He gifted me with a lifelong partner that embodies something I cannot understand. I believe our faith is a muscle. For some of us, that muscle needs more work! That doesn’t mean that our belief in God is not as strong or that we are not as passionate of followers. It usually means that there have been circumstances throughout our life that have made it difficult to trust easily.

So how can we grow our trust in God? We have to get to know Him more! We cannot trust someone we do not know and we cannot trust what God believes or says about us if we do not know it. We must read His word. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that His word is alive and active! The word was given to us and is spoken directly from God. To learn His voice we must read His word. We also have to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5). What would it look like for you to go throughout your day talking to God? We have the ability to talk to the Almighty God and we often only do it in bed before we go to sleep! What a missed opportunity.

Not only should we trust God in order to let go of control but we must also choose daily obedience. Denying ourselves and taking up our cross to follow the Lord is a choice that we must make everyday. For most of my years walking with the Lord, I have done so under the belief that to be better I must try harder. It wasn’t until the past year or so that God has re-written this for me. To be better (to look and act more like Jesus), I must give the Holy Spirit control and try less. When we try, we will fail. When the Holy Spirit is in full control, we will never fail. What is your struggle when it comes to obeying the Lord? My tongue is a huge struggle for me. I grew up in an environment where we were allowed to communicate everything we felt at all times. I am grateful that my parents raised me in an environment that supported me expressing my heart, passions, and beliefs. However, learning how to submit those expressions to the Lord has been extremely difficult for me. I have to choose in every conversation and interaction to submit my thoughts unto the Spirit. If I fail to do so, my flesh comes through instead and it normally does not come off well intended. Whatever your struggle is, submit it under the authority of the Lord and see how He altars it in front of your eyes!

Lastly, we have to recognize that when God places obstacles or detours in our path, it is always for our good and His glory. I think of crushed dreams. Dreaming is a beautiful thing, but when those dreams become a reality in our mind and they end up not aligning with God’s will, we will oftentimes blame God. Every time God has crushed my dreams, He always knew better. When Logan and I first got married we were praying through where we should live. We had a choice between North Carolina (where Logan attended seminary) and Florida (an opportunity to work at my hometown church and attend seminary online). I remember praying with a dream in mind of living in North Carolina. There were seasons, mountains and an opportunity to start our marriage with just us two! We prayed and God closed every job opportunity we had in North Carolina and classes were going to be online for Logan regardless because of covid. Opportunities started flowing open in Florida and we ended up moving there and working at my home church. It ended up being two of the hardest years of ministry. But God was preparing us and He knew that when He moved us there. I truly believe that if we hadn’t had those two years of ministry to start us off in our callings, we wouldn’t be able to lead the way that we are now. God knew better and He always does.

As we continue to learn how to get out of God’s way, may we do so with joy and expectation for all God will do in our hearts and in our lives.