Your Heart is Deceitful

-


Someone today is struggling to understand why things aren’t going the way they thought they would. You’ve done all you know how to do to make it right, and you continue to be disappointed.

Trust me when I say, your plans are not the best ones.

I’ve learned that when I try to go ahead of the Lord and “fix” things the way I think they should be, I tend to mess them up. In the past, I have even tried to fix people, thinking I know what’s best for them and their place in my life. But I’ve learned that only God can do that. As hard as it can be, our job is to love people. His job is to do the fixing. 

The world tells us to fight for our rights, follow our hearts, speak our truth. But Exodus 14:14 says, “The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” Oh, that’s hard! Stay calm? Follow His word? Bite my tongue? That’s the opposite of what I want to do. But if I say that I trust Him and acknowledge that the Lord’s ways are higher than mine, I will be obedient. 

This world is a mess, and things are not working well in our current mode of operation. Not much has worked according to our own plans. So how about we look to the One whose ways are higher than ours?

Today I encourage you to do something that may feel really uncomfortable at first. It’s almost hard for me to say it because I know it might make you uncomfortable. But, God did not call us to lead a comfortable life. So here it goes; 

Surrender.

Yeah. That word. It’s not something most of us are used to doing, but I promise that when you surrender to the Lord and His will, you will find freedom like you’ve never felt before. The angst and the pressure you feel will begin to disappear, and hope and trust will become clear and attainable. 

What is He asking you to surrender today?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should Someone Call an Exorcist?

-
Image
Last Friday I went bowling with some of my family. I am aware of my low skill level, so I remained humble throughout the first game, and surprisingly finished in 1st place!  The second game began and I just knew I would dominate even more. I may not have been quite as humble. I was last on the list to go. I stood up and approached my ball with confidence. I picked it up, set my eye on the center arrow painted on the lane, then took a few quick steps forward just as I had before.  As I took my last step, I swung my arm backward, then forward, and fell flat on my face. Actually, flat is not entirely accurate. I’m pretty sure every one of my limbs flew in a different direction, and the position of my head may have had folks wondering if they should call an exorcist. I also seemed to be temporarily blinded from the fall but could hear my ball bouncing its way down the lane. Let’s pause for a moment of prayer. The problem was that I had stepped over the foul line into the lane— 1. Not reali
Read more

The Complexity of Prayer

-
Image
Have you ever considered the complexity of prayer? Have you ever had something you needed to pray about, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to talk to God about whatever the issue was? I have experienced that many times. I will call it “Prayer paralysis.” Prayer paralysis happens when you are afraid of any answer God might give you. If He says no, then you might feel bad, or sad, or even angry. If He says yes, then your fear factor increases because you just don’t think you can handle what a “Yes” entails (which essentially means that you don’t trust Him). So instead of revealing your lack of trust (Like seriously, you don’t think He knows? ), you just don’t pray. It’s kind of like when you were a little kid, and you would sit still and close your eyes, thinking that it would make you invisible. God already knows our fears of failure, self-pride, and even our trust issues, so we might as well just go ahead and lay it all at His feet. There’s another kind of prayer paralysis that I ha
Read more

Go Deeper

-
Image
  Anyone struggling with anxiety? I have struggled with it quite a bit. Then, I realize that forgetting to bring all of my anxiety-inducing problems to God, is a big part of the problem. Yesterday I talked about living in endurance mode. Part of that is taking all of the difficult things, and trying to wait them out.  If I really think about it, I may have subconsciously believed that struggling is just part of the journey and that I need to suck it up, because Jesus went through way more than I ever will.    But, “ Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)  He never intended for us to hold onto them. Sometimes we don’t bother saying anything to God because, well, He knows what’s happening. He can change it if He wants to. So we sit paralyzed—enduring! Is that familiar to anyone? Though He could whisk our struggles away at any time, part of the journey, part of our relationship with the Creator is rooted in commu
Read more