I was in prayer "on the mountain" this morning, and my spirit was filled with so much gratitude for God. I began singing two songs. The first song was "In Your Will" by Men of Standard. It's an old song, but it rose up in my spirit because all I want in this season and in my life is to be in the will of God. I, then, moved on to sing "I Give Myself Away" by William McDowell. That song is about surrending to the Lord, so He can use you. This is where my heart posture is, and God told me to teach the people to do the same.
Jesus says in Matthew 10:39. "If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it. (NLT). Let's dig deep into this concept. Of course, this scripture can refer to salvation. When you give your life to Jesus, you now have eternal life, meaning when you die on earth, your spirit will live forever with Jesus in Heaven. However, this scripture is deeper than salvation because there are people who are saved and proclaim Christianity, however, they are still clinging to to their lives.
When Jesus chose His disciples, they dropped everything to follow Him. Don't believe me? Let's look at scripture to back this statement up. Matthew 9 states, "As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth. 'Follow me and be my disciple,' Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him." Isn't it amazing how Matthew asked no questions? He just got up and followed Jesus.
Let's look at another example. In Matthew 4 after the testing and launching of His ministry, Jesus chose His first set of disciples. Matthew 4:18-20 states, "One day as Jesus was walking along a shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers--Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew--throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, 'Come follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!' And they left their nets at once and followed him." Again, you see people dropping everything, asking no questions, and following Jesus.
Let's keep reading a little further. "A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too. They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind." Wow. This one amazes me the most because John and James were willing to leave their father behind--on a boat--to follow Jesus. They left their dad on a whole boat! OK! Do you see where I am going with this?
If you are reading this blog post, Jesus has chosen you. He's saying, "Come." However, He is looking for you to immediately obey. Immediately obeying means being willing to leave everything behind--not making any pitstops back home to get something. We see this concept further illustrated in Matthew 8. A religious teacher (not one of the disciples) asked to follow Him. (At this point, Jesus was really popular around town for the miracles and large crowds he drew). The religious teacher said, first, let me return home to bury my father. Check out Jesus's response, "Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead." Jesus was like nah bruh. You see there's an urgency and level of obedience required to follow Jesus. When Jesus chooses you, He needs you fully surrendered and committed. Why? Because the work is great! The work requires you to be yeiled to Him and in His presence at all times. The mantle is too heavy for you to be half-stepping. The need of the people is too strong for you to be half-committed. There are too many people on the pathway to Hell for you to not take this call seriously. The devil is too busy stealing, killing, and destroying for you to not give God your all.
God is looking for fully surrendered disciples in this season. Some of us think we are, but if you really examine your heart, you may find some things you are not willing to let go of. Understand that God may not ask you to let it go, but you have to be willing to let it go. Are you willing to let your pride go? Are you willing to look foolish for a season for the Gospel sake? Are you willing to let that bad relationship go? Are you willing to let go of your fleshly desires? I love wine, but I cannot drink it in this season. God is requiring me to be fully consecrated because He is birthing a ministry out of me. How can I be prepared for what's coming while drunk off wine? How can I hear from Him clearly when I have a buzz? I love R&B, but how can I hear from God and align my desires and will to His while listening to music that gratify my flesh and contradict His will? If God is telling me to leave a relationship, but I'm listening to love songs, how is that helping me? Those songs are going to cause me to reminisce on the good things from that relationship, which may tempt me to stay. We have to lay off the excuses and the "buts" (But why can't I listen to this? But what's wrong with this?) Those very excuses are what's keeping us bound. Who cares why God said give it up? Just love and trust Him enough to do it. What He can give you is truly much better than anything the world can give you.
My prayer is that you all read this post from a spiritual standpoint and not from a religious standpoint. God is not religious believe it or not. I am not religious. God is not calling you to give up things because He loves making weird and unrealistic rules. He's not desiring you to earn your way into Heaven. Salvation is a gift, not a reward. It comes from simply accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. So when I am saying let go of things, I am not saying that these are rules to being saved. Honestly, you can be a Christian and do those things listed above. However, being a Christian doesn't necessarily mean you are in His perfect will. You can be a Christian and be outside of His will, and that's a dangerous and costly place to be. Everything God tells us to do is for a reason--a reason that serves a purpose in our lives. Understand that God knows everything and, because He does, He understand how these things He is telling you to let go of will entrap you. Trust God. Trust God to the point where you are ready and wiling to lay everything at His feet, including yourself. Romans 12:1 tells us to present our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice. You are here for a purpose--God's purpose--therefore, give your life back to Him for Him to use as He desires. God wants to use you to touch lives, but He can't fully use you like He wants to use you if you're not fully committed--if your heart is still halfway with the world--if there are still things in your life competing with God. What's competing with God in your life? Take time to think about it, repent, and surrender it to Him.
Let me give you a key--a key to unlock doors of favor and power. A surrendered life of worship and obedience. That's it. That's the key. Yes, salvation is free. Yes, we are saved by grace and not works. But you want some true favor in your life--you want to see God's power demonstrated in your life--truly surrender your life to Him. Be like Mary (the mother of Jesus) and say, "Be it unto me according to your will." Mary was a lot like Jesus's disciples. She asked no questions when the angel of the Lord told her that she would conceived through the Holy Spirit. Her response was simply, "Be it unto me according to your will." In other words, she was saying yes--your will be done, Lord. She fully submitted to God. That type of faith and trust in God grabs His attention. Those are the people God uses because He knows there are no limits to what He can do through them. Those are the people you see with the great spiritual gifts. Those are the people the enemy is afraid of. Those are the people who are true world changers. Those are the people who make a lasting impact in this world. Those are the people we read about in history books and in the Bible with books named after them. The people who aren't afraid to let some things go, to lay down their lives for God, and follow Him. That's what it means to be a vessel. Don't claim to be a vessel if you're not fully willing to let Him use you as He wishes. Don't get me wrong, it's not easy. You may find yourself in some uncomfortable situations. There may be things you have to say yes to that you don't want to say yes to. There may be things you have to say no to that you don't want to say no to. There may be times where you just want to chill and relax with family, but God puts you on an assignment. Saying yes is costly. However, saying no is just as costly, if not more costly. Saying no to God is very costly because people's salvation is at stake. The people who you are called to witness to lives are at stake when you say no to God. Shoot--your life is at stake. What purpose do you have on earth if you're not doing the will of God? He's keeping you here to fulfill a call. Saying no is too risky.
My prayer is that you answer the call and fully surrender to it. I pray that you see the beauty in saying yes to God. I pray that you reap the joy, favor, power, and blessings from saying yes to God. I pray that you gain so much more than you gave up. The reward that awaits you is so much bigger than the sacrifices you've made. It's not in vain.
Being in his perfect will is the safetest place to be...
Go ahead and fully surrender today. You won't regret it.
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