Tag Archives: surrender

Everything We Have

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…any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:33, NIV*

This is the memory verse for Unit 8 in the Experiencing God Workbook (Henry Blackaby and Claude King), and it stopped me.

I kept trying to go on with the first lesson, but the verse pulled me back.

The NIV titles this section “The Cost of Being a Disciple” and the context is about recognizing the high cost to follow Jesus—and following Him anyway.

I’ve never taken this to mean a literal giving away of all my possessions, but more a call to “hold them loosely”: instead of clutching and saying “Mine!”, to share and above all to put God first. Not to make them idols.

Reading the verse this time, however, I realized Jesus isn’t just talking about things. Specifically what hit me was that He includes my time.

Time is something many of us guard jealously. A lot of it’s already spoken for, but what discretionary time there is, especially once I’ve made plans for it, is not to be messed with.

But God, as Henry Blackaby says elsewhere in the study, has the right to interrupt us. To redirect or redeploy us. I struggle with discernment to know whether it’s a distraction I should ignore or a redirection from God that I should heed.

This verse reminded me that the bigger struggle is to surrender my time to God when it’s clear He wants to redirect it. To serve Him willingly in the new place instead of begrudging how I’d planned to serve in the old place.

Father, Jesus is not only Saviour but Lord. I know Your way is best, but sometimes it’s so hard to let go. Please give me a willing heard, and help me follow and obey. Help me truly give up control of everything I have—including my time—because it’s all Yours, and You are good.

Robin Mark’s “All For Jesus” is a regular prayer of mine, and it certainly fits this week.

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

A Satisfied Soul

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Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits –
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:1-5, NIV*

In last week’s post, I was caught by the promise of forgiveness, healing, and rescue from the pit. They shaped my prayers, both for those who don’t yet know Jesus and for myself.

Later we had a beautiful snowfall, and I thought about how something will occasionally renew my sense of wonder. These same verses came back to mind.

I’ve praised and thanked God for forgiving all my sins and healing all my soul’s diseases. I’ve committed to Him any diseases I’ve nurtured or kept from Him, praying in trust and thankfulness that He wants to finish what He started. I thanked Him for rescuing my life from the pit.

In prayer for certain hurting people, I claimed the rest of the passage and prayed for renewal. For me, I thanked God without thinking about what it meant.

LORD, what does it mean to tell my soul You crown it with love and compassion?

That you satisfy its desires with good things so its youth is renewed?

What sort of things does a soul desire?

When something renews my sense of wonder, everything feels more alive. The world is brighter, my faith more vibrant. Hope glows, excitement and possibilities dance.

Father, please open my soul to be satisfied by the good things You provide: Your own presence with me, sunlight on icicles, a flight of birds. A rainbow. A good story. A miracle. Help me let You renew my soul’s youth… my innocence?

String these moments together to make a lasting change. Help me embrace them and renew my soul. Forgive me for how quickly I’ve forgotten and subsided under the daily stress. Help me let Your renewal glow within me, a holy light to warm and heal.

Oh, LORD, I praise You for Your mercies toward me – mercies You promise are new every morning. Let my soul not forget Your benefits, nor discount them as “only for others.”

I’m not being a bother or an inconvenience to accept these benefits from You. Instead, I’m actually blocking Your will if I don’t. Your love and grace initiated this, and my proper response is joyful acceptance.

And wonder.

Today’s song is “Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul“, sung here by Andrae Crouch and choir.

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Healing for the Soul

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Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits –
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:1-5, NIV*

King David is reminding his soul of all these benefits – not speaking to a group of people but to a single soul. Look at verse 4a: “redeems your life” is singular, not plural.

It’s safe to apply these verses to any and all souls belonging to God, not just David’s own. What strikes me today is how the context implies David isn’t listing the God’s benefits for all believers but for all believing souls.

I’d never seen this distinction between soul and body. Knowing the passage isn’t promising to reverse physical aging in verse 5 nor necessarily promising to satisfy all fleshly desires, I didn’t know how strongly to take verse 3’s promise of healing all diseases. But if this is all specifically promised for the soul, there’s a huge difference.

Forgiveness of all the soul’s sins – that’s fairly straightforward. Isn’t the soul the part sin kills? Some sins, such as inward rebellion, may even be specifically soul sins. Redemption language talks of our souls, once dead in sin, being made alive again.

Crowning a soul with love and compassion sounds like tender restoration. Renewal of youth sounds like rejuvenation of energy and wonder, maybe even of innocence. Reversal of the damage of sin.

Healing all diseases… what would be a disease of the soul, and how many might one soul have? Shame, self-deprecation, pride, fear…? God promises to heal them all in the same breath as promising to forgive all sins. Past, present, and future.

Shame and company are harder to get rid of at times than physical diseases. Praise God, He promises healing!

In this light, how can I pray for the people on my heart? How can I pray for myself? Father, lead and show me how to pray in faith for the souls of those You lay on my heart. Help me walk in faith that You are healing my own soul and finishing what You have begun. Thank You so much for the forgiveness, healing and renewal You give.

Today’s song is “By His Wounds,” sung by Mac Powell, Steven Curtis Chapman, Brian Littrell and Mark Hall on the Glory Revealed CD. This is an amazing video of Christian performance artist and speaker Mike Lewis painting as the song plays. 

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Taught by the LORD

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The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears,
and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back.
Isaiah 50:4-5 NIV*

Reading this, I feel something inside whisper this is how it should be: close to God, taught by Him, useful to others… to sustain the weary is a needed gift.

The end of verse 5, about not being rebellious and not drawing back, gives me a bit of a pause, but we do need to make the choice of His will or our own.

Then come verses 6 – 7:

I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
Isaiah 50:6-7 NIV*

This is Jesus, His suffering. What He voluntarily endured out of obedience and trust toward God the Father. For us.

He was not rebellious, and didn’t draw back, so we can be saved from our sin – and ourselves – and thrive in relationship with God today.

I don’t think I could face that level of obedience. I don’t even want to think about it. Rebellion, drawing back?

God calls us each to walk a different path with Him, and this hardest path He entrusted to His own Son. For all the martyrs and suffering saints in the world, there are others whose faith leads them in quiet and unremarkable lives.

But to be a Christ-follower is to face at least occasional opposition from those who oppose Him. Rejection and ridicule, however subtle, are part of the package. Nobody’s going to want to choose that.

Lord, help me choose You, for You have chosen me. Give me a hunger for You that won’t let me draw back or rebel against You. Help me want You more than I want self-protection. Help me trust You like Jesus, secure that the Sovereign Lord is my help.

I’d like to learn words to sustain the weary. And I’d love it if You’d wake me each morning and open my ears to Your teaching. Please give me an obedient and trusting heart. Because of Jesus, amen.

“Somewhere in the Middle,” from Casting Crowns‘ The Altar and the Door cd, talks about this struggle. But for this week’s song I chose the next one on that album, “I Know You’re There.” May the lyrics and melody be our prayer and help us to surrender in trust to our great God.

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.