Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him,and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
I knew a man named George who seemed to live such a blessed life and I have to admit, I was envious. Beautiful wife and kids, house, car. I thought that maybe he worked harder that I did. Maybe he had been in business longer than I had. There had to be a secret, something I was missing. I tried to figure it out -What was that thing that he had that I didn’t? They had the more, that picture perfect life, that I wanted.
Many years later (It takes a long time for me to figure things out.) I finally figured it out. It wasn’t because they were Christians and we weren’t, because we were. I think the difference maker was that they gave their life to Jesus. They didn’t just pray a prayer of salvation and moved on to live life on their terms. They genuinely chose to live life on God’s terms. They served, they spent time in devotion and prayer, they gave, they surrendered. And God blessed them abundantly – in every way!
This process of surrendering our will to His will isn’t easy. Following, really following Jesus means living life on God’s terms, not our own. It’s signing away our right to do what we want, when we want, stopping to ask God along the way what it is He wants. It’s saying yes to what is counterintuitive to our flesh and no to what seems right to us. How do we have the blessed life that is abundantly overflowing with blessings? The formula is simply put: Love God, Love people, surrender your will to His, serve Him as you serve others, and give so that others might live the abundant life they’ve always wanted.
God really does want us to live that life that is overflowing with abundance. He wants us to experience the joy of the life we’ve been given. It is the funniest thing, it is in the giving away of your life that God, in turn, fills it to the brim with the blessed life you’ve always wanted. I won’t say that this is easy, living a life surrendered to God. I can, without hesitation, tell you that it is totally worth it. In the storms, there is peace. Joy is experienced in the little things along the way and the blessed life we long to live comes as we witness lives changed because we’ve surrendered all we are for all that He is. Don’t wait as long as I did to figure it out. Your time is now! Step on to that straight path He has laid out for you and begin to experience your blessed life today!
You really can have it all, when you surrender your all for His all.
I pray that you get to experience the joy of God’s pleasure in your every day life as you surrender your will to His.
