I Surrender All …
“I Surrender All.” It has to become more than words. Words are meaningless, if all we are trying to do is impress those around us. It is easy to impress those around us, yet it is the Lord who sees the motives of our hearts. We can fool ourselves, fool others, but we cannot fool the Lord.
Read what 1 Samuel 16:7 says;
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7 NLT)
Our True Alliance
This is going to be a sobering year where our hearts will be exposed as to our true alliance. When God shines His light in the center of our hearts we will be left without an excuse as to what He has revealed to us. We cannot be friends with the world, and God. If we are friends with the world, we are in-fact enemies of God.
When we oppose the purposes and plans of God, we become a tool in the hands of the enemy. When we operate in lawlessness, we become disobedient, and out of that, rebellion is formed within our hearts towards God. Our “True Alliance” will be seen clearly by the fruit we bare.
Read what Isaiah 29:13-14 says;
The Master said: “These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their hearts aren’t in it. Because they act like they’re worshiping me but don’t mean it, I’m going to step in and shock them awake, astonish them, stand them on their ears. The wise ones who had it all figured out will be exposed as fools. The smart people who thought they knew everything will turn out to know nothing.” (Isaiah 29:13-14 MSG)
A Teachable Pliable Heart
This is a sobering message that we need to take to heart. When the Lord’s light shines forth, we need to repent and turn back towards God, not away from Him. We need to come to the Lord with open hands allowing Him the ability to do as He sees fit. Are hearts need to be pliable so that we are able to receive His instructions. Our hearts cry should be this.
Read what Psalms 139:23-24 says;
Please God, look deep inside me. See what is there in my thoughts. 24 Show me if I am following any evil way. Lead me in the right way that has always been true. (Psalms 139:22-24 EASY)
Everything that God does in our lives holds a purpose. Our part is to co-labor with Him. Working with Him, not against Him, towards the things that He desires. We do not hold a correct view ever of what needs to be established in our lives, so that we are able to advance without shrinking back when the times in which we live become uncertain. Only God can see the preparation that is required.
Attention Required
The bible is very clear, where and what is heading towards us. Our part is to pay attention to the details that we are receiving, and instead of fighting it, embrace it.
Read what 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 says;
8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:8-10 NLT)
We were designed to be taught by the Lord, and then with what we have been given, deliver the same insight to others. Life is not about us. This is where we become so entangled. We only see our lives and forget this crucial point. Our lives need to be poured out into other lives, and then teaching them to do the same. You cannot teach what you yourself have not been willing to under-go.
The Hour at Hand
The hour of preparation is upon us. The quest is this. Have you allowed yourself to be prepared? Are you preparing others for the very same things that you have been taught? The bible says that to whom much is given, much is required. “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.” What ever we have been blessed with, we are required to take what we have received and use it to glorify God.
Read what Romans 13:11 says;
This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11 NLT)
When God entrusts us, we will do well when we have received, to take what we have been given, and be faithful. When the Lord returns will He find us faithfully using what we have been given, or are we those who do not value that in which we have received? Think this through as you examine your own life. “Are You Faithful.”
The Power of a Promise
Those that seek me this year with all their hearts will find Me. This is not just a statement it is a promise. If we seek, we will find. We all have heard it, but do we believe it? Have we ever put it to the test? The Lord is litterly saying that if we seek Him this year, and be intentional about how we seek … we will find Him.
Read what Jeremiah 29:13 says;
You will seek Me and find Me, when you will search for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13 TLV)
Can you not catch the weight of what He is saying? There is an underlined statement that He is making that we need to take hold of. There is a hiddenness within the statement that He just made. “Those that seek me this year with all their hearts will find Me.”
We are invited to once again turn away from those things that do not hold value, and turn to what does. The invitation is for those who will passionately seek Him. The Lord is looking for those who will become desperate in their pursuit. Where they will not stop until they have required what they set out to accomplish. These are the ones who will receive what has been promised.
God is a Promise Keeper
When God sets the year to a promise it means way more that what we can understand on the surface. We need to dive into the deeper meaning of what is being said. There are times and seasons where we catch hold of a tiny piece, that when embraced, and searched-out, becomes the “Great Adventure.”
Read what Proverbs 25:2 says;
‘God conceals the revelation of his word in the hiding place of his glory. But the honor of kings is revealed by how they thoroughly search out the deeper meaning of all that God says. (Proverbs 25:2 TPT)
To the measure that we are willing to invest into searching it out will determine the outcome on the promise. We are being given incite, we are being provoked into action. The only thing that is standing in the way, is doubt and unbelief.
Catch The Wind
This is a moment that can never be relived. It is a moment where we will either catch the wind of His Spirit and set our sails according to it, or we will always be left in wonder as to what we never received. What we left behind.
If we do not take moments like this seriously, then we fail to take hold of the very thing that potentially will break us forth. We become unstoppable because of what He desires to do through us. Our part is to Ask-Seek-Knock until we attain the very thing that He desires to have released unto us.
We are being invited by The King of Kings to embark with Him, on an adventure that starts right now. Not next week, not next month, nor the years in the future. This is a Rema word that will be fulfilled within the span of the year ahead. Set your sail, the wind is starting to blow. The winds of change are before us.
The prophet Isaiah wrote, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6). The Lord told Jeremiah, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). Amos, another messenger from God wrote, “Seek the Lord that you may live” (Amos 5:6)
This will be remembered as the year where victories were won and lost, at how well we listened to the call that was being set before us.
Face-to-Face-Friendship
God spoke with Moses face-to-face as a friend. How bad do we want this type of relationship with God? A Moment of Visitation designed by God, for God. Moses met with God daily and they were friends. A divine moment in time comes when God decides that it is time. It is a Kairos moment that has been established to the Lord’s timetable of events, that transpires in our lives. Our part is to make ourselves ready. We need to have an expectancy, and a heart that seeks God with the intention of finding God.
Read what Psalms 27:8 TLB) says;
My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me, O my people.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” (Psalms 27:8 TLB)
Do we hold this level of desperation? David says these words that speak of this very thing: Oh, do not hide yourself when I am trying to find you. He determined in his heart that he would not stop the pursuit, rather increase it. Do we hold this same measure of conviction within our own hearts, in our pursuit in the relationship that we have with the Lord?
Half-Hearted Approach
We cannot come to God with a half-hearted approach and expect to receive. When we come, we must have settled it in our own hearts that what ever it is going to take we are going to invest what is required. Only then can we expect to receive. When we seek the Lord, it is a clear picture that we are in-fact acknowledging that we need His intervention in our lives.
His plans for our lives require this very thing. We cannot expect to sidestep it thinking that God will over look our lack of interest. We fail without His strength, and effort on our behalf. We need to be intentional with our efforts, where we look for ways to cooperate with what His Spirit is requiring.
Seek the Lord and His strength; yearn for and seek His face and to be in His presence continually! (1 Chronicles 16:11 AMPC)
Obedience
It is here where we enter into the struggle of obedience. Yet if you are looking to please the Lord it starts here. It is His love language … one word says it all “Obedience.” Most of the break-throughs that we require hinge on our obedience. It is this very thing that brings us to a breaking point where break-through happens because of it.
Read what James 1:22 says;
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1:22 NIV)
A life that walks in the blessing of God I guarantee you it is a surrendered life. Fulfillment comes only out of a life that is walking in the fulness of the blessing, and understands the importance of being obedient to the Lord and His word. When the Lord shows up it will always leave you surprized. You will not have seen it coming. Ready or not here He is. Only He can preplan these moments that leave us in awe, and wonder.
A Close Pursuit
When we in our desperation seek, we find. It requires a close pursuit of what we are after. It requires an intensity followed hard after in prayer. There needs to be an earnestness that boarders on desperation. Then we will receive, then we will hear, then we will see. It all happens out of this relationship where we are not seeking His hand, instead we are seeking His face.
Listen to what Jeremiah 33:3 says;
‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you and even show you great and mighty things, things which have been confined and hidden, which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.’ (Jeremiah 33:3 AMP)
Devine revelation only come when God reveals what is inaccessible, hidden and confined in darkness. One cannot have victory in spiritual warfare without attaining it. The promise comes when we “Call Upon Him.” Not only are we told that we would receive an answer, but we would be shown what we were in-fact unable to see.
It is impossible to pray effectively without His insight as to how we should pray. Only God can truly reveal those areas that we are to seek after in prayer.
As we press forward and watch this year start to unfold, it is like a scroll that is being opened. As we embrace all that we are unable to see, we will be given insight as to what is unfolding before our very eyes.
Nothing can stop us when we position our hearts to become surrendered, no matter the cost. Think this through. Your name has tasks assigned to it that were set into motion before you were born. The question remains will you position your life, and allow God to do as He wishes with you? Your life was meant to make a difference in all those who you meet.
This is a year where there is a momentum that has already begun months ago. It is designed to hit the trail hard and fast. We are not on the defense we are on the offence. We advance when we listen and obey, what we are instructed to do.
