Into Your Hands

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Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Luke 23:46

According to Luke, these are the last words spoken by Jesus right before He breathed His last breath on the cross.  What beautiful words to leave us with and what a humble picture of Jesus’ life on earth; He lived the ultimate example of a life surrendered to God’s will and not His own.  This, of course, was His purpose…but isn’t it ours too?

Surrender: to cease resistance and submit to authority, give up, hand over, abandon oneself entirely, give in to, yield, to agree to stop fighting, hiding, resisting; to give the control to someone else; to allow something to influence or control you

When we surrender to God, we ultimately are saying, “Yes, Lord, I TRUST YOU.”  The true Christian life is lived most full when it is lived surrendered, when it’s lived trusting in Him and His plan for our lives.  This doesn’t mean it will be easy, in fact, it pretty much means it will be hard.  Through circumstances He will continually be asking us if we trust Him.  Do you trust Me?  Do you love Me?  Do you know that I LOVE YOU and can help you live this life free and full of grace, forgiveness and wholeness?

God’s intent for us is to not only to love Him but to trust Him.  There’s the kicker- that trust word.  Sometimes we have an easier time trusting our own ways or friend’s ways than the ways of the Bottom Line (HIS way), and that requires surrendering our spirit into His hands.

So picture yourself, your spirit, your body, your will, your soul and mind in His hands…it’s comforting isn’t it?  There’s not a safer place to live than in His hands.  Fully committed, surrendered, yielding to the work He has for us here, the plan He has laid out specifically just for each one of us.  What an honor to be chosen by God to fulfill His purposes and further His kingdom.  But how often we miss it…let’s not miss it any longer.  Let’s commit our spirits, our wills, and our lives to the ONE who died for us. He will guide and direct us.  He will lead and comfort us.  He will if we will let Him.

The mark of our salvation for those who trust and believe was His blood shed on a wooden cross, the mark of our sanctification and growth is the continual release of entrusting our spirit to Him.  Surrendering, yielding, trusting and believing.  Daily, hourly, momently.

Oh I feel the struggle, though, do you?  Yielding to His will isn’t always the easiest road.  Our flesh often tells us differently, and the norms of society certainly goes against how the Bible instructs us to live.  BUT, our surrender to Him is for our benefit and His glory; our gain, not our loss.  He is in it for US!  Let’s trust Him today and commit our spirits into His mighty, faithful and loving hands.  They are big enough for all of us, thank you, Jesus!

Every day, surrender.  His will, not ours.

Every day, trust, for He is oh so faithful to provide everything we need if we will only commit ourselves to Him.

Father, into your hands, we commit our spirits.  Amen.

Now go.  Go in faith and live like never before.

The Lord Delights

“The Lord delights in those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His unfailing love.” Psalm 147:11

I woke up one day with this verse on my heart so I dug into it.  Let’s break it apart to digest how beautiful it truly is.

“The Lord delights…”

This means He takes great pleasure in, revels in, adores, rejoices, desires and one definition even says “becomes great friends”.  I love that!  Oh to be not just a friend but a great friend of the most High!  Sign me up for that!

“…those who fear Him…”

The way the word fear is used here, and many other times throughout the Bible, is in reference to “awe, awesome, a proper attitude of awe or respect with/towards God, total allegiance with God, to be a faithful follower and worshiper.”  Trust is also a huge aspect in this healthy fear.  The Bible talks of how this fear of the Lord is a foundation of wisdom and knowledge; it leads to life, security, protection and is a life-giving fountain (um yes please!).

While the word fear in this verse isn’t defined by being afraid, it does make me think of when we are afraid and what happens to us. We normally tremble or shake, right?  Often (and so frequently in the movies!) our mouths are open and we scream, right?  Sometimes we cower down on our knees or faces, sometimes we throw our hands up in surrender.  Ok, those might be a little dramatic but I do find the similarities so interesting.  This fear we are to have of the Lord may occasionally produce some of the same bodily symptoms of being afraid (trembling, mouth open, hands up surrendered), it’s a completely different fear and so amazing.

Think about the last time you were in awe of something…maybe it was an encounter with Jesus, maybe it was a sunset, maybe you have just looked into the eyes of a baby you have been praying for…this awe, this beautiful sense of astounding amazement is how the Lord wants us to view Him.  He is enthralled with us, His creation…are we truly in awe of Him?  He desires our honor, worship, friendship and trust so we can be used for His glory…do we truly fear Him?

“…hope in His unfailing love.”

This just makes me think of Jesus and points me right back to good old John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”  The fact that Jesus is our hope and the most significant source of God’s love for us puts me in awe.  In awe of God for His soveringty, in awe of Jesus for who He was and His sacrifice for our salvation.  HE is our hope, our belief, our promise, our Savior…God’s love for us is not only on the cross but all over this earth and the people in it.  It’s in the tomb where Jesus was resurrected, in the pages of Scripture, in our souls, and abundantly in Heaven where we will see Him face to face.  Talk about awe (mouth open for sure here, right!?)!

“The Lord delights in those who fear Him, those who hope in His unfailing love.”

Today, let’s pray that we see God’s awesomeness in everything; it’s there you know, in everything.  I pray that we sense Him drawing us in, turning our faces towards His.  Look up, in awe of the one true God who loves you more than you can imagine.  Thank Him, trust Him, seek Him, love Him, delight in Him as HE delights in you. 🙂

Let Me Be Singing

 

GetAttachmentThe sun comes up it’s a new day dawning

It’s time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing when the evening comes

How often I wake up singing but by the end of the day I am doing the total opposite…ever been there?  I get tired, so much can happen in the course of one day, children disobey and there is always so much to be done.  In fact, I find the evening one of the hardest times to be “singing”, but it’s often when I need it the most.

“Sing a new song to the Lord! Let the whole earth sing to the Lord!” Psalm 96:1

This “singing” that we do is simple, but easy to forget when times are difficult.  It’s praising Him.  It might even be praying to Him, serving Him (or others), worshipping Him, abiding in Him, etc…

My Nana used to say how “it’s hard to think bad thoughts when you are singing a happy tune.”  And it’s true!  Sometimes if I am feeling a lull or sense a bad attitude creeping in during the day, I will turn on some Christian music…it takes the blues away, turns my heart to God and is an awesome way to worship and praise Him (why can’t I remember to do this at night too?!).

Whatever may pass…whatever lies before me…

There is always something to praise Him for – may we never cease – even and especially in the hard times.

Let me be singing (praising, praying, serving, worshiping, loving, add your own word, etc…) when the evening comes.

Make the choice to sing today.  A life of faith is a marathon and not a sprint; we run it with endurance…singing one day at a time (or hour, or moment).  So let’s run our race for today with endurance, from sun up to sun down run at a pace worthy of our calling, keeping our eyes on Jesus and we WILL be singing when the evening comes. 🙂

Oh yes, Lord, may we keep our hearts so in tune with yours that we never stop singing.  Give us a new song for today along with new mercies and new love for others.  May we be singing Your song all day long and well into the evening.  You hold today in Your hands, know the plans and oh how You love us when we are singing and even when we aren’t.  Thank you for Your grace in each moment and area of our lives.  May we never stop singing to You! 

Click here to listen to 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman