Give It Up 😌
🌿 Memory Verse: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." ~ Matthew 16:24
One of the first people that comes to mind when I think about surrender is Abraham.
Imagine spending your entire life in a place that is familiar to you. Your family, your home, your surroundings, and everything you have ever known are there. Then one day, God tells you to leave it all behind and go to a land that He will show you. That is exactly what God asked Abraham to do.
In Genesis 12:1, God said to him, "Go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land I will show you." God did not give Abraham the entire plan. He simply told him to go. And Abraham went. He had to leave what was familiar and step into something he had never seen before. He had to give up his sense of security and trust that God's plan was superior to what he was leaving behind, and this makes me think about how easily our comfort can become a limitation to our faith. If Abraham had decided that he was too comfortable to leave, he would have remained where he was. It was his home and was familiar. He knew what to expect there. But if he had never left, he would never have experienced the journey God had prepared for him. He would not have experienced God's faithfulness in the same way. He would not have reached the point where his faith was tested and strengthened through waiting for the promised son, Isaac. His relationship with God grew through the very process of trusting Him and giving up what was familiar.
We cannot allow our comfort to keep our faith from going deeper.
Jesus Himself demonstrated complete surrender.
Throughout His ministry, Jesus called people to leave behind what was familiar and follow Him. His disciples left their jobs, possessions, families, and the lives they had known to follow Jesus. They did not have the entire journey mapped out for them. They simply chose to trust the One who was calling them, and Jesus Himself ultimately surrendered His own will to the Father. In the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing what was ahead of Him, He prayed, "Not my will, but yours, be done" (Luke 22:42).
That was a heart of surrender.
Sometimes God asks us to give up something we have become comfortable with. It may be a relationship, a plan, a habit, a desire, a dream, or even our idea of how our lives should look. And sometimes the hardest part is that we do not know what comes next. But surrender is not about having the whole picture; it is about trusting the One who does. Abraham did not know where he was going, but he knew who was leading him. The disciples did not know everything that would happen, but they chose to follow Jesus. And Jesus knew exactly what awaited Him at the cross, yet He still chose the Father's will.
As believers, this same principle applies to the way we serve God. Following Christ is not only about what we receive from Him; it is also about what we are willing to surrender to Him. When it comes to serving in God's house, we sometimes have to give up our comfort, our time, our plans, and even our preferences. There will be times when we would rather stay home, rest, do something else, or simply choose what is convenient for us. But when God calls us to serve, we should be willing to make sacrifices for His Kingdom.
Conclusion 💜
Maybe God is asking you to give something up today. It might be your comfort, your plans, or maybe your need for control. Whatever it is, remember that surrender is not always about losing something. Sometimes, giving it up is how God leads us into something deeper with Him. Sometimes, we have to give it up before we can experience what God has prepared for us.
NB: This journey can be really lonely, especially when the people you hold dear withdraw themselves from you
I was listening to a song randomly about an hour ago and it inspired this blog. 😅
Give It Up by Cejae
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