Everything means EVERYTHING

This has definitely been a week of journeying.  It included some back tracking, some back sliding and some getting back on track.  As the week began I was feeling pretty good about the journey.  It had been nearly 40 days and I was feeling delivered from some of the sins that I had struggled with for so long. And then I fell.  I found myself right back in the very pit that I had just climbed out of.  I felt horrible.

And therein lies part of the problem.  I felt. 

I'd been gaging my growth on how I felt.  If I felt empowered then I thought I was doing well.  I hadn't surrendered anything to God.  I had simply decided to refrain from certain activities.  Yes, I've been praying more and in my Word and listening to sermons.  But it's been a journey of convenience still.  Transformation requires surrender.  Surrendering everything.  My identity, relationships, dreams, hopes, desires, opinions, EVERYTHING. I Peter 5:6-11 says:

 ⁶Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

 ⁷Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

 ⁸Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

 ⁹Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

 ¹⁰But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

 ¹¹To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

I was too proud to give it all to God.  To "cast all my cares upon Him."  The process of humbling yourself requires that you take off your superman/superwoman cape and put everything that you've been carrying in the capable hands of God.  It's a process of submitting to God.  He wants everything.  He wants to exalt (raise) us up, but not with us clinging to things that will weigh us down, or cause us to fall.  Anything that we have to sustain on our own will cause us to fall.  If we can't trust God to sustain our identity or a relationship or career or dream, then sooner or later the burden of trying to sustain it on our own will cause us to fall.  And when we fall, our adversary the devil is waiting to pounce on and devour us.

The awesome thing about God is that He is more than able to sift through those things that we are trying to sustain and balance our load.  Somethings we were never meant to carry others are expired and others we have simply mis-prioritized and the weight distribution is causing us to stumble and fall.  But He know exactly what we should be carrying and how we should carry it.  And He can sustain us and everything that He has placed in our lives for us to carry.  But first we have to give Him everything so that He can fix our load and renew us.  Revelations 21:4-8 says:

 ⁴And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
 ⁵And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
 ⁶And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
 ⁷He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
 ⁸But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

God's desire isn't to make us feel better, but to make us new.  And that newness isn't limited to just us but EVERYTHING that concerns us.  Psalm 138:8 says:
⁸ The LORD will perfect that which concerns me;
         Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever;
         Do not forsake the works of Your hands.


The initial process of surrendering everything to God isn't going to feel good. [please note that this message is for me as much as it is for you.] Praying and reading the Word and going to church are part of it.  But that's like the strength training and conditioning; yes, it will strengthen and empower you to take action, but you still have to do something.  You still have to surrender and submit.  Personally, as I reflect I think I somehow got the idea that by praying and reading the Word and being in church and fasting I could somehow change myself or handle my burdens.  I thought that these practices had given me some super human abilities to do what only God can do.  When in actuality it's praying, reading the Word, fellowshipping with others at church, engaging in praise and worship, and fasting.. these practices, develop the fortitude within you to complete the assignment of submitting to the will of God.  These practices do not make us God, but it builds up our spirit so that we are empowered to exercise our faith and trust God with everything.