Thoughts for Life: READY TO GIVE UP?

Mary Southerland

Truth for the Journey:

"Jesus replied, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind"' (Matthew 22:37 NIV).

Facts for the Journey

"From the moment of birth, we are taught that successful people never give up. Yet, I have discovered the paradoxical secret that true success can only be found in complete surrender.

Dr. Billy Graham tells the story of a little child who was playing with a very valuable vase. The child put his hand into the vase but could not pull it out. His father tried to free the little boy’s hand but couldn’t. They were thinking of breaking the vase when the father said, “Son, let’s try one more time. Open your hand and hold your fingers out really straight and then pull.” The look of alarm on the boy’s face surprised the dad until the little boy explained, “Oh no, Father. I can’t hold my fingers like that. If I did, I would drop my penny.”

Many of us are like that little boy – holding onto something that is keeping us from letting go and letting God have His way in our lives. It doesn’t really matter what that something is. If it is keeping us from surrendering to God, it is our captor, and we are its hostage.

Jesus longs for us to come to Him in total surrender. Not because He wants to win or prove His power, but because He longs to set us free. Matthew 22:37 goes straight to the heart of surrender and abandonment when it says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind." Let’s take a closer look at the meaning of this verse:

“Heart” means “thought and emotion.”

“Soul” means “life or whole person.”

“Mind” means “understanding.”

In other words, to truly experience God, we must lay down everything. Every thought and emotion, every dream and plan, every bit of human knowledge or understanding, our past, present, and future – everything - just like the woman in Luke did.

Luke tells us that a certain woman came to Jesus bringing “an alabaster jar of perfume.” In Jesus’ day, alabaster jars were very common and of little value. It was the substance hidden inside that was so precious.

The perfume was the woman’s most priceless possession. It was very expensive but very necessary in her line of work as a prostitute, working the streets, selling her body in order to live. The money given to her by the men she slept with paid for the perfume she brought to Jesus.

She could have put a small amount on His feet, and it would have been a great financial sacrifice. But she brought it all and she gave it all. She came to God with a “yes” in her heart and a “whatever” in her soul, totally abandoning herself and all that she had to Him.

“Abandon” literally means “without restraint or hindrance, a total relinquishment.” This woman came to Jesus, walking through her shame, straining against every hindrance, and relinquishing her old way of life. She came, ignoring the ugly whispers and judgmental stares of those who knew her so well.

Why? I believe she was simply worn out. The emptiness and sin were eating away at her soul. She was tired of being used, unloved and unwanted. She came ready to give up everything and in a desperation that is always winsome to God. He met every need of her heart and changed the course of her life.

Today, dear friend, He is calling you to that same kind of abandonment. Are you ready to exchange your life for a life far beyond your greatest hopes and dreams? Are you desperate for Him? The Father is patiently and tenderly calling you to His arms. Come and rest in Him.

Steps for the Journey

What is keeping you from fully surrendering to God? Are you ready to relinquish anything keeping you from the life of freedom Jesus has for you?

Prayer for the Journey

God, I am so tired of trying to live without You. I come today, desperately longing for You, and seeking Your presence. Right now, I surrender completely to You, giving everything I know about myself to everything I know about You. Thank You for meeting me at my point of need. In Jesus’ Name, Amen."

My weekly advice from the book, "We All Married IDIOTS, by Elaine W. Miller: (P. 127)

"When bumps rise up on your road, are you tempted to give up? Do you realize that running over those bumps makes your legs stronger and equips you for the mountains you may need to climb? Hebrews 12:2 tells you to fix your eyes on Jesus. Do you spend your days concentrating on the potholes that threaten a fall, or on the One who promises to help you through adversity? Jesus — He gives you strength far superior to any weight-room workout. And He comes with instructions."

#129 Testimony- A friend

I realized that throughout my growing-up life, I had been trying to earn God's grace and be good enough to get into Heaven. However, when I read in the Bible:

Ephesians 2:8,9 "For by grace are you saved through faith, and not

from yourselves; It is the gift of God — not from works, so that no one

can boast."

I saw that all my striving and works were for nothing!

The gift God gives us is through faith in Jesus as our Savior. We need to accept the grace He gives to believe in His Son, Jesus, who made the way to Heaven through His death on the cross and His resurrection to New Life. It is nothing we have earned. A true revelation to me!

1691-1695 One-line Scriptures for those of you who want to learn some more verses this week- or to review them from when they were first posted-

1691- Prov. 30:13 "There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their

eyelids are lifted up."

1692- Is. 45:21a "Let them take counsel together."

1693- Ez. 14:11b "That they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord."

1694- Is. 40:18 "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare

unto him?"

1695- Luke 18:30 "Who shall . . . receive manifold more in this present time, and in

the world to come everlasting life."

#129 Hymn- Take My life and Let It Be

Although hymnist Frances Havergal, 36, had served the Lord for Years, she felt something was missing in her Christian experience. Then one day in 1873, she received a little book called, "All for Jesus," which stressed the importance of making Christ the King of every corner and cubicle of one's life. Soon thereafter, she made a fresh and complete consecration of herself to Christ.

Years later when asked about it, she replied, "Yes, it was on Advent Sunday, December 2, 1873, I first saw clearly the blessedness of true consecration. I saw it as a flash of electric light, and what you see you can never un-see. There must be full surrender before there can be full blessedness."

Not long afterward, she found herself spending several days with ten people in a house, some of them unconverted. Others were Christians, but not fully surrendered to Christ. "Lord, give me all in this house," she prayed. She went to work witnessing, and before she left, all ten were yielded Christians. On the last night of her visit, Frances—too excited to sleep—wrote this great consecration hymn, "Take My Life and Let It Be."

In the years following, Frances frequently used this hymn. On one occasion, as she pondered the words, "Take my voice and let me sing/Always only for my King," she felt she should give up her secular concerts. Her beautiful voice was in demand, and she frequently sang with the philharmonic. But from that moment, her lips were exclusively devoted to the songs of the Lord.

Have you given your whole life—over to Jesus? Why not make this the date of your own complete consecration?

Some encouraging words-

"Where there is true prayer for grace in the heart the prayer is heard before it is offered, for it is grace that makes us pray in such a fashion. He who asks for grace sincerely has grace already in a measure or else he would not be inclined to ask for more.

Let this encourage us. Since God waits to be gracious, and has in wondrous condescension endowed prayer with such privileges in His sacred courts, who among us will unto turn unto him now, with all our heart, and cry to Him, 'My Father, save and help me now'"? [Condensed from a sermon, printed in the Herald of His Coming newspaper].

Church Notes: FIVE VISIONS

1. Break ground for additions

2. Build up men's ministry

3. Breakthrough anointing in Spirit and worship

4. Salvations, and believers added

5. Compassion Ministry- Food Pantry [renovations for enlargement]

As iron sharpens iron, we need each other to grow in fellowship and in our faith.

Marriage is the process of being made whole, as we learn to live as one.

Christian friendship bonds us together through troubles and deep connection.

Hospitality is more than just friendship.

Wounds of someone go deep and need forgiveness to be free from bad feelings.

Christian friends sharpen convictions and influence us to live right.