Letting Go of Control- Part 3

       You do not realize the seriousness of the opportunity you give the enemy(Eph. 4:27)   as you indulge your own desires and the lust of the flesh. You have given him a 'place' to torment you and keep you stuck; it’s another place that you try to control- it is not submitted to Me.  

          It does not affect My love for you, but it does affect our relationship. Perfect love casts out all fear(1 John 4:18); let Me love you perfectly.  Do not grieve My Holy Spirit. (Eph. 4:30)  Do not keep Me from all that I want to do in your life.  You are essentially choosing 'this' over My blessings, the many gifts that I want to give you.   Will you believe?  You choose to not hear so that you won’t have to decide if it’s real or not and can go right on your way and relax and wait and dream of how you want Me to use you.  

Stop dreaming, and be used.   Let Me have My way and make you a 'fit' vessel. 

      "My yoke is easy" (comfortable or pleasant) "and My burden is light." (Matt. 11:29)  You are by default choosing the harder way.  "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." (Matthew 16:24)  Try Me out and see the consequences of obedience.  Know Me and serve Me with a whole heart and a willing mind; for I search all hearts, and understand every intent of the the thought.  If you seek Me, I will let you find Me.(1 Chronicles 28:9)  Had I "told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?  How much more then, when" I say............(from 2 Kings 5:13)...  

In listening to the Lord, what instruction will you choose today to radically obey? 

     Wash and be clean- let go of your control and idols- don't forfeit the miracle. 
"Little children, guard yourselves from idols."  1 John 5:21

Letting Go of Control Part 2 (of 3)

       Could your present 'resistance to something God has spoken' be a problem with 'control issues'?  We are all plagued with them, and serving and ‘doing’ for Him are things that we 'feel' we can control.   Would you find, if you honestly contemplated it with a 'search me and know me' attitude of prayer, that there are times when you find it hard to allow Him any control in this relationship?

Hear His quiet whisper, 'Do you trust Me, My child?"

    See this thing that you hold in your right hand (this thing that you think you are in control of, but is actually cutting off your life)-see it for what it is- a lie. (Isaiah 44:20b) And bring it before Him right now.  It may feel comfortable and necessary (and even like where you want to stay), but it is not. It is a lie; it cannot keep you safe.  Allow Him to be your Stronghold.  You cannot control your life and live anywhere near the abundant life that you long to live and that He desires for you to live.  Open your grip and release it -letting go of even GOOD things and 'neutral' things that are okay for everyone else, but just do not work with what He is particularly doing with you, as an individual, at this moment of time.   LET GO OF THE GOOD SO THAT YOU HAVE THE CAPACITY TO GRAB HOLD OF THE BETTER. 

Ephesians 4:26,27 (Amplified) says... "do not sin"......"Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil- give no opportunity to him." That word, opportunity- topos in the Greek, means place.  "Place.  As occupied or filled by any person or thing, a spot, space, room.  In Luke 14:9, to give place to someone means to make room.  See Rom. 12:19; Eph.4:27." (direct quote from Zodihiates Complete Word Study Dictionary).

      How serious are you?  Do you really want to be free? Are you serious enough to close up the place, that opportunity that you give the enemy of your soul?  No sin is 'small sin'.  And even "...to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." James 4:17

      So what is it that YOU are working hard at 'controlling' for yourself? What 'quiet', or not so quiet, instruction of God have you been resisting?  If it's a quiet one, you may not even be fully aware of it; you just know that something is 'off' and that you need some Psalm 139:23,24 time before the Lord:

 "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way."

Letting Go of Control Part 1

        Do you find that sometimes it is easier 'to serve God and do for Him' (which is good) than it is to sit at His feet in prayer, to seek His face, and quietly listen to Him (which is better)? 

        Are you afraid of what He might say to you? Has He already given you instructions that you are currently resisting?   Maybe He has asked you to do some hard thing that is outside of your comfort zone, or something that you don't fully understand the reason behind the instruction, so you’ve unconsciously decided that you just won’t listen for awhile- maybe that thing will go away because ‘surely He wasn’t really asking me to do that'.  Or has He asked you to give up something that, until He asked, you never knew meant so much to you?

Oh, that age old question, 'Hath God really said?'  

      There was a leper who didn’t like Elisha’s instructions to be healed.  He was told to go and wash in the river seven times (2 Kings 5).  Naaman was furious because he had different expectations and other rivers were better- could he not wash in them?  He wanted to do it his own way.  The means of being healed weren’t up to par for him so he had a choice, would he go- would he obey? 

       His servant said something very profound “..had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?  How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”

       Do we not, in a sense, have this same response?  We come to God for help, to hear His instructions, and instead of hearing some 'great thing', we hear, 'Wash and be clean'- 'let go of your control and idols'- and in response, we decide to close our ears and to work harder.

      Did the leper really want to be healed, enough that he would do what he’d rather not do or didn’t understand?  Or would he forfeit the miracle?  Naaman washed "according to the word of the man of God", and "his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.”  And he responded, “Behold now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel…”  

      There is no other god, no idol, no comfort, none of your own ideas of how you want things to go- there is nothing- worth missing all that God is.

 Oh may we not forfeit the miracle.  Choose to believe and obey His instructions.​ You know that it's Him because it won't go away.  Listen to Him, obey, even though you don't understand, and expectantly watch for the consequences of that obedience.

The Consequences of Our Obedience

      There is not a single 'useless' step of obedience.  No matter how small and insignificant it may seem or how big and impossible, be assured of this: anything that God calls us to do will not be wasted or inconsequential.  

     There are consequences to our obedience.  

We usually only think of this idea in the negative connotation and agree, 'Yes, there are consequences to disobedience'. 

     Yet because He has a plan and a reason for even the simplest of instructions, there WILL be consequences as you obey- consequences for you and probably many others whom you may never even know your life touches.  

Trust Him. 

     No call of His is purposeless, and there is never a WASTED step of obedience!  Never.  Not one little step.

So step out in faith in your big God and allow Him to quiet all of your fears in His mighty love.

     Destroy the speculations (what if this.... or what if that...) and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God (‘well, I know that He’s been faithful before, but what if this time…..’)-  destroy all those lofty FEARS and ‘shakings’ that are raised up against your real knowledge of Who He is and has promised to be, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

     As those FEARS raise themselves up, immerse yourself in His Word.  As you see Him in His Power in His Word, He will get BIGGER in your whole soul, and the fears will HAVE TO submit.  YOU SERVE A VERY BIG GOD!

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.  We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.."  2 Corinthians 10:3-5

     What is God purposefully asking you to do today? Not sure? Then ask Him and listen.  Submit to trusting Him and walking that thing out in real life.  Stop just contemplating obedience.  

 Obey.  And watch as the consequences unfold beyond anything you could 'think or imagine'.


"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.  Amen." Ephesians 3:20,21