“The essence of surrender is getting out of God’s way so that He can do in us what only He can do through us.”

Cain and Abel each brought an offering to God. However, God only looked upon Abel’s offering of meat and fat and turned away from Cain’s offering of fruit. This ticked Cain off.

If Cain had done right, however, all would be well. But Cain didn’t. He wanted a relationship with God on his terms.

At this point, the LORD said to Cain, “Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it” (Gen. 4:7). James writes, “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin” (Jam. 1:4-15).

Desire is the crucial point in both statements. The thought or the desire is not sin; it’s when we act on it that we sin (“gives birth”). The thought or desire simply exposes the lie that leads to sin is.

We can then either surrender to God and ask for His power to make the right choice, or surrender to the thought or desire that leads to sin and the absence of all the good things God has for us (Gal. 5:22-23).

This surrendering choice starts the moment the lie rears its ugly head, either as a thought or a desire/feeling (thoughts lead to feelings that lead to actions/choices). This is when the specific truth the Spirit gave you comes into play.

“Wait a second. This thought or desire I’m having, when compared to the truth, is based on a lie. Spirit, give me the strength to surrender to Jesus in order to act on the truth, which leads to becoming more like Jesus.”

Slow down the decision-making process. In the Spirit’s power, you can make the big choice – you for Jesus – by surrendering to God’s desires just like Abel.

Most with us believe God’s patience has an end, but it doesn’t because of the cross.

I’m very appreciative that God’s mercy allows Him to patiently wait for me to grow in my understanding of–and how to live out by faith–what He says to do.

It appears the Twelve needed it just as much as I do. They all heard and saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. They all heard Jesus say He would die a horrible death and rise from the grave in three days. He even told them this as late as the Passover meal before heading to the Garden of Gethsemane (pictured).

Judas didn’t get it and died without believing it. Mary Magdalene didn’t get it either. In fact, she even asked Jesus where His body was taken! Peter and John didn’t believe Mary Magdalene’s eyewitness testimony that Jesus was alive, even after looking into an empty tomb.

Ten of them were hanging out when Jesus literally appeared out of nowhere, but it took Jesus eating fish to get them to believe He was the same person who died three days earlier. This leaves Matthew–good old Matthew–who wasn’t in the room. He would only believe after touching Jesus, not because Jesus said it would happen or his brothers’ testimony.

John records that Jesus came and went three times. Acts 1:3 hints that there may have been more appearances by Jesus as He gave “many convincing proofs that He was alive over a 40-day period.”

Yet not once, not one single solitary time did Jesus scold them. He knew these guys would need time to wrap their heads around the truth that Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms wrote about.

It was a life-changing truth that would take time for them to process, grasp and then live out, which they did at the cost of their physical lives.

Be still and know that the Lord is God. His grace and mercy allow Him to have the patience you and I need during the Spirit’s process of transforming our lives. Change will come.

Keep asking the Spirit to open your mind and increase your faith. In the meantime, praise Him for His patience with you.

“Stop seeking validation in a world that crucified a perfect person.”

Hannah had a huge problem. Elkanah had two wives – Hannah and Peninnah. While Peninnah was pushing out children left and right, Hannah was barren.

We all live in broken bodies. And like us, Hannah didn’t get to choose her body either. Yet, there was an interesting twist to her story: “The LORD closed her womb” (1 Sam. 1:6).

The LORD was behind her lack of children. Maybe He was turning chaos, a broken body that couldn’t produce children, into one that could. Or, she was perfectly healthy but He was holding back children for a specific purpose and time.

We don’t know. But what we do know is that during this entire story, she only sought validation from the One who could do something about it – the LORD. After much patience and prayer, she gave birth to Samuel, a great Israelite prophet and leader, who made the Faith Hall of Fame (Heb.11:32).

Like Hannah, Jesus also only sought validation from the Father (Matt. 3:17) and never from men (Jn. 2:23-25).

We were born into a chaotic world where we didn’t get to choose the family we were born into or the bodies we have. We do have control, however, over the choices we make in the moment. We can either listen to and follow Jesus, the healer of brokenness, validator of existence and giver of a worthwhile purpose to pursue or we can listen to and follow broken people.

You know Who to listen to. Keep choosing wisely.

It’s not about doing your best, but asking the Spirit to empower you to follow the best – Jesus.

The same Spirit who brought Jesus into the world gave Him the power to live in that world. The same Spirit who gave Jesus victory over Satan gave Him power over death.

It is the same Spirit who gives us life in Jesus and gives us the power to live in this world. It is the same Spirit who gives us victory over Satan and will give us power over death.

Yet, how often throughout our day do we ask for His power in struggle to overcome our enemy and make the choice to follow Jesus?

He starts the life-changing process by pointing us to Jesus. And then He will empower us to follow Him. All we have to do is ask – not just at the beginning of the day, but through the day.
He did it for Jesus (Jn. 8:27-29), and He will do it for you. Don’t you think it’s time to ask?

Your heavenly Father knew you before the foundation of the world.

I love being in the High Sierras during the fall. I’ve only been there a few times, though. Yet, when I am, I get to see the Aspen trees put on quite a show – the bright yellows, deep oranges, and gorgeous reds are visually spectacular!

Right now, you can see the show just beginning with only a small clump of leaves turning yellow. All the leaves will eventually go through this process as the tree continues to shut down for the winter.

As God does this with the trees, He does it with His children. Our Father knows exactly what area of our lives needs to be put through the life-change process, as well as the when and in what order. He sees the big picture; we can’t.

Quite frankly, the older I get, the more I sometimes doubt His wisdom. I’ve just recently asked, “Why didn’t You change this area of my life years…no, decades ago?! It sure would have saved me a lot of heartache along the way if You had.”

His response? Silence. It’s His way of saying, “Be still and know that I am God. I know what exactly I’m doing and the why of the when.”

The beauty is that Jesus covered all my sin, all the areas of my life that offend my Father, on the cross. And because of this, I can be a peace no matter what stage of life-change I’m encountering. I’m okay because Jesus already made me okay.

Your Father knows best. So, be at peace as the Spirit continues to do His job in your life.