Pre-Sabbath Thoughts on Surrender

When you have a specific hotel room, you’re given a card that only opens that particular door. It is not meant for any other door but that one alone. So why do we, as believers who walk with Christ, focus on entering doors we’re not meant to enter? Why do we take our card that He gave us and try to force open things that aren’t meant for us to force?

God alone has control of the doors and openings and blessings in your life, and it is not up to us to put ourselves on a pedestal belonging to Him alone.

It is not up to us to be on the throne. But it is up to us to surrender to His will and to let all things go according to His perfect purposes. You should never try to force open a door that God does not want you to walk through.

There was a door a long time ago that I wanted to walk through, but the truth of the matter is, it just wasn’t meant for me, whether at the time or forever. Now I follow a different gift, and this path has brought me many blessings in my life, and I’m forever thankful for the things that I have received.

I will never forget that the Lord alone is the one who exalts and who abases.

The Lord alone is the one who lifts one up and puts down another, and no matter how much success or things that impede me I have in my life in many areas, I will always give credit to the Lord Himself. Yahweh is the one who brings things to pass in our lives, and it is not up to us to force His hand. It is not up to us to hold on to things we are not meant to hold on to, and He has taught me that over the decades.

There are things you must leave behind for the betterment of your soul—for the betterment of others, in fact. The healed, better version of yourself will always be able to bless others. If you hold on to brokenness, to betrayal, to those things that you thought would always end you, always diminish what you can accomplish in this life, you will not make it very far.

I believe God wants us to live thriving lives, beautiful lives that are meant to help others.

We’re not supposed to sit here wallowing in despair, thinking we’re victims, thinking we were rejected, thinking anything of the sort. In fact, God is the one who accepts us.

God is the one who molds us and shapes us, and He is the potter. We are but clay in His hands. I know that is said often, and I’m not trying to rehash old sermons, but my point is, we need to be moldable.

We need to be the ones in His hands, the ones He looks at and goes, “You are My masterpiece.” You might have cracks in the facade of your soul, but it is up to God to fill that with gold, to make us new from the brokenness. Only He can fill those cracks, and while we might want certain people in our lives to do that for us—where He should be sovereign—we must always look to Him, not other people.

He’ll bring you new friends—friends that want the best for you, people who don’t want to harm you. He’ll bring you to new circles of influence. Whether it is one person or a million, He is the one who enables it to happen.

I’ve always said to myself, if even one thing that I write touches someone’s soul, I’ve done my job. At the end of my life, when I receive my crown, I want Jesus to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” I want that for myself, not out of vanity, but I really want to fulfill what it is He wants me to fulfill in my life.

We need to stop chasing things we were never meant for, because the things we are meant for will make the most impact in this world for the glory of the kingdom of God.

There are things in my life that I gave up so long ago. I move forward with intention because I know I am not meant to go backward.

Walking propels us forward, and while we can walk backward naturally, it’s not the right direction to go now, is it? When you really think about it, when you understand these concepts of moving forward into the glory that He has prepared for us, you don’t look back in anger, regret, or anything, because you know that was just part of your story.

God is the author. He should have the pen, and you, as someone who is underneath Him, who reverences Him, should follow the whims of that author and enjoy the story He’s created for you.

And yeah, as an author, I understand characters grow through trials; characters grow through dilemmas and conflict; and our lives will never be empty of such things. But the truth of the matter is, what it all comes down to is surrender.

There are just things in this life that we are not meant to chase, we are not meant to have, and perhaps those things are better for other people. That is how we should look at our lives.

We should always be grateful for the blessings in our lives, grateful to God for giving us those things which He decided we should have so long ago. We are not meant to chase things in such a manner that they ruin us, to shape us into things we are not meant to be.

Think about it: What if that other hotel door that I mentioned earlier—what if it had a criminal presence behind it, and when you walked in, you were killed? Only God alone sees what’s behind the doors in our lives.

In this way, we should always think about serving Him to the best of our ability with the gifts He has given us, because other doors won’t cause us to have life.

You know, I left my old life behind permanently. There are people I don’t talk to that I probably will never talk to again, and I’m fine with that. Those people are not meant for my growth.

I think the person I am today would not fit congruently with the person I was all those years ago. It just wouldn’t make any sense. It’d be like fitting a square into a circle. Masonic references aside, it’s not a thing I want to do, and I don’t want to be a part of it.

The truth is, it won’t happen because the future is in sight, not anything I have left behind.

But new friends, new influences, and people that want to see you succeed—that’s where you should aim to be, and God will send those types of people into your life in ways that only He can do.

I always trust Him with my life, praying every day that I fulfill His will for my life. And you can’t trick God; you can’t outwit Him; you can’t deny what is in your heart, because He pierces the heart open like a blade and knows every intent.

He knows your secret inner thoughts. Even in the back of your mind as you pray, He knows what your real desire is, your actual genuine desire for what it is you think you may say to Him. He knows it all. He weighs the hearts and minds.

Do not reject His wisdom in your life. Be open to it. Listen for His direction, listen for His guidance, and follow that path.

You don’t know what lies ahead. None of us do. But the reason I’m saying this is that there are far too many people who spend all their lives sulking over things that never occurred, over relationships that didn’t blossom, and over friendships, career paths, etc., that didn’t go anywhere.

God is the one who directs your life. He knows the plans He has for you. Follow those plans and trust the gifts He put inside of you, because that is obviously what you’re meant to do.

I’m not meant to be a cook, and I’m not meant to be a racecar driver, even if I can both cook and drive. What I am meant for is writing, for communicating ideas through words, because that is what He put inside me that comes as naturally to me as breathing.

It’s not something that I have to struggle over, besides artistic molding, of course, because I don’t want my drafts to be the worst they can be, but it just comes naturally to me.

I don’t have to force it. The words come out, and they say what they say. It is my favorite part of my life.

So don’t worry about the things that didn’t work out. Don’t worry about the people you had to let go of. Just move forward. Walk on. There are many paths to choose from.

It is ultimately up to us to choose the one that is congruent for our lives, that makes the most sense, and often you’ll need to hear His direction for that to come to pass in your life.

Don’t disparage yourself and sell yourself short on account of things that are not meant for you to have. That person you thought you wanted is probably meant for somebody else.

That job you thought you were supposed to receive—again, probably for somebody else.

You’re going to walk the path that fits you best. You’re going to have the role that fits you best, and that role will have you fit it the best. I hope you understand what I mean here.

There are blessings in this life that are meant for other people, and when we have true trust in our King, we don’t chase things that are not meant for us. We don’t envy what others have. We don’t look at what somebody else accomplishes and think, “How can they do this? How is this possible? Why can’t I do that?” Carry out that which you are able, not what someone else is doing.

We must stay content with such things that we are capable of. Ultimately, it’s up to us to follow the right way, and only for us to define what we’re trying to do with our lives.

So surrender everything to Him—the broken pieces of your life, all the mistakes, all the lefts instead of rights, everything that you did you think is shameful—for He alone is able to take those things and make you into something truly wonderful.

Blessings and shalom to you. May your Sabbath be blessed tomorrow.