I Surrender All
I Surrender All
As you all probably know, this month's theme is surrendering to Christ. With saying that, we must surrender EVERYTHING to Him. So in this blog, we are going to show you that! We hope this helps you!
I surrender: My day(s)
Now, I (Natalee) don’t know about you, but I know that my days are usually pretty busy. Especially during the school year, when I have homework and other activities as well. So when we are in the midst of a busy time, how can we still be sure that we are surrendering these busy days to the Lord? I know one way is to start our day off with quiet time. Now, you and I are probably thinking about the same thing. I know that I am definitely not a morning person, but I also want to be able to focus as I’m reading God’s word. So if you complete your quiet time in the morning, you might want to do something to wake you up before. I personally prefer doing my quiet time with God in the evening. I just feel like that is what works best for me.
I might be making it sound like quiet time has to be on a schedule, but the truth is that it really doesn’t! God wants us to worship Him, no matter the time of day, the weather, or the circumstances that we are in. After all, does the Bible say “You are only allowed to pray at church or in your home”? No, it absolutely doesn’t! Even if it’s just one sentence thanking God for what He’s given us, or praying for a friend, we can pray anywhere. God is not on a schedule, and He always has time for us! I hope that knowing this helps you to realize that we can surrender our days to the Lord, even the busiest ones!
I surrender: My thoughts
“A thought is just a thought, right? It doesn’t matter if I THINK about lying to my parents. As long as I don’t do it. It doesn’t matter if I sing that song IN MY HEAD. I’m not going to listen to it anymore, and I’m not even singing it out loud.” I’m not going to sit here and point fingers at everyone who thinks/thought like this. I’ve been there myself! We all have. But just because we all fall short in this area, doesn’t mean we can accept it and go about our day.
YOUR THOUGHTS MATTER! Read that again! Whenever we so much as think about sinning we are only tempting ourselves. We are considering walking away from God and to Satan, even if it’s “just for a little bit”. If we think about awful things we know are wrong (that could be thinking about a song with wrong lyrics, having lustful thoughts, thinking hurtful and rude things towards others, etc…) we are only defiling ourselves.
Mark 7:20-23
[20]And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. [21] For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, [22] Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: [23] All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
Now that we know thinking wrongly is unacceptable, we want to surrender this area to God, and think the way He calls us. Philippians 4:8 is a great verse to focus on! Paul is very clear on what God wants us to keep on our minds. It says this: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."
I surrender: My grades and abilities
Part of surrendering to God means you have to give your grades and any of the abilities you may have to Him. When it comes to grades I think the best way to give it to the Lord would be to stop stressing over every assignment. So often, people make school seem like a god, and there is nothing more important than A’sing every test. This is not true! Yes, we should stay on top of our school work and give our all to the Lord (even if that means putting our phones down so we can get some study time in!), but at the end of the day, just place your life in God’s hands. If you obey Him by trying your hardest, He’ll bring you to wherever HE wants you to be! Not where school or statistics wants you to be. stop stressing over every assignment. So often, people make school seem like a god, and there is nothing more important than A’sing every test. This is not true! Yes, we should stay on top of our school work and give our all to the Lord (even if that means putting our phones down so we can get some study time in!), but at the end of the day, just place your life in God’s hands. If you obey Him by trying your hardest, He’ll bring you to wherever HE wants you to be! Not where school or statistics wants you to be.
How you can give your abilities to the Lord would be… ok, let me give you an example. Let’s say you play the piano! You could give that ability to the Lord by playing for your church. You could learn a hymn and play it one Sunday. Everybody has different talents and there are many ways to use them for Jesus. Remember, whatever we do we want to do for God’s glory! But if God doesn’t bless you with a talent that you necessarily wished for, just know that you made you just the way He wanted you to be. He has His reasons and isn’t just trying to keep you from having fun!
I surrender: My music, TV, and games
How you can surrender your music, tv, and games would be to first make sure it is all appropriate, and then use your time with or on those things wisely. What I mean is don’t listen to your music, watch tv, or play games all day long! Don’t let those things consume your whole day. Don’t let these things take time away you would otherwise spend with God. And like I said earlier just use your time wisely with music, tv, and games.
Here is a list of things you can do for Jesus instead of spending all your time on electronics:
You could do something like Girls for Jesus, by using your social media for good. Encourage other girls your age as they go throughout their day.
You could do a Bible study with some friends.
You could write a letter or email a missionary and encourage them as they are working hard to spread the gospel in other countries.
Other than surrendering how much time we spend with these things, we can also make sure the games we play, the shows and movies we watch, and the music we listen to doesn’t “Bump heads with the Bible”. Believe me! This isn’t as easy as it seems. Especially whenever you’ve been playing, watching, or listening to something for so long. Just remember that God’s ways are better! His intentions aren't to keep us away from having fun, He wants to keep us away from destroying our hearts and minds! You know those eppisonds where kids turn into teenages and they're all like “New year! New ME!” and they go on to dramatically change their rooms, hair, music, things like that? Once we are saved, we are called to do the same (Yes. We know the teenages on the show normally end up changing back, and realize that just because they are getting older they don’t have to be a totally different person… but for the sake of this example just ignore that part!) 2 Corinthians 5:17 Says this: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” If you’ll let Him have control of these things, you’ll see how much of a difference following God makes on your mental health!
I surrender: My future
What’s your “five-year plan”? No, seriously!! What do you want to do for the next five years? Maybe even write it down. Being the typical Christian girl I am (McKenzie) I’d love to be like… ya know, pretty much married by then! If not that at least in a serious dating relationship. I want to grow up and become a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom to sixteen adopted kids. Big house with all-natural products everywhere. Hopefully, still, be doing Girls For Jesus with my girls. Maybe even sell some kind of MLM essential oils. That’s my “plan”! But something tells me that ain’t gonna happen. Haha!
We all have things that we expect and plan on happening, but at the end of the day, we just have to give our future to the Lord. We have to trust God no matter what comes our way! He has plans to use us for His perfect fantastic work, but we can’t do that if we insist on things being our way, and not just follow God. Proverbs 3:5 says "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." While my “understandings” will tell me that my plans are the best and that I need to stay on the path that will take me there, I need to be willing to drop everything for whatever God actually has for me! Whether that’s never getting married or going to a four-year college and becoming an airplane pilot. “God’s ways are better than my ways”! There’s nothing wrong with planning and preparing, as long as God’s glory is your end goal!
Sometimes thinking about the future can be really nerve-racking. “What will I major in?! Who will I marry?! How will I live out on my own?!” So many questions we don’t have the answers to. But there is one answer we do have to a common question we tend to ask ourselves! “How will I know it’s God’s will?!” Proverbs 3:6 gives us total peace in what the future might hold! “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” That’s how we can know what to go to college for (if God is even calling you to go to college!)! That’s how you can know who to marry! And yes, that’s even how you can know how to live on your own!
I surrender: My heartache
Breakups. Depression. Anxiety. Suicidal thoughts. Losing friends to additions. Family members being unsaved. Hearing loved ones passed away. Not be able to play soccer this season because you messed up your knee playing on the trampoline… Wait, is that last one just me (McKenzie). *Sad face* Why would Jesus let these things happen to us? He knows how heartbroken we feel.
We have to remind ourselves that God is God and we are not. He loves YOU! He cares for YOU! Don’t forget this just because you go through a hard time. It breaks His heart seeing that yours is broken. He isn’t happy about this either. If you think you want these things to just get better, just imagine how much more Jesus wants things to get better! He made your loved ones in His image! He died for your unsaved friends and family! He loves when you get to go play soccer with your big brother and friends… Ok but really, let me know if you’re having to sit out on a sport too! Haha!
This can be a hard place to surrender. We often feel like we need to be in control, and only we can make things better. Jesus has defeated death! We can’t even defeat a “try not to laugh challenge” on YouTube. We need to be reasonable! Only God can take our pain away! Only God can fix our problems! We can trust our Heavenly Father with our heartache. He cares more than anyone ever could that your heart hurts.
We’ll be praying for any broken hearts reading this! We’ve all been there before, and know how hard life can be. Lean on God! If you want to talk about anything PLEASE don’t hesitate to contact us! We’re here for you. Here are some hope-filled verses we pray will comfort you.
Psalms 34:18 - The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Matthew 11:28 - Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Psalm 18:2 - The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
John 16:33 - These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Now Let’s Surrender!
We hope that this blog was a blessing to you! If so, don’t forget to share it with someone else you think could use it. Again, please, please, PLEASE contact us if you have any questions (whether that’s from this blog or just something totally different) or just want to talk! Love and prayers!