PICTURES OF TRUST AND SURRENDER
Light For Life June 2005
There are many things that I have been writing about recently, but out of the many lessons I have learned, when it comes down to it, they are really about trust and surrender! Two picture analogies have formulated and been etched in my mind and they have taught me a lot about these two. They both encompass and beautifully portray trust and surrender and perfectly remind me of the 'stances' I need to take in relation to Jesus, my Lord and Saviour – not ones that would immediately come to mind.
TRUST
Have you ever heard of the ‘trust game’? I have seen in it movies where there is some kind of support group meeting together, they share their bad experiences and talk about how they need to learn to trust (no specific movie or program comes to my mind, but I have seen it somewhere), they break up into pairs and one person will allow themselves to fall backwards and the other person WILL catch them. Now I have never done this myself but every time I even imagine doing this I get goose bumps down my spine, it is the adrenaline rush of what you would feel if you really did this. I don’t even know if I really would, even if I was falling onto a big pile of cushions, because, the thought of the sensation is freaky and surreal.
Now there is a book that I have been reading, it is called 'The Way of Agape' by Nancy Missler. Some of you may not know but the word Agape is the Greek word for God’s unconditional love for us. I really need to tell you all about it (maybe next month) because I believe it is redefining and rebuilding the foundation of my faith! In it I have learned that in order to truly trust someone you NEED to KNOW they love YOU, and yes, this is the case with God too. We can work on trying to trust people and God but when we really experience that trust and have a revelation of that love for us, individually, then we can begin to truly trust.
So, in times where I am stressed and not coping I have been picturing myself falling, backwards, into the arms of Jesus - and He catches me. It is a picture that helps me let go of what is happening and enables me to put my trust into practice. It has become a tool that I use and you might find it helpful too. I can imagine it and say to God 'Ok I am letting go, I will trust you, I KNOW you will catch me because you love ME and you are trustworthy'. Then I can see myself falling. I am learning to let this be the catalyst for actually trusting God with my life and my situations. The thing that you need to remember is if you KNOW He loves YOU then you can trust Him - thereby letting go = trust!!!
SURRENDER
The second picture that is etched in my mind is one that came to me from God I think. It is a picture of me, on my knees, bowing down to the Lord, I am at His feet. This is a very powerful picture! To me this picture is not one of weakness but strength, after all it says in the bible, when we are weak - He will be strong! We need to be weak in order for His strength to be released in our situation. This picture looks like me throwing myself at Jesus feet, The Rock, the true and solid foundation, it is the only way. It is like throwing yourself at someone’s mercy, but in this case, throwing yourself at His mercy is a sign of trust and knowledge that He is our help and our refuge, our strong tower. Lord please help me to throw myself on you, to fall on The Rock.
The scripture verse that I read talked about falling on the rock or, the rock falling on you – it was in a different context to mercy, but I was seeing that there is perhaps another way we can understand this analogy. God’s word is supernatural and I believe that scripture can speak several lessons to us in the one story. And, this is it – it is far better for us to fall on The Rock – and for us to be broken, relying on His strength etc, than for the Rock to fall on us to break us, crush us.
When we act on our own we are not falling on The Rock, actually we are setting things in motion for the Rock to fall on us and that results in us getting broken. When we fall on The Rock, there is no further to fall, it is a position of humility, and therefore a position of strength. By taking that position, we are conveying to God that we are not in control, we are limited, we rely on Him, and we know He is the answer. I feel He senses my declaration that only He can deliver me here. My prayer in this is, "All that I have comes from Your hand, all that I am comes from Your hand and all that I need comes from your hand, thank you for bringing me Your answers'.
I hope one or both of these pictures will mean something to you and perhaps meet you where you are at - maybe in need of trust of surrender. Maybe they will help convey how you might be able to do trust and surrender, and give you somewhere to start. We've got to start somewhere! Start here.
Love
Cam
Word For Life
TRUST: To trust, hope, to make someone a refuge.
SURRENDER: To yield to the power of, to give up possession of.
The Word
2 Cor 12:10
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
1 Cor 13:4
For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.
Isaiah 40:29
He gives power to the weak and to those who have no might He increases strength.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Willing to Surrender... or Ready Willing and Able..
Willing to Surrender... or Ready, Willing and Able...
Light For Life May 2005
In order to move ahead in many areas of our lives we need to be ready to ‘let go’ to do it – surrender. I think that surrender is the starting point to change, so we need to arrive at surrender first and that is where ‘ready, willing and able’ come into it. It is a saying we all know but those three words aren’t just a saying, they also form a process that actually encapsulates biblical principals that work! Once we realise that not surrendering means we are stuck in a cycle of frustration we begin to find ways to let go, which in turn brings us to the point of ready, willing and then able. Surrender also requires trust, and we CAN trust God, so when the surrender is to God or His plans we can know we are in the best hands.
To be ready, willing or able you have to start somewhere, its not always with enthusiasm from the get go but there has to be a start! Let me put that into sentences you can relate to, it might sound something like this:
Ready: “Okay, lets talk about it”
Willing: “I will do it if you will help me”
Able: “I can do that”
In the day-to-day things of life ‘ready’ is equivalent to ‘I surrender’. The media, via television, the movies, the news and even in stories both real and fiction, portray the word surrender with a visual meaning that isn’t always what the word really means when we are talking about us and God. Some of these visuals of surrender are of flying a white flag, hands in the air, forced into it, crying, panicky, a child stomping their feet, ‘I give up’, ‘You win’, ‘Only because I have to!’ Is this true surrender?
In the kingdom of God – surrender resembles something quite opposite - laying something down at the feet of God, trusting Him, there is no strain or fight, peace comes, it feels so right, the struggle is over, we quit the fight and let God do what needs to be done; even though sometimes we do get in His way and take the long way around. First things first – first we need to be ready to surrender before the actual surrender, then follows willingness to surrender, then we can do it – we are able to surrender! It’s the same with anything; we need to be willing to do it before we can actually do it. It is like a precursor, you can’t surrender without willingness to do so.
Surrender by its very meaning suggests the offering of free will. Once we come to the point of being willing to surrender then we get the peace to be able to surrender. Having said that, willingness is not something that always comes to us easily, it may come at a price, or come with a cost. Surrender is an attitude of the heart, and God always sees our hearts and loves it when He can see that our hearts are pure.
‘Ready, willing and able!’ That is how the saying goes, but how often are we ‘ready, willing and able’? That is where it all comes back to surrender; surrender gets the ball rolling, and surrender is being ‘Ready’. You wont be ‘able’ till you are willing, and you wont be willing until you are ready.
Do you need to get ready?
Love
Cam
Word For Life
READY: Prepared and fit for use, willing to do something, the state of being ready.
WILLING: Eager, ready, which is done or given gladly.
ABLE: Having the power, skill, knowledge, time etc necessary to do something.
The Word
Philippians 4:13
I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me (I am ready for anything and equal
to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self sufficient in Christ's sufficiency).
Light For Life May 2005
In order to move ahead in many areas of our lives we need to be ready to ‘let go’ to do it – surrender. I think that surrender is the starting point to change, so we need to arrive at surrender first and that is where ‘ready, willing and able’ come into it. It is a saying we all know but those three words aren’t just a saying, they also form a process that actually encapsulates biblical principals that work! Once we realise that not surrendering means we are stuck in a cycle of frustration we begin to find ways to let go, which in turn brings us to the point of ready, willing and then able. Surrender also requires trust, and we CAN trust God, so when the surrender is to God or His plans we can know we are in the best hands.
To be ready, willing or able you have to start somewhere, its not always with enthusiasm from the get go but there has to be a start! Let me put that into sentences you can relate to, it might sound something like this:
Ready: “Okay, lets talk about it”
Willing: “I will do it if you will help me”
Able: “I can do that”
In the day-to-day things of life ‘ready’ is equivalent to ‘I surrender’. The media, via television, the movies, the news and even in stories both real and fiction, portray the word surrender with a visual meaning that isn’t always what the word really means when we are talking about us and God. Some of these visuals of surrender are of flying a white flag, hands in the air, forced into it, crying, panicky, a child stomping their feet, ‘I give up’, ‘You win’, ‘Only because I have to!’ Is this true surrender?
In the kingdom of God – surrender resembles something quite opposite - laying something down at the feet of God, trusting Him, there is no strain or fight, peace comes, it feels so right, the struggle is over, we quit the fight and let God do what needs to be done; even though sometimes we do get in His way and take the long way around. First things first – first we need to be ready to surrender before the actual surrender, then follows willingness to surrender, then we can do it – we are able to surrender! It’s the same with anything; we need to be willing to do it before we can actually do it. It is like a precursor, you can’t surrender without willingness to do so.
Surrender by its very meaning suggests the offering of free will. Once we come to the point of being willing to surrender then we get the peace to be able to surrender. Having said that, willingness is not something that always comes to us easily, it may come at a price, or come with a cost. Surrender is an attitude of the heart, and God always sees our hearts and loves it when He can see that our hearts are pure.
‘Ready, willing and able!’ That is how the saying goes, but how often are we ‘ready, willing and able’? That is where it all comes back to surrender; surrender gets the ball rolling, and surrender is being ‘Ready’. You wont be ‘able’ till you are willing, and you wont be willing until you are ready.
Do you need to get ready?
Love
Cam
Word For Life
READY: Prepared and fit for use, willing to do something, the state of being ready.
WILLING: Eager, ready, which is done or given gladly.
ABLE: Having the power, skill, knowledge, time etc necessary to do something.
The Word
Philippians 4:13
I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me (I am ready for anything and equal
to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self sufficient in Christ's sufficiency).
Friday, April 01, 2005
Being not Doing and Event vs. Process
Being not Doing... and Event vs.. Process...
Light For Life April 2005
Recently in my life, I have felt like I am more in the will of God, or the right place than ever before. I have had a true peace on the inside which really does pass all understanding, and I know this because I have made some changes to my life that I never thought I would, or that I would be able to make. Usually when you get to this peaceful place someone will come along and say something to the contrary which leaves the ball in your court, are you hearing God or are they? And, if you feel you are hearing right will you let these words unsettle you? I was beginning to get secure with my changes when that happened to me – something said which seemed to be very different from what I thought, so naturally it confused me a little and I had to ask God, “Am I really hearing you or am I just doing my own thing, off from where You want me?”
I was thinking about this again and talking a friend who has walked along side me all through the journey of 2004, I came to the conclusion and realization that I really do believe that I am in the will of God. How do I know? When I look at my life and family there is peace, and there is good fruit in the shape of answers to prayer and miracles happening around me. For me to feel so peaceful about the changes in my life HAS to be a miracle, this is SO unlike me, I am the one who clings on, and holds onto things, I have great difficulty letting go! I am sure I am not alone.
My friend put it really well when she said that it might seem to people that the changes I have made have been an overnight decision but it was a long process, not made rashly. It wasn’t an ‘event’ it was the end of a long process. These choices were not overnight decisions, I fought them out all last year, it was hard and painful to even choose. It took a lot to help from God and friends and some tough lessons to make me let go; I had to be brought to my knees to actually let go, and a lot of that happens where people don’t see it, and so others may not understand at first.
Its possible that people may see our decisions and think – ‘What is he/she doing? Are they off the track or deceived?’ But, in actuality for me God had already spoken it ahead of time, through my Pastor friend and mentor Jenny last year. She spoke to me of God calling me down a different road, a road that others were not going down, a ‘road less traveled by’ which was what confused me because it was not the ‘norm’, but it was the right road for me. It was a road to authenticity. It was a road of being not doing! Thinking on it right now, I remember that after she prayed for me that day, it was the first time I was even just willing to say ‘Ok, if you want me to make the changes then give me the grace and I will be able, I will be willing to be willing’.
I was watching a program on the Australian Christian Channel and a man from the UK was preaching about ‘Event vs... Process’. He said most often God uses process in our lives, we want quick overnight but He takes time to do his work, involving obedience and trust which isn’t easy, he said decisions made by process are better than made by events. One of the scriptures he used was Mathew 7:24, exactly the passage I have been studying!! He spoke on building the right foundations, digging down to the rock (Jesus), and the process that goes along with that, which involves completing a lot of hard work and takes time. The foolish builder, instead gets things done quickly – by building on the sand, which is bad foundations – he makes a quick show that doesn’t end up lasting when the storms, wind and rain. It is not an event it is a process.
People may not understand where you are at if it is very out of character for you, I have always been one found doing stuff but now I feel free in just being. (Read this slowly) I am becoming content with ‘being’ and I don’t NEED to know what I need to be doing anymore. Before, I lived to know what I was meant to be doing, and then to be doing it. Right now, I don’t need to know what I am meant to be doing, but I do know that I am doing what I am meant to be doing! Right now I am giving my all to my family – loving them and being there, to have those deep and meaningful talks with my kids, meeting their needs, not running off somewhere or preparing for something or doing something for others, everything in moderation. Do you see what I am saying? I am doing what I am meant to be doing! This is the priority assignment of my life and for the moment the only assignment!
For too long I have unconsciously drawn my contentment, my security, my identity, my being, from what I have been doing, busy, busy – whether that has been helping someone, or being involved in any number of tasks. I felt God say to me ‘Open your hands wide and I will fill them’. I want God to set the foundations of my life, putting things back into my life; (which are the foundations to my house that I am building on The Rock - God) the things that are the bricks He wants to use. I will stay right here with my hands wide open and wait. I don’t need to know now! I am not in rush to know! As far as I am concerned I am doing what God wants me to do right now and it is all the more amazing because it is not what I thought I would doing! It is being, and as the shampoo ad goes “It won’t happen overnight but it will happen!”
Love
Cam
Word For Life
Being – At peace, happy with who you are, content in yourself (my definition).
Doing – Activities done, always busy, can’t sit still, occupied (my definition).
Event - An important and unusual happening
Process – Any continued set of natural actions connected with the continuation, development and change of life or matter over which man has little control or a continued set of actions performed intentionally in order to reach some result.
The Word
Luke 10:38-42
Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village ; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, Lord do You not care that My sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me" And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha you are worried and troubled about many tings. "But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."
Light For Life April 2005
Recently in my life, I have felt like I am more in the will of God, or the right place than ever before. I have had a true peace on the inside which really does pass all understanding, and I know this because I have made some changes to my life that I never thought I would, or that I would be able to make. Usually when you get to this peaceful place someone will come along and say something to the contrary which leaves the ball in your court, are you hearing God or are they? And, if you feel you are hearing right will you let these words unsettle you? I was beginning to get secure with my changes when that happened to me – something said which seemed to be very different from what I thought, so naturally it confused me a little and I had to ask God, “Am I really hearing you or am I just doing my own thing, off from where You want me?”
I was thinking about this again and talking a friend who has walked along side me all through the journey of 2004, I came to the conclusion and realization that I really do believe that I am in the will of God. How do I know? When I look at my life and family there is peace, and there is good fruit in the shape of answers to prayer and miracles happening around me. For me to feel so peaceful about the changes in my life HAS to be a miracle, this is SO unlike me, I am the one who clings on, and holds onto things, I have great difficulty letting go! I am sure I am not alone.
My friend put it really well when she said that it might seem to people that the changes I have made have been an overnight decision but it was a long process, not made rashly. It wasn’t an ‘event’ it was the end of a long process. These choices were not overnight decisions, I fought them out all last year, it was hard and painful to even choose. It took a lot to help from God and friends and some tough lessons to make me let go; I had to be brought to my knees to actually let go, and a lot of that happens where people don’t see it, and so others may not understand at first.
Its possible that people may see our decisions and think – ‘What is he/she doing? Are they off the track or deceived?’ But, in actuality for me God had already spoken it ahead of time, through my Pastor friend and mentor Jenny last year. She spoke to me of God calling me down a different road, a road that others were not going down, a ‘road less traveled by’ which was what confused me because it was not the ‘norm’, but it was the right road for me. It was a road to authenticity. It was a road of being not doing! Thinking on it right now, I remember that after she prayed for me that day, it was the first time I was even just willing to say ‘Ok, if you want me to make the changes then give me the grace and I will be able, I will be willing to be willing’.
I was watching a program on the Australian Christian Channel and a man from the UK was preaching about ‘Event vs... Process’. He said most often God uses process in our lives, we want quick overnight but He takes time to do his work, involving obedience and trust which isn’t easy, he said decisions made by process are better than made by events. One of the scriptures he used was Mathew 7:24, exactly the passage I have been studying!! He spoke on building the right foundations, digging down to the rock (Jesus), and the process that goes along with that, which involves completing a lot of hard work and takes time. The foolish builder, instead gets things done quickly – by building on the sand, which is bad foundations – he makes a quick show that doesn’t end up lasting when the storms, wind and rain. It is not an event it is a process.
People may not understand where you are at if it is very out of character for you, I have always been one found doing stuff but now I feel free in just being. (Read this slowly) I am becoming content with ‘being’ and I don’t NEED to know what I need to be doing anymore. Before, I lived to know what I was meant to be doing, and then to be doing it. Right now, I don’t need to know what I am meant to be doing, but I do know that I am doing what I am meant to be doing! Right now I am giving my all to my family – loving them and being there, to have those deep and meaningful talks with my kids, meeting their needs, not running off somewhere or preparing for something or doing something for others, everything in moderation. Do you see what I am saying? I am doing what I am meant to be doing! This is the priority assignment of my life and for the moment the only assignment!
For too long I have unconsciously drawn my contentment, my security, my identity, my being, from what I have been doing, busy, busy – whether that has been helping someone, or being involved in any number of tasks. I felt God say to me ‘Open your hands wide and I will fill them’. I want God to set the foundations of my life, putting things back into my life; (which are the foundations to my house that I am building on The Rock - God) the things that are the bricks He wants to use. I will stay right here with my hands wide open and wait. I don’t need to know now! I am not in rush to know! As far as I am concerned I am doing what God wants me to do right now and it is all the more amazing because it is not what I thought I would doing! It is being, and as the shampoo ad goes “It won’t happen overnight but it will happen!”
Love
Cam
Word For Life
Being – At peace, happy with who you are, content in yourself (my definition).
Doing – Activities done, always busy, can’t sit still, occupied (my definition).
Event - An important and unusual happening
Process – Any continued set of natural actions connected with the continuation, development and change of life or matter over which man has little control or a continued set of actions performed intentionally in order to reach some result.
The Word
Luke 10:38-42
Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village ; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, Lord do You not care that My sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me" And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha you are worried and troubled about many tings. "But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."
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