“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”
Matthew 19:29
Surrender. Serve. Sacrifice. These are words that I am becoming more familiar with daily.
I used to think these words meant the same things. I used to believe that serving God in some capacity was the same as surrender and sacrifice. I was wrong.
Although to serve, surrender, and sacrifice go hand in hand in the walk of faith, each act is a choice, a hard choice, and not everyone chose them all. And for those who choose them all, they do not choose them all all the time.
I have been graced to choose them all. And I must admit, it is painful.
I surrendered my heart to Christ when I got baptized, but DAILY, I fight myself to surrender my life again each new day. I choose to serve God but I don’t always know what sacrifices would be required in my service.
So the question comes, “Are you all in?”
If you were asked today, in your walk with God,”Are you all in?” How easy would it be to answer yes or no?
I am finding out what it means to be all in. And I must confess, it is scary to be ALL IN.
When every thing you think, say, feel, and do, goes through a filtering process by the Spirit of God in you, submits to the wisdom of the Spirit and not the flesh, when you do not permit yourself to act without the permission of the Holy Spirit, when discernment becomes a necessary language to learn, when God’s way and Word is no longer just an option but the only option EVERY TIME, that is what it means for me to be ALL IN.
It is scary to serve God with a surrendered will and a heart willing to sacrifice everything that means anything to me for God’s will to be done. It is scary, painful, and demanding.
Still, I say Yes. I have to say Yes. I need to say Yes. Destiny requires that I SAY YES and continue to say Yes.
I realize that no matter what I think it will look like or how uncertain I am about the unfamiliar road that Faith will lead me on, God is still good and He holds my future in His loving, mighty hands.
God is not a gamble nor a risky venture, HE IS A GOD OF ASSURANCE!
All His promises are Yes and Amen, so why wouldn’t I be all in?
When I consider the depth of giving my life to God to do as He pleases with my gifts, my heart, my mind, my soul, and my body, for His glory, I am humbled to even have the choice to say Yes.
I wonder today if you too are at a junction when you have to ask yourself what it means to be all in. I wonder if you are considering the cost of Faith and the cost of hoping in God when nothing you see looks like the promises of God.
Can you dare to say Yes even when you are alone in your faith?
Can you dare to say Yes even with the tears rolling down your face?
Can you dare to say Yes even when your body is failing you and you feel weakened in your bones?
Friend, Are you all in? If you are all in, are you staying all in?
I pray for you today. I pray a renewal of mind and soul as you seek the Spirit of God for a worthy answer to heaven’s question. I pray that you are led in the truth and strength of Christ to be all in with God as He alone takes you from glory to glory to glory in Jesus name. Amen.
