Peach here:
Hope this post finds you doing fine! Not exactly sure how this will turn out! Just some thoughts that have been brewing. We shall see how it goes!
“4 Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” — Psalm 37:4, KJV
Recently-ish, as I was driving to work, the thought came to me that the word ‘SURRENDER’ has a bad rap. We misunderstand it in the context of the need for it in our relationship with the Lord.
It is thought of in a negative sense, from a worldly point of view. Like losing, giving up, missing out, not being seen or heard.
But, The Holy Spirit was in the middle of teaching me a lesson. That Surrender in the Kingdom of God, leads to all kinds of GOOD things.
To surrender to God, means to yield to Him. To make ourselves available for Him, a vessel fit for His for use. Like a large, old time sailing ship, with the sails unfurled and ready to be filled with the wind to propel the ship towards its destination.
In April 2015 I was diagnosed was Diabetes. It was a tremendous shock. Early on, a verse that has been important to me as I navigate this was “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” — 2 Corinthians 12:9.
It was never a verse I got excited about. Just being honest. But, over these years since, I have pondered and turned and thought about it in various applications, and am continuing to learn from it. One of the best parts is the fact that He is not looking for our strengths, or what we can do for Him, or what we can bring Him. In fact, our strengths, while a blessing and definitely a gift, can also be a place we tend to forget about Him. Because much like a child, ‘I do it my own self’ sort of mentality creeps in on us. We don’t even realize it.
But, when we know our weak spots, we are more likely to make room for Him, His Holy Spirit, His strength, His way of doing things!
Surrender isn’t giving up. It’s the humility of being yielded. Fully available for our Lord’s use. In other words, it’s a power move! It’s us making ourselves available for the strength and power of God to work in and through us, — “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” — Isaiah 40:29.
One of my (many) all time favorites, has blessed me over and over and over again, is listed above, Psalm 37:4, — “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”, and it’s a great illustration of this principle of surrender, of yieldedness — at work in our relationship with our Lord. To ‘delight’ in Him, as used there, means to be soft to Him, pliable to Him, and as we do this, we are then in a position to be entrusted with the most precious, and secret desires of our hearts, the too sensitive, too precious to even speak to another, because they are so unlikely in their exquisite goodness, those desires of our hearts! It’s because in that instance, our hearts have begun to beat with His. And we are in agreement for His Ephesians 3:20 goodness in our lives!!
This Hawaiian Hibiscus pictured above is tender, fragile, and not strong at all. It is also brilliant! Gorgeous! And so pleasing to the eye!
If it was strong and sturdy and rigid…it would not be much of a flower! But, as it is, I can’t look at it without smiling and feeling joy! That is what it is here for! It is fulfilling its purpose!
If that sail boat above, wanted stronger, more sturdy and inflexible ‘sails’, it would not be effective at letting the wind fills its sails, and then going where the wind blows! It’s better to have yielded sails, able to be FILLED with the sea breeze!
Let the weak say “I am strong!”
Lord, here I am! Use me! I want to be yielded to You! Gladly will I boast in m weakness, as Paul said, for then You can be strong in me!
Peace and love, y’all! Peace and love!
The Adventures and Musings of Peach and Batman 