The Prerequisite to Obedience: Surrender

Obedience is not possible without surrender.

I cannot give my all to the Lord in the place of doing if I haven’t given Him my all in my heart. I must admit that my life is not my own.

I often find myself confused, feeling like I am not doing enough for the Lord or in my ministry. I find myself with a lack of contentment. How can I bless more people, how can I give more, how can I help? I think part of this is rooted in a good and legitimate desire to serve Him. I know that whatever I have done to the least of these I have done unto Him.

But…

I know that there is something more here.

I imagine that if I do more things for God then somehow I can avoid the turmoil of my own heart.

I am afraid of the future, I am afraid of what is to come— and so I do. I don’t know how to process what I am feeling with the Lord— and so I do. I don’t have the courage to talk to the Lord— and so I do.

I hear the Lord but I lack courage to respond in honesty.

I receive revelation spiritually but do not process emotionally.

Who am I? Where am I going?

At times I question, the value of what I do or why I am doing it.

Then the Holy Spirit reminds me of the day He called me; He brings me back to the prophetic words that moved my Spirit to action.

I am called to birth a movement but why am I afraid that I won’t “do it”? If I am called to it then it is assigned to me. If it is assigned to me then as long as I stay close it will come.

This is what the spirit of anxiety says to me: You don’t truly belong to the Father. If you don’t do this work then you will miss the promise He has for you. Work to prove that you’re worthy of the calling that is upon your life. This is a generational curse and stronghold you have inherited from your spiritual authority.

The truth: I am not worthy and I will never be worthy of the calling that is upon my life. In His grace, by faith I received salvation, and by grace, I received the office of the prophet, my ministry, and the prophetic destinies upon my life. This is what the Lord created me for before the foundations of the earth.

My God is eternal and He does not lie.

God will never and can never go back on His word.

Are you ready to let go of control?

When you let go of control anxiety will let go of you and your mind.

When you let go of control, you will only find peace.

But Father, how do I let go of control?

I’m glad you asked…

1. Acknowledge that Control is an Illusion

2. Stand Firm in Your Identity as My Daughter

3. Choose to Trust Me with the Details of Your Life

The truth is that you actually don’t control anything, you can never control anything, and you will never control anything. Your life isn’t yours. Everything is stewardship. You belong to me, to my plans, my purposes.

As my daughter, I have created to worship me, to bow down to me, and to revere me. This is what you are created for. So, as my daughter, to live in any other reality is to live a lie.

Affirm your identity as my daughter and you will find that the illusion of control no longer grasps and tempts your heart in the same way.

Finally, it comes down to choice. Will you choose to trust me or not? I will not force you. to choose trust but I will tell you this…

The more you choose to trust, the more fruit you will bear in your life.

I will not force you to trust me, I will not force you. to surrender your heart to me, I will not force you to surrender your desires BUT if you do you will find that obedience to the hard things I call you to will feel easier. They won’t be easy for they constantly call you to die. to your flesh, but you will have joy.

I don’t want begrudgingly obedient children because they have to, ii want sons and daughters that have shifted out of a slavery mindset to one of freedom where I am truly their reward.

And this is the question I will leave you with Nicole…

Am I truly your reward?

If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Your greatest calling is not to prophesy, not to intercede, not to minister, not to work, it is to love me. If you have lost a burning love for me, then all of the other stuff can die. It is fruitless and pointless apart from the vine.