Open Up Your Hands

May 18, 2023

Sometimes the greatest power comes in finally letting go.

That’s what God is teaching me this year. In January, I wrote a devotional right after New Year’s about my word for the year being “surrender.” I felt the Holy Spirit heavily prompting me that Matthew 16:24-25 would be the verses that God would teach me in 2023:

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

- Matthew 16:24-25

It felt really noble and fun to say that on January 1 - that I was ready to deeply surrender and take up my cross and follow Him.

But those words get harder when you see God actually moving in your life.

“Be careful what you pray for!” wise older mentors have always joked. They’re right. Sometimes, you ask God to help you surrender and then He actually does it. I’m not implying that God coldly causes every bad thing in our lives just to test us to see if we’ll really do what He says. But I think when we ask for more of Him, He allows the brokenness of this world to give us opportunities to choose Him over our flesh.

Taking up your cross and truly surrendering means crucifying your own desires to seek after Jesus.

It means letting go of the job or hobby or relationship that YOU want, when the Holy Spirit makes it clear it isn’t of Him. Denying yourself starts with opening up the clenched fist, because it’s hard to raise your hands in worship when you’re hanging onto the things of this world.

We all know the pain of having to let go of something we desperately wanted, no matter when it happened in your story. And there is space to grieve that – God sits with us in the pain. But I challenge you today to do as James did and, “consider it pure joy” (James 1:2). When I look at the lives of spiritual leaders I look up to, there is always a moment of surrender to point back to. A moment where they finally let go of that idol so they could really chase after Jesus.

Today friends, maybe God is inviting you to surrender so you can truly begin to experience the joy of seeking after Him wholeheartedly. Too often we walk half-heartedly with Jesus, trying to seek Him and the world at the same time.

Maybe the joy of 2023 is the Holy Spirit is finally inviting you to let go of whatever is in your clenched fist and really walk with Him. There is so much beauty in the pain of surrender. I am learning it this year. Others have walked it before us.