Inspired by a Fr Daoud Lamei sermon: https://soundcloud.com/madonna_loves_jesus/dbdsuiulfiv3
The person who is used to leaving his life in the hands of God, his salvation itself he leaves in the hand of God. He constantly says to Him;
Lord, I don’t know how to walk in the way of righteousness. I’m scared and wary of judgment day. But I am full of confidence that You’ll be there on the last day and say he’s mine and call me by my name. I have no hope in any other. I have hope Lord, that You will be the one who saves me in these few days on earth, and I also have hope that You will be the one who will save me in the Last day. “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he that will shake hands with me?” Job 17:3. In other words, I won’t let anyone else Lord hold my hand except for You. I won’t let anyone else command me to not be afraid.
When Peter was walking on the water, he was definitely in a weird and strange situation. As soon as he started drowning he said “Save me, Lord”. So the Lord stretched out His mighty hand and answered him saying “O ye of little faith…”
Again, Lord, You are my hope, I want no other than You because there is no greater than You. I don’t want a doctor to hold my hand. Not even a lawyer. Nor bank, nor governor nor any person on the face of the earth whatever his status may be, to tell me not be afraid. Only You Lord.
The first thing that will allow you to live a life of sacrifice is to not expect anything from yourself. Because the more you expect from yourself, the less you will be able to allow God to take the reigns on your life. You are still holding on to the belief that you can do everything without the help of the Almighty. You’re either too confident in yourself or too confident in others and this is what will prevent you from leaving EVERYTHING to Him.
Our God is a jealous and zealous God. He is jealous over you from the snare of others. He begins to slowly take away the people you confide and are confident in and leaves you to think “Okay… who’s left? Or what’s left. Who’s left other than me that you are able to be confident in?” None Lord. So what should you do? Will you leave it to God now or are you still confident in others and in yourself?
Again, “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he that will shake hands with me?” Job 17:3
I cannot even allow my left hand to be put with the right, nor allow anyone to hold my hand. I have no other but you Lord.
Our issue in living a life of sacrifice and giving our life to God is in our mind. Why? Because it just refuses to stop. We pray “According to your will Lord” and in a matter of moments we take it all back with our actions; as if we never even prayed. As long as you’ve told God that there is something bothering me, leave it to Him and genuinely follow and believe the words “According to Your will O Lord”. Wait so He knows? Of course. Will you then involve yourself in the ways of the Lord and stand in front of His will?
Do not rethink your prayer after it has been given to Christ. It’s the hardest thing to stop your mind from worrying after you’ve given the prayer to the Lord. Rest assured and do not think of the issue, but leave it to has all the issues in His hand. Unfortunately, when the tribulations and hardships come steaming in, Christ becomes merely a character. The more you think about it, the more you convince yourself how inadequate any solutions is to your hardship. So what’s the solution? Not to be disheartened but to not think about it at all. We look at everything with an earthly eye but the Lord looks at it with a divine and heavenly eye. Easier said than done of course. It needs struggle. That your eye is on the Lord and not on anything else.
Rest your mind. But to rest your mind you need to rest your heart.
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6,7).
Something has to work. Either your heart or your mind. The more your mind is working there is no sacrifice and there is no peace. All you need to do is give it to Him. As soon as He knows, go to sleep.
Every time we worry, we consider ourselves orphans with no father. And this is an insult to our Heavenly Father. An insult to Him that we worry. He wants to tell us “Am I not here? Have you not seen all that I’ve done for you in the past? Why are you worried about money or about your health? Why do you think about your kids? Are your kids not my kids?
Leave it to Him