Giving God carte blanche

So my New Year prayers started out with me telling God what to do. I only half jest. 

As I prayed on my knees, pouring out my heart to Him, I wasn’t finding peace. I was feeling more turmoil than peace. Until...

I finally blurted out, "Lord, I give You carte blanche with my life." 

Then, sweet release. His beautiful peace filled my soul.

It seems counterintuitive to how we are wired in the natural.  We all want some semblance of control over our lives.  But when you belong to the Lord, He leaves some things seemingly unresolved in your life.  I don't know all the reasons why He does this.  I only know that all He does is done in love.  Great love.  Everlasting love.  Holy love.  Righteous love. 

Problem with us is that we've been sold a bill of goods as to what real love is.  So when God, in His perfect love, allows certain trials to linger in our lives, our rational, worldly, fleshly minds cannot understand why He would allow such seemingly harmful things to continue in our lives.  

All I know is that He sovereignly allows whatever it takes in our lives in order to fully form His image inside of us.  And this side of heaven, that work in us never ends!  

God cares about one thing and one thing only.  Our hearts.  

So while we're tempted to demand things of God, we will only find His peace when we surrender, submit to Him, and trust full on that He knows exactly what He is doing.

So instead of barking orders like...   

Lord, fix this.
Lord, heal that.
Lord, change this circumstance already.

,,,we look beyond our feelings.  We look beyond the hurt and pain.  We rise above only because His power in us allows us to.  It is the birthright of every born again child of God to rise above our feelings, circumstances, and impossible situations.

Our intellect cannot understand because it is a spiritual matter.  Our spirit, His Holy Spirit in us, is able to rise above in and through us.

But we have to let go!

First, we ask Him to forgive us for still wanting control over our lives.  We ask Him to forgive us for wanting to play God, a role for which none of us was made to play.  We ask Him to shed His love abroad in our hearts, as He promises to do, so that we can live lives worthy of Him.

We turn off the picture-perfect Pinterest pix that only lead to stress and despair, because even if we were able to mimic the "look," it holds no power to truly satisfy and fulfill our hearts.  We turn away from all which would only leave us wanting more.

Jesus does not leave us wanting.  All else does.  See Psalm 23:1.

The root of all our pain is not in our circumstances or how others mistreat us, but in our perspective of these things.  

The Lord told me flat out that my thinking is skewed.  I believe all of our thinking is skewed because we live in a fallen world.

So we press on to know Jesus.  We allow His Spirit to reign in us which will eventually un-skew our thinking through the power of His Word.  

It is work, friends!  Supernatural stuff does not come naturally.  Spiritual work takes time.  Spiritual work is the hardest of all because we can't get our hands on it.  Yet that is the very work that Christ longs to do in us.  Not to torture us (though some days, it feels like it!), but so that we can come out shining as gold, like Job did eventually.  

Job did not come out shining like gold and knowing God more intimately in the good times, but in the worst of times.  That's just how it works.  

Jesus just won't stop doing whatever it takes until we realize that He is It.  He is the only thing that satisfies our hearts.  He wants to give us so much more than just copasetic circumstances.  He wants to give us Himself.

This Christian life is topsy turvy.  Our lives are not supposed to look like those in the world.  We are not living for the same things, or at least we are not supposed to be.  But it's gotten so that you can't really tell much of a difference any more.  And when you are "sold out" for God, they label you a lunatic or worse.

But we are born for God, to be in relationship with Him, and all of our true purpose and joy lie in that relationship, no matter how painful the parameters of our lives may be.

To cling to Jesus, to know that He is all we really need, and to trust Him with our all - these are all that matter to the true Christian.  And I believe the struggles we have only persist because we simply do not do or believe these very things!

So next time you want to tell God what to do (I can't be the only one!), sit back, give it all to Him, relax and know that He knows exactly what He is doing in your life.  As long as you are seeking Him and obeying Him and want His will above all, then His peace will envelop you.  

And that is what you really want, isn't it?  Peace in your heart.

Precious Lord.  Life hurts.  Life is hard.  Even on the best of days, we are still left wanting more; we can't find contentment in self, stuff, or in people because we were made for more.  We were made for You.  Thank You that we can still come before You with our requests, even though You may not answer or provide the way we think we want.  There are things that only You, as God, can do, and we have our part to do.  Help us let go of our desired outcomes, how we want You to move on our behalf, so that we can fully enjoy You, sweet Lord.  It always comes back to this:  trust.  So I tell You, Lord, that I trust You.  I may not like all that You allow in my life, but even in this, I can let You know how I'm feeling.  You listen with love.  But then You still do what is very best for me!  And we truly do not know what that is, only You do, Lord God.  So have at it, Lord!  Take carte blanche in my life.  For I love You and I trust You, my Lord and my God.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.