Take It…It's Yours

I read this quote and it summed up my heart at this particular juncture in my life:

Christ says, "Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good...Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked--the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.” ~ C. S. Lewis

My prayer each and every day is  "Father you increase, while Yolanda decreases." (John 3:30)  John the Baptist had a pure and real servants heart. He was not out to be about his business, but he was about his Father business, obeying God’s will for his life. John knew the only reason he even had a life or a ministry is because God gave it to him. His adult life was characterized by blind devotion and utter surrender to Jesus Christ and His kingdom

Now, let me set the record straight, it has taken me 40 years to get to this place in my life. I have coined my time running from this "sold out" status as my "wilderness experience". In this wilderness I wanted to do what pleased Yolanda. I wanted a degree to achieve a career that pleased Yolanda. I wanted to live the life with the man I carefully chose. I wanted to achieve goals I had mapped out in a five, ten and twenty year increments. However, my Father who created, called and ordained me had carefully crafted a life that would serve His greater purpose thusly nothing I did worked. I would land the big job in the Fortune 500 company and in a few years I was back to square one. I would enroll into school to complete the degree that I wanted and desired so desperately, but each time, my plan failed. I would seek information to create the family I desired and something would happen to halt the process. I was devastated, unhappy, and frustrated about life. It wasn't until I died that I finally lived.

How is that possible? 

When I rededicated myself, my will, my heart, my skill sets, my breath back to the One who gave it to me did I begin to live with a new vigor, fulfilled with purpose and passion. People often hear me teach this, but it is a divine truth that I desire the world to know, the greatest gift you can give the God who has everything — is your life. When you give your life, which is the most precious thing that you can give our Father, you will see His faithfulness abounding in your life. When I removed the focus from "I" and placed it on "Him" did I begin to feel the "fullness" that the Word says existed on this side of Heaven. 

Are you ambitious about decreasing? Acknowledge that everything you have comes from God. Then humbly and emphatically acknowledge that you are not the Christ of your life. Understand that your role is to become less and less, and for Christ to become more and more. I’ve realized that my decreasing might cost me some comfort and relationships.  But I’ve learned to say, take it all. My life, it's all I have and it belongs to you. 

Rededicate your life to Him today so that you can live the life He has ordained especially for you.

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