Are You Going to Give God It All?

What does it mean to Give God It All?

Well, to me, giving it all to God means that I need to relinquish all of my pain, regrets, sadness, guilt, shame and even the good things and lay them all at His feet. But also, it means that whatever I may be going through, I can give it over to God knowing that if I can’t handle it; by faith, God will get me through it. In the Bible, we see many times the prophets and later the Apostles urging us to give all that we have to the Lord.

But here’s the question: Why do we hang onto the things of the past? In Psalms 55:22, it is telling us to cast all of our burdens onto God and He will sustain us.

We no longer have to shoulder our burdens ourselves.

Psalms 55:22

“22. Cast your burdens on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”

I like this verse because it is a reminder that no matter what we may be going through; we can always give our burdens and whatever is troubling us to God. In the Bible, there are multiple references to God being regarded as a comforter to those in need and one that I can think of is from 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 where the Apostle Paul is writing to the Corinthians about suffering and God being the Comforter.

In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Paul says, “3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4. who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” I feel that Paul is trying to tell us in these verses that the One who comforts us in our time of tribulation, we as people and Christians should likewise do the same and give comfort to those who are in need as well because we were once comforted by God.

This leads me to a blog post by T.R. Noble called, “New Year 2017 | Turn over to the Lord” where T.R. Noble talks about her own pain and the tears she sheds while dealing with her burdens. In the blog post poem, she said, “

These burdens

once were mine.

But now, Lord

they are Yours.”

I really liked this quote from T.R. because it reflects what we as people and Christians do when we are faced with pain and the rest of the blog post goes into greater detail about how with each new situation or problem either internally, externally, physically, or mentally; we know that God will wipe every tear from our eyes. In this blog post, I related with the message it was trying to show because I too; have felt this desire to just give it all to God and let Him take the chains that I felt were too heavy and give it to Him.

This blog post I feel relates to Jeremiah 15:18 where the prophet Jeremiah was going through in his internal struggle when he said in verse 18, “18. Why is my pain perpetual And my wound incurable, Which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, As waters that fail.”

This theme of pain and giving it to God actually leads me to a sermon I watched on YouTube by Pastor Steven Furtick entitled, “Where Breakthrough Begins”. In the sermon, Pastor Furtick said, “Breakthrough happens when you’re willing to expose… that place” which he took from John 5:6 where Jesus walks towards the pool of Bethesda and Jesus asks the paralytic man, “6. … Do you want to be made well?”

Steven Furtick said, “Breakthrough happens when you are willing to expose… that place“

I liked this quote from Steven Furtick because breakthrough as Christians doesn’t come when we are high-up and living life but when we are down and hurting because it’s only then that God can show you the way out and towards your healing. In the sermon, Pastor Steven Furtick has several statements that I feel we, as people and as Christians should take to heart when we are hurting or in need of a breakthrough.

• “The thing about our condition in an emotional and spiritual level is that we’re able to hide them more easily.”
  • “You can live in this condition for a long time”
• “Sometimes we need to make a mark in our lives and say, ‘You know what God; it would be great if you could change… but this is the place… in my heart, in my life”
• “Jesus walks right up to the guy and asks him a question, ‘Do you really want to change?”
  • “We can come to church to get better and never feel well”
    • “Sometimes that’s what we are waiting for God to do when we say, ‘I want a change to happen in our life’ We want Him to breakthrough and come down”
• “The more desperate the situation. The greater the opportunity for a miracle”

Steven Furtick said, “Every second you spend wishing God would take away a struggle is a forfeited opportunity to overcome.”

We, as Christians never know the power of giving our situations to God because we are still bound to our situation. I recently read a blog post by Jeffrey Stevens of Paradigm Shift entitled, “Finding Jesus through Addiction”. In the blog post, he said, “Every single person who suffers and recovers from drug and alcohol addiction has been hand-picked by God. He chooses us because normal people could never live through the horrible lives we create through our addiction and survive to help others carrying the same cross.”

I like this quote because no matter what we may be battling in our lives, God will still use us to help others; which leads me to the concept of healing. Healing to me is an essential part of growing closer to God while also allowing God to restore and renew us in time. When we are hurting, we want something or someone to heal and fill the void, but we don’t have to look far and see that God is there ready to fill that void; you just have to let Him.

Pastor Jentezen Franklin said, “Health and healing will follow fasting” and this leads me to a song that I remember when I need healing; it’s by Christian group MercyMe and the song is called, “The Hurt and the Healer.” This song, to me, is a great reminder that there is a Healer waiting for us and that when we need healing and we can’t see any way out; we can turn to Christ.

This song, to me is a great reminder that there is a Healer waiting for us and that when we need healing and we can’t see any way out; we can turn to Christ. In the song, the part that I feel reflects how we are suffering and need a healer is in the chorus.

Chorus

“I’m alive

Even though a part of me has died

You take my heart and breathe it back to life

I fall into Your arms open wide

When the hurt and the healer collide”

I read a blog post by Lynn Abbott of Through Ink and Image entitled, “Revue: God and the “Too Hod” and in the blog post; she said, “… on occasion, when you and I face challenges, we might be tempted to say, ‘It’s too hod’” and I agree. Occasionally, I feel that we as people and as Christians love to push things away that are too hard for us, but we can always turn to the Father who can help us along. Also, in this blog post, Lynn has several quotes that I feel relate to us as Christians.

• “Jeremiah’s history reminds us that Abba loves to use those who feel unprepared and inadequate to the task.”
  • “It’s too hod…I’m just a young and inexperienced fellow. Why don’t you choose someone else?”
  • “… his so-called “weakness” reminded him to depend upon God. And God uniquely blesses those who depend solely upon Him”
• “He promises to walk beside us. He takes one handle bar; you and I take the other.”
  • “The apostle Paul reminds us that God “who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 1:6).”

Charles Spurgeon said, “There are many sorts of broken hearts, and Christ is good at healing them all.”

This particular blog post doesn’t have a core theme unlike my other blog posts because I feel that this one touches on a myriad of different topics like Healing, Pain, Dependence, and Trust that I feel we as Christians should remember when we ask ourselves the question: Are We Giving it All to God?

This leads me into a blog post I read by T.R. Noble called, “Healing From Pain” and in the blog post, she wrote a poem about her healing from her pain and I think that we should all run to God when we are in tears because He is there to comfort us. In the blog post poem, she said, “

“Throughout this pain I won’t give up

for Your love is pouring on me.

Throughout this pain I will hold on

to the One Who has always been.”

Also, in Jeffrey Stevens’ blog post, “Finding Jesus through Addiction”, there are several quotes that he says that I feel we as people and as Christians should remember when we feel that we aren’t able to get rid of the pain and suffering in our lives.

• “He also gives us the opportunity of killing ourselves with them or using them to point others to the cross”
  • “He allows us to make a choice of going to meetings, talking about our struggles with others, and going out of our way to encourage or inspire another person who is having a more difficult time than we are.”
  • “God allows us to admit when we are wrong and make amends to those we have wronged in the past.”

In the end, though, it really boils down to whether or not we are willing to give God all that we are going through in order for Him to heal us from it and make us new. Remember what Jesus said in John 5:6 when He asked the man, “6. … Do you want to be made well?” well, that applies to Christians today. All that Christ is asking is if you are ready to be made well and whole again.

So, what will you do?

Will you let God heal you of your pain and your sickness?

Will you Give God everything that is weighing you down?

Or, Will You continue to hold onto pain, sickness, and grief that is keeping you bound?

Please comment below and join the discussion. I would love to hear what you think.

God’s Blessings,

Joshua Reid

 

References

Abbott, Lynn. “Revue: God and the “Too Hod”, 17 Nov 2017, throughinkandimage.com, https://throughinkandimage.com/2017/11/17/revue-god-and-the-too-hod/ . Accessed 7 Dec 2017.

Franklin, Jentezen. “Health and healing will follow fasting.” http://www.azquotes.com/quote/778721 . Accessed 8 Dec 2017.

Furtick, Steven. “Where Breakthrough Begins | Pastor Steven Furtick”, YouTube, uploaded by Elevation Church, 1 year ago, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03Fi1VHiK8I . Accessed 6 Dec 2017.

Furtick, Steven. “Every second you spend wishing God would take away a struggle is a forfeited opportunity to overcome”, http://www.azquotes.com/quote/762429 .  Accessed 8 Dec 2017.

MercyMe. “MercyMe – The Hurt & The Healer (Official Lyric Video)”, YouTube, uploaded by mercymevideo, 5 years ago, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmau3tkeEh0 . Accessed 7 Dec 2017.

Spurgeon, Charles. “There are many sorts of broken hearts, and Christ is good at healing them all”, http://craigtowens.tumblr.com/image/161177584603 . Accessed 7 Dec 2017.

Stevens, Jeffrey. “Finding Jesus through Addiction”, 1 month ago, https://dailyps.com/ , https://dailyps.com/finding-jesus-through-addiction/ . Accessed 7 Dec 2017.

T.R. Noble. “New Year 2017 | Turn Over to the Lord” 5 Jan 2017, nobledevotionblog.wordpress.com, https://nobledevotionblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/05/new-year-2017-poem-turn-over-to-the-lord/ . Accessed 5 Dec 2017.

• – “Healing from Pain”, 2 Aug 2016, nobledevotionblog.wordpress.com, https://nobledevotionblog.wordpress.com/2016/08/02/prayer-poem-1-healing-from-pain/ . Accessed 5 Dec 2017

 

Picture References

Author Unknown. “God You Are Our Comforter”, http://thewordshared.net/portfolio/god-you-are-our-comforter/ . Accessed 4 Dec 2017.

Author Unknown. “2 Corinthians 1:3-4”, https://dailyverses.net/2017/4/11 . Accessed 5 Dec 2017.

Author Unknown. “Bible Verses About Healing Bible Quotes About Healing”, http://www.alexdapiata.com/3978/bible-quotes-about-healing/bible-verses-about-healing-bible-quotes-about-healing-3/ . Accessed 6 Dec 2017.

Author Unknown. “Jeremiah 15:18”, http://biblepic.com/jeremiah/15-18.htm#.WirUfEqnHIW . Accessed 7 Dec 2017.

Goyer, Tricia. “Cast Your Cares | Psalm 55:22”, 1 Oct 2016, http://www.triciagoyer.com/cast-cares-psalm-5522/ . Accessed 4 Dec 2017.