“I surrender my life to you, Jesus.” There has been multiple occasions in my life that I’ve said this prayer. Some times I literally could not have meant it less, and other times it was a desperate heart felt cry for The Lord to use my life for His kingdom. Either way, it’s never been a one and done prayer. Rather, a prayer that I’ve been brought to many times in my walk with Him.
So as Christians, our goal is to be more like Jesus. And even though this seems simple, I have more recently come to the conclusion that as we become more like Jesus, more layers of ourselves have to go. I believe there are so many layers that we have, and each layer that is peeled back makes us more like Jesus. There’s layers that are obvious to us. There are sins in our lives that are reoccurring and we know it every time we do it. But then I also believe that there are layers deeper down that only The Lord Himself could reveal to us. We are totally oblivious to these parts of ourselves. Either way, whether our sin is obvious or concealed to even our own mind, it’s all problems that prevent us from becoming more like Jesus. THERE ARE SO MANY LAYERS TO ME, and I am so thankful that Jesus is so faithful to rid me of my many layers one by one.
lately, Jesus has been showing me a layer of myself that needs to go. Im still in prayer about all of this, but it’s been brought to my attention that i try to control my own life more than I allow Jesus to control my life. I want to have my own influence in all areas of my life because some how I have tricked myself into believing that I can produce a good life for myself. When the truth is, God is the only access we have to true goodness. Without relinquishing control of my life I’m missing out on the blissful feeling of trusting the Lord with all my heart and not leaning on my own understanding. I know this is not going to disappear after one moment of giving Jesus control. I am going to learn what it means to trust the plans he has every day, and to truly and I mean truly and whole heartedly give Jesus everything that I am and everything that I have.
So that kinda brings me back to my first sentence. The prayer, “I surrender my life to you, Jesus.” I believe each layer that we allow God to peel back brings us to a better and more whole surrender of ourselves. I am going to keep saying this prayer as I grow in Him, and each time it will mean more of me is gone and more of Jesus is present in me. Which will allow me to make the most of every opportunity with unbelievers, showing them the character of Jesus that is so inviting and appealing. Then hopefully, my influence in this world will increase resulting in more souls won over to the Kingdom of God.
Ps. Who knew that Google translate could be so effective for sharing the gospel. The receptionist at the hostel I stayed in for debreif received Jesus as his Savior. Seeing one soul come to know the Father makes this whole thing worth it.
