Surrender your heart to God, turn to Him in prayer, and give up your sins- even those you do in secret. Then you won’t be ashamed; you will be confident and fearless.
Job 11:13-15 CEV
This passage from Job is my favorite of 2018 so far. I find I whisper these words to myself almost daily. Because I love this scripture, I decided to dissect it and go deeper. Care to join me?
Surrender your heart~
The Greek word for heart is kardia, meaning the affective center of our being. From Strong’s Concordance
Vines Greek New Testament Dictionary explains, “… the heart is used figuratively for the hidden springs of the personal life.”
Our hearts are tender, easily broken, vulnerable, and the center of everything we are. The hidden springs of our person. Thus, here is the crux of our faith-walk: presenting and trusting this tender part of ourselves to our Savior. Every. Single. Day.
Christina Rossetti
Turn to Him in prayer~
Prayer is conversation with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Christiananswers.net
The NIV version of this verse says, “Stretch out your hands towards Him.” What a powerful picture of postured prayer. As my year of Surrender continues, I notice myself praying this way. When I am grasping on to something in my heart, I physically reach my hands towards God as I pray in release.
“The right way to pray is to stretch out our hands and ask of One who we know has the heart of a Father.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Give up your sins~
2. Any act regarded as such a transgression, especially a willful or deliberate violation of some religious or moral principle. 3. any reprehensible or regrettable action, behavior, lapse, etc.; great fault or offense. Dictionary.com
I noticed a few weeks ago that discouragement had crept in. I was a walking sigh – allowing difficult health and a relationship strain control my outlook. This was not yielding to God, this was sin.
I repented, grateful to God for His conviction, and for filling me with hope and courage again.
It is never too late to give up our sins, to change, to repent, or to rededicate ourselves to God.
“If you’re truly His child, you can know that when you do sin God will teach you a lesson through it and use it to change you more into His likeness.” Kay Arthur