Give It All

I recently interned at a gym and twice a week I did the yoga classes. It was my first time to ever do yoga moves (I ignored the eastern jumble, no worries) and the instructor had to help me the first few times. She told me, "The body always looks for the easiest way to accomplish what you're trying to do, but you won't reap the benefits if you're not pushing your body to it's limits." It was painful doing it the correct way. Yoga requires total concentration and awareness of your body. After 8 weeks of doing it the correct way every time though, the pain decreased and my body was more flexible. Because I stuck with doing it the right way, I reaped benefits that made me happy and also increased my overall well being.

Hillsong United sings a song called "Go". The opening verse of the song states "Were giving it all away, away. Giving it all to go Your way." So how does this connect with the yoga class I just talked about? Well- In yoga, I had to push out of my comfort zone. The song "Go" gives the perfect example of giving everything to God. A situation that may seem easy when just thinking about, but actually when it practice, it's difficult, and just like yoga, it takes pushing of yourself.

God wants us to completely place everything in His hands. He wants our burdens, He wants our hurt. God wants our happiness, our joy, He wants everything.

Giving Him everything though is hard. Just like when first starting yoga, or really any new thing, most are going to look for the easiest way to do something. In the case of giving everything up to God, it's as simple as fooling yourself. It is so easy to just say, "I'm giving Him everything, I know I am." For the first few days, maybe even just within hours of saying, "Okay, I'm releasing this situation", it can really seem like you have given it all to Him. But of course, the devil does not want us at all to give everything to the Lord, because then what does he have to work with to use to destroy our lives?

For example, the lie the devil likes to use on me is that something is wrong with me, I'm inadequate, and that I'm weird. I'll go through moments where I will honestly say to God, "Okay Lord take this away! I'm giving this to You! Help me to not believe this!" I feel great right after I say that, but as time goes on, the devil starts chipping away at my release to God. Because I am not putting the work in to keep everything in God's hands, the devil is able to do that. I am simply taking the easy way out. Listening to and believing that lie that says I'm inadequate is much easier than taking a stand and saying "No. This is not true, I am a child of God and no one is broken to the Lord." So just like the yoga, I need to begin to push myself, it may be painful at times, but in order for me to be able to give everything, and I mean everything up to the Lord, I need to endure that pain and difficulty. In the end, taking the difficult road will reap its benefits.

The Lord has really been speaking to my heart about this lately because, like I said earlier, He wants everything. He gave me this great image for when I'm struggling to really just give it all. He told me to picture, wherever I am, myself throwing my hands in the air and saying to Him "Take it all God! I put all that I am into Your hands."

So for anyone reading this, I really challenge you to make a conscious effort to give everything to the Lord. Just like in yoga where awareness of the body is required, always be aware of spiritual warfare and what is going on in your life. Are you trying to deal with it yourself, or are you releasing it all to God?