Are You Ready to End Yourself?

Psalm 33:16-18 (ESV)

The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,

Have you ever found yourself in a position where you were ready to throw your hands up and simply give up? Have you ever just wanted to say, “I quit!” I know that I have been there and I know as well that ALL of us from time to time come to this point in our lives. It really does not matter WHAT the situation may be, we simply want NOT to be there! It could be that we are dealing with trouble in our family, trouble so daunting that we just don’t see a solution. It could be that we are dealing with trouble at work where it is conflicting with our family life. It could be that we are having financial troubles and we simply don’t know how we are going to get out of them. I may even be spiritual issues that begin to overwhelm us and no matter how hard we ‘try’ we seem to continue falling and stumbling in our walk with Him. You see it really does NOT matter what it is in life, we can ALL come to the point where we just want to throw in the towel and give up…

Now what I am about to say will sound a bit crazy at first, but have you ever considered allowing yourself to come to an end? This is what I mean when I say, “allowing yourself to come to an end.” I mean allowing yourself to give up trying on your own power and allowing God to take control of where your life is headed.

Several years ago there was a popular song by Carrie Underwood entitled, “Jesus, Take the Wheel!” While the lyrics of this song are not particularly sound from a biblical perspective, the overall message of the song is clear. It is a song about coming to the realization that I am not enough, that I will never be enough, that all I do will fail and I have to release control to Jesus! Jesus take the wheel of my life and guide me where you want me to go!

This is what I mean when I say, “Are you ready to ‘end’ yourself?” The mere thought of releasing control of our life to someone OTHER than ourselves is terrifying for many and almost impossible for most. It is not a fun thing, but it IS a good thing when we realize that it is only Jesus who can guide us and direct us in His plan. We cannot serve God under our own power, we cannot please God under our own strength, we cannot be who we need to be in Christ when we rely on ourselves…Jesus must be in control!

When we feel the confusion of not knowing what to do or where to turn, we should turn to Jesus and seek His guidance! When we feel the helplessness of being out of control in our lives, we must turn to the One who is in control of all things. This is because until we are ready to fully and totally abandon our reliance on ourselves, Jesus cannot take full control in our lives!

My prayer for you today comes from a prayer by Scottie Smith, author of Everyday Prayers.

Jesus, today I abandon myself to You! You are the One who has conquered death and You are the One redeeming the lost and making all things new! Jesus, it is Your unfailing love that I can and must place my hope in because there is no other supply that is sufficient for what I need. There is NO other who has the strength to meet my need. There is NO other who has the soothing salve to calm the burning pain of loss, disappointment and failure that reigns in my heart. There is NO other hope other than You Jesus and today I surrender…TO YOU! Today I bring my brokenness to You, my struggles with my marriage, with my singleness, with my family, with my job, with my boss, with my friends, with my co-workers, with my teachers, with the stranger on the street, with my fear, with my disappointment, with my lust, with my anger, with my pride, with my judgmental attitude,with my apathy, with my laziness... God I bring all that I struggle with to You and pray for Your intervention, Your wisdom and Your guidance. I want to ‘end’ who I am and my control and I want to be who You desire and allow Your Holy Spirit to have full control in my heart and life. I trust You and Your unfailing love for me and my prayer is that my life will bring glory to Your name! I pray this in the glorious name of Jesus! Amen!

Turn it over to Him… End your reign over your heart and give it to Jesus. Let Jesus ‘take the wheel’ of your life today!