SPEAKER_00: Hey everybody, this is uh Pastor Sean here.
SPEAKER_00: We're so excited about the 21 days.
SPEAKER_00: Uh today is day eight, and today we're going to be talking about making room for surrender.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the key passage is John 3.30.
SPEAKER_00: He must increase and I must decrease.
SPEAKER_00: John 3.30 is what I call my life verse.
SPEAKER_00: When I became a Christian, it grabbed my heart and has stayed with me to this day.
SPEAKER_00: It is such an easy verse to remember, but I found that this little verse will take a lifetime to live out.
SPEAKER_00: If you're anything like me, there has probably been times when you found yourself asking for the Lord to move in your life, asking for more of his peace, his presence, his blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Yet, as we're asking for more of the Lord, if we're honest, the trouble in our hearts are always crowded with things like selfish ambition, our worry, our expectation, and our need for control.
SPEAKER_00: This is the tension that we find ourselves in.
SPEAKER_00: We want the Lord to pour in something new, and we're still gripping what he's asking us to surrender.
SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist understood and lived out this tension.
SPEAKER_00: His ministry was flourishing, yet he knew that God's work could only continue if he surrendered his will and his ways.
SPEAKER_00: He surrendered or became less, made room for Christ's increase in his life.
SPEAKER_00: John choosing to surrender his will and his way didn't diminish his value.
SPEAKER_00: It actually helped align himself with God's great plan.
SPEAKER_00: When we make room by surrendering, we're confessing that we should let go of anything that competes with him.
SPEAKER_00: I had a pastor once who said it this way God won't fill what we won't empty.
SPEAKER_00: Today, my prayer is that you will not see surrender as a loss, but rather as an exchange.
SPEAKER_00: We exchange our abilities for his strength.
SPEAKER_00: We exchange our fears for his peace.
SPEAKER_00: We exchange our striving for his leading.
SPEAKER_00: When the great exchange occurs, I pray that you will find his thoughts, plans, and purpose to be better.
SPEAKER_00: So today, I have a couple questions.
SPEAKER_00: What am I holding on to that God is asking me to release?
SPEAKER_00: Where is my desire for control crowding out space for trust?
SPEAKER_00: What would it look like for me to decrease so that Christ can increase?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: Uh can't wait for tomorrow, day nine of 21 Days of Prayer.