In Sunday’s message at church, we learned about The Commitment Choice: choosing to commit all of my life to Christ’s care and control.

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

What keeps us from committing ourselves completely to Christ’s care and control?

There are 5 barriers we face when trying to make the commitment to let go and let God. These are the things we need to bring to mind when we pray, asking for God’s help in putting these things aside and allowing Him to take complete control of our lives.

Pride

Pride creates the illusion that we can make it on our own. It leads us to believe that we can maintain control of our life. Pride keeps us from admitting our weaknesses and isolates us from healing.

¹²  “Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor”.

Proverbs 18:12 NIV

Guilt

Guilt makes us feel like we can’t run to God because we’ve messed up too many times. Psalm 40:12 God knows our worst moments, He was there with us through every mistake. There’s no sin He can’t or won’t forgive.

^{18 “}I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners,”

Isaiah 57:18 NIV

Fear

Fear is the opposite of faith and it always creeps up when we don’t surrender to God. The fear of shifting from our earthly securities to trusting God to sustain us is one of the largest barriers for any of us to overcome. We fear losing control but at some point we must choose who or what will control us.

Worry

Worry does not allow you to make the right decisions. It clouds your judgment and influences you towards doing for yourself instead of trusting in God’s plan.

^{6 “}being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”.

Phil. 1:6 NIV

Doubt

Doubt cancels faith, period.

^{31 “}Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’”

Matthew 14:31 NIV

How do we commit all our life to Christ’s care and control?

Accept God’s Son as your Savior.

It all begins with surrender to Jesus. Most of us have already done this however, it is always good to recommit our lives and remember it’s all about Him.

^{31 “}They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.’”

Acts 16:31 NLT

Accept God’s Word as your standard.

Jesus followers make God’s word their final authority. They identify specific needs in their life and then apply God’s truth to it over and over.

^{16 “}All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”

2 Timothy 3:16 NLT

Accept God’s will as your strategy for living.

You’ll find joy in doing it.

^{8 “}I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.”

Psalms 40:8 NLT

Accept God’s power as your strength.

God enables us to do it His way by equipping us for the journey ahead and giving us His strength to persevere.

^{13 “}For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

Phil. 4:13 NLT

Each day this week, we are going to focus on praying for specific areas of our lives that we need to commit to God. As always, start the week with personal prayer for the surrender of our control to God. Pray for your family, friends, co-workers, and release them to God’s care. Continue to pray this week interceding for all those who you know need salvation.

The message in church this week was about The Hope Choice – Getting Help in making life’s healing choices. It is the choice to earnestly believe that God exists, that you matter to him, and that he has the power to help you change.

So where do you find the power to change?

“Have you never heard or understood? Don’t you know? That the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of all the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. Even youth will become exhausted, and young men will give up. But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and they will not faint.”

Isaiah 40:28-31

To have hope, you have to realize that the power to change is a gift from God. He gives you the power to change by giving you His power to change. It’s not that you will change for God. It’s that God will change you through his power. It’s about hoping in him. Each day this week, we will focus on praying for specific areas of our lives that we want God to change.

As always, start the week with personal prayer for change and God will help you recover. Pray that God help your family, friends, and co-workers to recognize the need for His help and His power to change. Pray for all those you know who need salvation. Take the challenge of inviting them to Church this week and allow God’s power to change them.

This week at Church, we learned about the Reality Choice — Admitting the Need in making life’s healing choices. It turns out, the root cause of our problems is how hard we try to play God. We try to control our image, other people, our problems and even our pain but how do we overcome it?

First, we need to realize and accept the fact that we are not God and that we need help from someone much greater than ourselves. Trying to play God will only lead to fear, frustration, fatigue, and failure. We need to battle against denial and admit the need and the fact that will power is not enough. We need to humble ourselves so that we can obtain grace in our time of need.

For this week, take time to think about specific areas in your life that you haven’t relinquished control over to God yet. Focus on those areas in your prayers.

MONDAY

Personal

Set aside a time in prayer to surrender control of your thoughts, your emotions, and your decisions to God. Align your thoughts with His and keep your mind set on Him throughout your entire day.

TUESDAY

Finances

Surrender your finances to God. Keep in mind giving to God first of all that you receive and He will take care of the rest.

WEDNESDAY

Family

Pray for family members especially those that are not saved. Present them to God and stop trying to control them, but let God take care of them.

THURSDAY

Church

Continue to pray for our Church, more specifically for the new building and the construction. Pray it will be completed this year.

FRIDAY

Leaders

Pray for our nation, there continues to be divisiveness in our country. Pray for unity and that God uses our President to be the catalyst to bring us together as one nation under God.

SATURDAY

Co-workers/Classmates

Surrender your co-worker/classmates to the Lord. Pray for salvation of their souls and that God would use us as a testimony to bring them to Christ.

SUNDAY

Lost Souls

Pray for salvation of the lost souls that are around us. Pray that God would give you grace to be able to speak to these persons, and He would open doors of opportunity to bring the greatest healing a soul can receive: the salvation of their soul.

“ ⁷ Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

Today we want to focus on intentional prayer for specific areas of your life. It’s important to share the details when seeking God and asking of Him to better direct your prayer. Use the names of persons, their needs, situations and specific petitions. Separate some time every day this week, to focus your prayers in these areas:

MONDAY

Personal

Dear Heavenly Father, I give you my discontent, my restlessness, my doubt, I give you my despair, I give you all my longings I hold inside. Help me to listen to these signs of change, of growth; to listen seriously and follow wherever they lead through your open door.

TUESDAY

Finances

Dear Heavenly Father, as I begin this day, allow me turn my thoughts to you and ask for your help in guiding me in everything I say and do. Give me the patience that I need to keep my peace of mind with life’s cares. May I trust in you to live for today not worrying about what’s ahead.

WEDNESDAY

Family

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for my family, especially those that are not saved. Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit guides me to be a vessel and a witness of your greatness and Your salvation.

THURSDAY

Church

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for our Church congregants that they may grow in an abiding relationship with you. I pray for a greater unity and love for one another that will make us more Christ-like.

FRIDAY

Leaders

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for my Pastors and leaders within the Church that you may impart wisdom and understanding to guide our Church. We pray that you continue to use them in a mighty way to feed us and care for us. Watch over their families and keep them from evil as they do the works of ministry.

SATURDAY

Co-workers/Classmates/Friends

Dear Heavenly Father, God bless all my co-worker/classmates/friends in whatever way it is that You know they may be needing this day! And may their lives be full of Your peace, prosperity, and power as they seek a closer relationship with You,

SUNDAY

Lost Souls

Dear Heavenly Father, we continue to pray for the lost souls, especially those in the City of Doral. May our Church continue to be a light in our city that will attract the souls that so desperately need a relationship with you.