The Shift

As we grow in our relationship with God, we get to this point where we want nothing more than to be in the middle of His will. We begin to understand that His plan for us is greater than what we can imagine for ourselves. And we want to move towards that life. We want to move from the life that we’ve created for ourselves; we want to walk in purpose. We want to be able to boldly and confidently walk through the doors that God has for us. But, the question that many of us have at this point is how? How do we make the shift? How do we align ourselves with God, so that we can walk the path that He has for us?

The first step that we must take is surrender.

Maybe you just read that, and you’re thinking to yourself that you’ve already completed this step—you’ve already made the decision to surrender your life to Christ. He is your Savior. But, I have a question for you. Is He your Lord? Does He have full authority over your life? You see, if we want to live the life that God has for us, we have to live the life that God has for us. His blessings only come by His ways. And scripture clearly tells us that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. So, if we want to live in the blessings of God, we have to first, see what He has to say about our lives.

We have to submit every part of our lives to Him.

We have to surrender our dreams and aspirations, our relationships, our finances, and our time. If we want God to move in our lives, we have to show Him that our lives are available to Him. It is important that we understand that God will never force His ways, His will, on us. He stands at the door and knocks…be we have to let Him in…we have to surrender to Him.

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. (Revelation 3:20 NLT)

Jesus is knocking on the door to our relationships, but we must let Him in. He is knocking on the door to our marriages and families, but we must let Him in. He is knocking on the door to our finances and health, but we must let Him in. When we let Him in, He comes in and transforms us. He is the one that can take us from where we are, to the place that He’s called us to be. It won’t happen by our strength…but it can happen, when we surrender our lives to Him.

I remember when the shift happened in my life. I hit rock bottom…my home-life was a disaster, everything around me was falling apart…I was falling apart. It was in that season, that I realized that my circumstances were the result of trying to live life on my own terms. I had been relying on myself and the good judgement that I thought I had. But, I came to a place where I realized that I knew nothing at all about my life. I didn’t know how to be the woman that God created me to be. I didn’t know how to be the wife or mother that God created me to be. But I knew that in His presence, He would show me. So, I surrendered…I told God that I was done living life my way. I told Him that all I wanted was to walk in the plan and purpose that He had for me.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT)

When we make the decision to trust God, when we decide that we are going to seek His will in every area of our lives, He will show us which path to take. This is what we need. We don’t need a good plan; we need God’s plan. We need Him to show us what He sees, we need Him to give us a vision for our lives, and we need Him to enable us to walk towards it.

So, we must understand that surrendering to God is the only way that we can walk in His will. We can’t choose our own path, and think that it will somehow lead to the destination that God’s ordained for us. In fact, most of the time, God’s will is nothing like what we would choose for ourselves. Jesus says it like this:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. (Matthew 16:24-25 NLT)

We gain the life that God has for us when we give up the life that we desire for ourselves.

I know this sounds like pretty strong language, but this is basically what Jesus was saying. We can’t be open to the life the God has for us when we are occupied by our own desires, and we can’t walk in our purpose when we are focused on what we desire to accomplish in our lives. I’ll just use my life as an example…

Never in my life have I thought about being a writer. In fact, all throughout school, I hated writing. And when I say hate, I mean hate. I actually liked school, I loved to learn, and I didn’t mind taking tests…but I hated when the teacher told us that we had to write an essay. Something in me cringed, when I thought about the fact that I’d have to sit down for long periods of time with a piece of paper and pencil in hand. It just wasn’t something I enjoyed. But look at where I am now. Sometimes I laugh when I think about the assignment that God has given me! I can only imagine what He was thinking each time I complained about writing. He probably laughed, because He already knew His plan. He knew where He was taking me. He knew that once I surrendered to Him, He would use me in this way.

Now, for a moment, I want to think with you about where I would be if I hadn’t surrendered my desires to God. What if I was still stuck on the plan that I had for my life? What if I was more focused on my own comfort, than I was on furthering the Kingdom of God? I don’t know exactly where I would be, but I know that I would not be here…writing to you.

God’s plan is always better.

Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us, (Ephesians 3:20 AMP)

Our God is a God that does superabundantly more. He is a God that does infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams. This means that we can’t even think on the level of blessings that God has for us. There is no way for us to plan something so great. There is no way for us to think ourselves into something so marvelous. It doesn’t matter what we’ve planned for ourselves…His plan will always be better.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to settle for what my limited imagination can conjure up. I want the imagination of God manifested in my life. I want His plan, His purpose…I want it all.

This…is why I made the shift. I looked at my life, and I was disappointed at where I was. But at the same time, I knew that God had more for me and my family. So, I began to surrender my life over to Him. Now…I want to emphasize that this was a process. This was a journey that I took with God— where He showed me the areas of my life that weren’t surrendered to Him. As I spent time in His presence, and read His word, He showed me how to align myself with Him. But today, I want to share with you a specific area that I believe was the catalyst of the change—the shift—that occurred in my life.

Tithing brings the protection and blessings of God into our lives.

Now, I know that this can be a touchy subject for some. But if you will bear with me, I want to share how tithing has unlocked the protection and blessings of God over my life. And I want to show you how tithing can unlock the protect and blessings of God over you life. Let’s start with a passage from Malachi.

“I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed. Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’ “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. (Malachi 3:6-12 NLT)

In this passage, God is talking to the Israelites. He tells them, “Now return to me, and I will return to you,…” and then He explains what He means. He explains that they turned away from Him when they stopped tithing. And then He says that they are cursed with a curse. But, I want to point out that God is not cursing His people. He is telling them that because they stopped obeying Him—they stopped tithing—they were no longer under His protection. Instead, they were suffering because they were living under that curse of the world—the curse that resulted from the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. So, He tells His people that the only way that they can receive His protection is to return to Him—to begin tithing again. This goes back to what we were discussing earlier. If we want to live in God’s will, we have to walk according to His plan…we have to live according to His rules…we must obey Him. His instructions are for our good.

When I was in my season of shifting, I realized that, by the fruit of my life, it was clear that I was not living under the protection of God. It was clear that I was living under the curse of the world. I had been in a season of failure after failure, struggle after struggle, and it wouldn’t let up. Now, I am not seeking to assert that the protection of God will keep all struggle and failure out of our lives. But I do want you to understand that when we have God’s protection, struggle and failure do not have the same impact on our lives. God’s protection puts boundaries around us. His protection ensures that we are prosperous even in the midst of failure. He makes sure that our struggles strengthen us, instead of tearing us down. This, is what I was missing.

But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord; their vindication will come from me. I, the Lord, have spoken! (Isaiah 54:17 NLT)

When I began to tithe again, my life changed completely. Not because my struggles change immediately, but because my Protector made sure that the weapons being formed against me would not prosper. He made sure that everything that came against me was used for my good...to build me up for the plan that He had for my life. I was able to walk in joy. I was able to walk with purpose, because my God was going before me, and He had my back. This is what He promises to those that trust Him enough to return the first ten percent of their increase back to Him. Let’s take one more look at the second half of the passage from Malachi.

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. (Malachi 3:10-12 NLT)

Not only does God promise to guard our lives when we tithe, but He promises to bless our lives when we tithe. Are you in need of God’s protection over your marriage or finances? Are you in need of His protection over your health or family? Do you desire to see your life blessed? Do you want to enjoy the fruit of a life of walking with God? If your answer is yes to any of those questions, I want to submit that tithing is your answer. Tithing will remove the curse from your life. Tithing with guard your life from the weapons of the enemy. Yes, the weapons might form, but because you are a tither, they will not prosper. And even more, tithing will unlocks the unlimited favor and blessings of God over your life. If you’re wondering where to start…consider starting with your tithe.

Maybe this sounds like a weird place to start, especially if you’re new to this life of faith. But I want to share with you another reason that tithing is so vital to your walk of faith.

Tithing aligns our hearts with God’s.

Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. (Matthew 6:21 NLT)

If we want to walk in the will of God, we need a heart change. We can’t walk in His ways when we are living to satiate our own desires. But if we can get to a place where our desires align with His, His will can be done through us. And according to this scripture, our hearts can only be aligned with God if our treasure is with Him.

When we give God our treasure, we give Him our hearts.

We have to give Him access to our hearts if we want Him to transform our lives, and this is how we do our part. Remember, He stands at the door and knocks, but we have to let Him in. Could it be that the breakthrough that you’re waiting for is connected to your heart? Could it be that the process of your healing begins with your treasure? God can only transform us at the level of trust that we have in Him. So, do you trust Him? Do you trust Him enough to give Him all of you? Have you made the shift? Have you decided that you will trust God with everything, withholding nothing? If you haven’t yet, choose to trust Him today. Make the shift. Allow His protection and favor to cover your life.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for your grace that allows me to walk in purpose regardless of my past…regardless of where I am now. I pray that you would forgive me for seeking to live life on my own terms. I pray that through your grace, you would lead me to the plan that you have for my life. But I know that this process begins with me. I know that this is a decision that I must make, a shift that I must make. And today, I am making the decision to surrender my life to you. I am choosing to surrender my dreams and aspirations. I am surrendering my family and marriage. I am surrendering my finances and health. I am surrendering my treasure, because I know that giving you my treasure is the key to giving you my heart. And as I surrender to you, I know that you will do a great work in my life. I know that you will protect me, ensuring that no weapon formed against me prospers, and I know that you will release your favor and blessings into my life. I trust you father, because I know that you always keep your word. And I will wait for you patiently, and expectedly, until your promises come true in my life. I love you. In Jesus’ name, amen.