The new year is always a good time to start with a clean slate, throw it all away. Sometimes we just need a fresh perspective. Today I’d like to talk about something I call throwing it all in. It’s the process of pitching everything you think you know toward God, in order for Him to repopulate what is His reality for you.
Last year was quite a whirlwind tour. I think that I experienced every emotion on the entire palette. And as I face the upcoming year, I want Him to sort out all that proceeds from here.
Martha has talked about the Lord occasionally asking her to give away one of her Bibles, with all its notes and markings. It’s a statement that says, “Forget everything you know. I want to teach you something new.” It’s like a reboot, so to speak, for the techies out there. And with this process you clear the decks for God to open you up to an amazing reality. Our God is so vast that to live a new facet of His life is entirely possible. And it’s not like your previous reality is in conflict with the reality to be revealed, but we do have to let go of what we have in order to move forward with Him. It’s experiencing a new adventure on your path to holiness.
I look forward to what He’s conceived and how He wants me to experience Him. It’s that I whole-heartedly want to embrace. And in order to do that, I have to let go of everything I think I know. When we develop dogmas, they become like cement in our spiritual life. Statements like “God always does it this way” pigeonhole Him in our minds. I want His full expression as He wishes to reveal it.
Now this doesn’t mean I’m throwing away 2014, for that would mean throwing away my history with Him. I learned things about God last year that I wouldn’t trade for anything! What it does mean is that I’m preparing to embrace His 2015 for me. I’m releasing what I know to receive His unknown. My goal is more of Him, and in order to do that, I have to open my hands and heart to receive His revealing. Sure, familiar things might present themselves again but hopefully with a rejuvenated face. The point is that I lay them down for the Lord to choose what stands and what falls.
So join me, if you will, in laying down the expected and embracing the wondrous unknown.
I find such a refreshing, a freedom that comes in the times of surrender of all that I think I know, all that I cannot be, all that I want to be, all that I have believed, hoped and dreamed…an emptying of the burdens that I gathered along the way and a return to the simplicity and trust of a child…of entering more deeply into His Rest.
I am willing to be made willing by Him!
I am very relieved to not be doing it alone!!
As our glass gets full we have to empty some or all out to receive fresh milk.
Or get a new and larger glass.
God Bless you John as you grow in your spirituality.
What a wonderful perspective. We always think of the new year as being a new opportunity for a “fresh start and a new beginning”; but I love the way you challenge us to know GOD in a new way by laying aside the dogmas that have become like cement! What a challenging paradigm shift! Thank you, John!
What you said reminded me of Martha’s post mentioning what Carole had shared with her, that she “experienced God as a mystery, a marvel and a reality.”
I think that to be able to see and appreciate the misterious nature of God begins with surrender… Count me in on this adventure!
SO EXCITED TO JOIN YOU, LOVE TO WATCH OUR LORD BRING NEW ENDEVOURS TO OUR JOURNEY WITH HIM.MY HEART IS WIDE OPEN. YOUR WORDS HAVE BROUGHT A SENSE OF EXPECTATION TO MY HEART.LOVE YOU DEARET BROTHERN.
Oh YES John, I join you and lay it all down to embrace HIS wondrous unknown. Bless you for this post
Yep. Amen.