"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."  Proverbs 3: 5-6

I don't know about you, but I can really be a prideful person.  Whenever I look at the struggles in my life (especially the ones that really persist), I can usually trace the root back to pride in some form or another.  It's often that same pride that causes me to hold onto the wrong things, which is how a struggle becomes persistent in the first place.  A stronghold forms, and then it reaches the point where freedom seems unattainable, so I choose to live in that place rather than surrender it to God.

But aren't we called to surrender everything to Him?  Jesus tells us to come to Him with our heavy burdens, and He will give us rest (Matt. 11: 28).  That He will trade our load for His, and His burden is light (v. 30).  So why do we still choose to carry the heaviest burdens alone?  The answer is pride, plain and simple.

Did you know that pride was the first sin to ever exist?  Before the creation of man, Lucifer was a great leader of the angels (a covering cherub) but his "heart was lifted up because of [his] beauty and [he] corrupted [his] wisdom for the sake of [his] splendor" (Ezekiel 28: 17). He said "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God... I will ascend above the heights of clouds, I will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14: 13-14).  Lucifer was cast out of the Kingdom of God, all because he began to find pride in himself rather than in his Creator.

We are not designed to carry the things of this world.  When God created man, He even attempted to shelter us from the evil that was formed when iniquity was found in Lucifer, by allowing us to not carry the burden of it's knowledge (Genesis 3).  But even in his deception of Adam and Eve, Lucifer used pride to cause the fall of man, when he told Eve that by eating the fruit she would "be like God, knowing good and evil" (v. 5).  Adam and Eve chose to lean on their own understanding, rather than trusting what God had said, which they knew to be true.  They chose pride, and took away the choice of every person after them until Jesus died.

But when I chose Jesus, I was justified through Him.  I am free of the full-time burden that Lucifer, Adam and Eve placed on all mankind.  Like them in the garden, I now have the choice to rest on myself and my pride, or to trust in the Lord with all my heart.  When I choose to not lay down the burdens in my life, and to carry them alone, I am essentially telling God, just as Lucifer did, that I am as strong, mighty and powerful as He is and I don't need Him.  And I, just as Lucifer did, know those words to be untrue.  I need Him in all of my life.  

It's time that we learn to lay down everything before our Creator.  It's not that He won't give us anything that we can't bear, because He does that all the time.  He can't give us anything that He can't bear, and He will direct our path if we only acknowledge Him in everything.  It's time to surrender all.

God, I surrender everything to You.  Help me to remember that You are stronger, You are mighty and You will guide my path if I just trust You with all of me.  I know that I am going to fail, but when I do, remind me of Your mercy that renews daily.  Help me to find all pride in You and not in my own understanding.  In Jesus' precious name, Amen!

"And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:  KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."  Revelation 19:16

One of the most relevant events in our culture right now is obviously the presidential election that will take place in November.  If you're anything like me, you're pretty sick of hearing about it or reading about it.  But I have been asked a few times about my vote, to which I've responded with the proper Christian answer:  I am going to pray about the election and the candidates, listen to what God has to say, and choose the candidate God has for this country.  Then comes the question most would rather not hear:  Well, are you a Democrat or Republican?

That's a very difficult question to answer these days.  We live a world that has turned to violence and ridicule as it's response no matter the side someone chooses (inappropriately and unacceptably, I must add; I mean, whatever happened to freedom of speech and peaceful protest). Unfortunately, most don't care where I stand on the topic, but just want to know whether I agree with them or not.  And in most cases I do not.  I find myself being at odds with many of the ideals from both sides of the argument.  But it wasn't until recently, listening to a Bible commentary by Chuck Missler on the Origin of Evil*, that something hit me:  Above all, I am a monarchist!

Don't get me wrong, I understand the importance of good leadership, and that it is our responsibility to elect Godly leaders that will make decisions by looking at Biblical principle and prayerfully considering all aspects, but I don't serve the leadership of this country.  They are supposed to serve me (although that is becoming less their focus).  I serve a King, and not just any King, but the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.  He is the King of the Jews and the King of Israel.  He is the King of all the ages, the King of Heaven and the King of glory.  I serve He who is, who was and who will always be.  The first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Aleph and the Tau.  

He is the I AM that I AM, the enduringly strong, entirely sincere, eternally steadfast, immortally graceful, imperially powerful and impartially merciful.  He is the very God of very God, yet He is also my Kinsman-Redeemer.  He is my place of refuge and my source of life.  And we are the beneficiaries of the love letter that He wrote in blood on a cross over 2000 years ago in Judea. "He was crucified on a cross of wood; yet He made the hill on which it stood."  

Every decision that I make is to serve His purposes and His will, and even though I often fail at that, His mercies are new each day.  I am not a Democrat or a Republican, a liberal or a conservative, a socialist or a patriot.  I am a bondservant to the King of the Most High.  And He reigns eternal.

Holy Spirit, speak to every voter in this nation, whether believer or not, as we choose the new leaders that will make the decisions on our behalf.  Provide us Your Holy wisdom, so that we might once again become a real monarchy the way You intended; a nation serving the eternal King, Jesus Christ.  Help Your people remember where their loyalty lies, and remember whose will shall be done.  Praise you Holy God, in Jesus' precious name, Amen!

*Many of the listed attributes and titles of Christ taken from Chuck Missler's Origin of Evil, mostly because I like the way they were worded, and why fix what isn't broken?  To watch click here: Session 1 & Session 2