Simply Relinquish!
by Victoria Robinson
Relinquish? Who … me? You want me to give something up? Even something I have a right to? There is an irony to the concept of relinquishing what we want. It is the scriptural truth that the tighter we hold onto what we want—the more frustrating and difficult our life will be. When we simply relinquish everything to our heavenly father, that is when we gain everything. Our Lord and Savior told us, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Our Lord and Savior knew all about relinquishing. Even to the point of giving up His very life! Make no mistake, even our Lord was dreading His agonizing fate on the cross. He even cried out these words in prayer, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” This scene tells us that it is not wrong, for after all Jesus never sinned, to make a plea to our heavenly Father to not have to give something up. Nonetheless, we must be willing. Just as Abraham placed his son Isaac on the altar and was willing to relinquish his own child, we must be willing to give all to Him. In the case of Abraham’s sacrifice, our Lord did in turn provide a ram in a thicket as the sacrifice instead of Isaac.
And what about the sins that we harbour in our hearts. The ones that no one else knows about. Must we let go of those as well? King David knew the agony all too well of trying to hold on to secret sins. Only when his faithful and brave friend, Nathan, approached him did he relinquish what he knew was wrong. This in turn brought about discipline from our heavenly Father. But, hold on … the story does not end there. King David was now walking in freedom due to the beautiful condition of a repentive heart.
Girlfriends, is there something you are refusing to relinquish? If so, simply let it go. Perhaps it is something we would consider either good or bad, such as …
No one is ever united with Jesus Christ until he is willing to relinquish not sin only, but his whole way of looking at things. To be born from above of the Spirit of God means that we must let go before we lay hold, and in the first stages it is the relinquishing of all pretence. What Our Lord wants us to present to Him is not goodness, nor honesty, nor endeavour, but real solid sin; that is all He can take from us. And what does He give in exchange for our sin? Real solid righteousness. But we must relinquish all pretence of being anything, all claim of being worthy of God’s consideration.Then the Spirit of God will show us what further there is to relinquish. There will have to be the relinquishing of my claim to my right to myself in every phase. Am I willing to relinquish my hold on all I possess, my hold on my affections, and on everything, and to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?There is always a sharp painful disillusionment to go through before we do relinquish. When a man really sees himself as the Lord sees him, it is not the abominable sins of the flesh that shock him, but the awful nature of the pride of his own heart against Jesus Christ. When he sees himself in the light of the Lord, the shame and the horror and the desperate conviction come home.If you are up against the question of relinquishing, go through the crisis, relinquish all, and God will make you fit for all that He requires of you.Oswald ChambersMy Utmost for His Highest
Dearest girlfriends, I pray that we would simply relinquish our own desires and sins in order to attain a peaceful heart that comes from obedience.
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ~ Phillipians 2:3-8 NASB