By LaRue Laymance

​

Interesting word found over and over in Scripture.  Doesn’t God have power to do whatever He wants regardless if we “let” Him or not?  We know He does, but His desire is to allow us participation in His activity. To be there and watch what He does in us or through us or around us. (Ex. 14:13, Jer. 33:3) Either for our own benefit, but also many times, putting us on display for the benefit of those of our world, often in most unexpected and better ways.

​

 

WHAT DOES “LET” EVEN MEAN?

Defined as: to allow or permit; to grant, even cause.

 

For me, being a person who loves to be in control and in charge, it often means, “Get out of My Way! Move and let Me be in charge, not You.’’  We know even Jesus had to yield His way to God’s way as He approached the cross. (Matt. 26:39)

 

We are in a season, with this 2020 quarantine, where we feel like we have lost control: so many restrictions, rules, limitations, insecurities.  Our entire world has changed, and we are not sure when, or if, it will return to our known normal.  I have never heard the word “unprecedented” so many times, sometimes repeated daily in the media. We know He wants to change this ol’ world, but will we “let” God change us through this time? 

​

 

The older I get, the more “change” I have encountered and have found it usually uncomfortable.  My first response to change is to resist, usually because I am not sure of what future those changes introduce into my life. I am finding they require trust - my trust of Him, because He is really and always in control.  Nothing can touch my life except what God has allowed and ordained for my good (Rom. 8:28).  To TRUST, I must believe that He does want to really do far more than I could ever dream of or imagine, far better than my plan or expectations. 

 

Jesus doesn’t want to leave us where we are but to “bring us along” in a spiritual process called “sanctification’’.  The “working out of our salvation” … what we were saved to become: more and more like Him.  To enjoy and display more of His holy nature and less of our sin-prone nature.  

​

 

This is one of His jobs now, through the Holy Spirit, to develop strength in our new nature, to become Holy, even beyond His declaration of His righteousness over us.  It is our not just receiving the gift, but opening it, reading the instructions, and getting all the benefits and equipping of the gift. We are talking CHANGE! (2 Cor. 5:17) Out with the old, in with the new!  Different. This is GOOD, but a definite process and a “work in progress”.  But it will not happen if we resist change, kicking and screaming, demanding our way, and requiring our understanding.  In His graciousness, God will not do so unless we LET Him. (Phil 2:4-5) How sad in Scripture to see Jesus grieving when He walked this earth because He was unable to do His work due to their unbelief.

​

 

I have been amazed at how many times in Scripture the word “IF” occurs.  That means we have a choice, a path to determine.  Whether we will believe, allow, and cooperate with Him and His agenda in our lives, yielding ourselves to His better way or demanding our own. To release myself to Him as Jesus did in the garden, whether I understand it or not.

​

 

We make the choice, IF we LET God know that we ARE totally in agreement with His desires for us.  Agree to get out of His way. Say Yes to His Yes. Look for His paths. Follow rather than lead.  Abide rather than fret. Trust and do not fear. Do not grieve His Spirit. Stand in the right line. Do not miss out. Seek His face and be His hands. More of Him, less of me.

​

 

YES, DO!