On the drive to do the school pick up recently, I switched on the radio (a concept that is hilarious to our 6-year-old, Levi. To him, it makes more sense to listen to the songs you love in Apple Music. Generation Alpha right?!) Anyway, as the radio came on, I heard these words: “No matter what you see when you look outside your window, lift your arms higher.” And I couldn’t shake them (thanks Mr Fiasco). I began thinking about what I was looking at “outside my window”. What circumstances were facing me – the great and the growth opportunities. The things I needed breakthrough in. Where His grace was #winning and where I needed to trust Him in the unknown. I looked at it all and felt God saying to me, “no matter what you see when you look outside your window, lift your arms higher”. Lift my arms higher. Higher. Further. Greater. Bigger. So fitting when our incredible senior pastors have laid the vision of ‘A Big Year’ before us! Lifting our arms is symbolic of surrender. For me, surrender is simply allowing God to take His rightful place in my life. Surrender is allowing Him to be Lord. It’s bringing all of me into His lordship. My desires. My thoughts. My feelings. My plans. My all. Allowing Him full control. Less of me and more of Him. Surrender happens constantly. In the good times and the growth times. Surrender on the mountain top glorifies Him and testifies, “He is my victory.” Surrender in the valley declares in faith, “He is my victory.” In Exodus 17, the Amalekites attack the Israelites. While they are fighting, Moses holds up the staff of God at the top of a hill, his arms lifted high. Verse 11 sums it up perfectly, “As long as Moses held his arms up, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his arms, the Amalekites were winning.” When Moses held his arms high, God had their victory covered. There were times Moses got tired, his arms dropped and the enemy took over. When I move away from a position of surrender to God, the enemy is ready to take over. Ready with doubt, with fear, intimidation, discouragement and more lies. So, whatever it is I’m facing, I choose to lift my arms higher. I choose to lift my arms higher and worship. To declare God’s truth over my life. To respond to his leading. To bring a sacrifice of praise. I choose to stretch where He needs me to stretch, to lay down what He calls me to lay down and to run where He needs me to run. I choose surrender. As you look at the year ahead, as you rise to all that God is asking of you, as you jump all in to being ‘bigger’, remember lift your arms higher. “No matter what you see when you look outside your window, lift your arms higher.” Choose surrender and declare He is your victory.
