LET GO AND LET GOD
NOTHING I HOLD ON TO - UNITED PERSUIT
I LEAN NOT ON MY OWN UNDERSTANDING
MY LIFE IS IN THE HANDS OF THE MAKER OF HEAVEN ( x4 )
I GIVE IT ALL TO YOU GOD
TRUSTING THAT YOU'LL MAKE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL OUT OF ME ( 2 )
I LEAN NOT ON MY OWN UNDERSTANDING
MY LIFE IS IN THE HANDS OF THE MAKER OF HEAVEN (x2 )
I GIVE IT ALL TO YOU GOD
TRUSTING THAT YOU WILL MAKE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL OUT OF ME (x4)
AND I WILL CLIMB THIS MOUNTAIN WITH MY HANDS WIDE OPEN (x8 )
THERES NOTHING I HOLD ON TO (x12 )
I lean not on my own understanding
my life is in the hands of the maker of heaven (x2 )_
I give it all to you God
trusting that you'll make something beautiful out of me (x4 )
This song is very repetitive and only has a few lines and I once heard Stephanie Grezinger say in a music video -
" We dont sing things over and over because we dont know what to do, although sometimes we do.
We sing this over and over because you and I we were made for eternity. And for all of time the angels have been singing Holy, Holy, Holy.
and Jesus never gets tired of the same song.
We are the ones who get tired and want to move on more quickly than he is ready to.
and in these moments we have to press pass the temporary and press into the eternal mindset that we were born for and so we sing it again and again to remind us of the nature of Jesus.
This is our God.
The one who makes streams flow in the desert.
The one who makes shade in the sun.
The one who covers you with his wings and lets you hide in his shadow.
Who lets you rest while he wars for you.
Sometimes we sing it because we are sure, sometimes we sing it until we know.
We sing of the nature of our God and it never gets old".
I love the last phrase 'sometimes we sing it until we are sure, and sometimes, we sing it until we know'
Singing something that we don't always believe in or know can be painful, but it is such a strong and powerful weapon against the enemy, our doubts and disbelief in difficult times.
This song helps us to remember that God is in control and what ever season of life we are in, especially the difficult ones. That we need to lay down everything at the feet of Jesus and put all our faith and trust in God.
It reminds us that we need to praise God with our hands empty and arms stretched open to heaven so we can receive all the strength God has for us.
It reminds us that in our suffering that God is shaping and moulding us into who he wants us to be. However uncomfortable this may be for us in the moment, the season of life we are in. i think the more difficult we are finding our shaping and moulding the less we are trust and rely on God.
We need to learn to grow in our trust and faith in God. Our reliance on God. We need to learn that its not in our strength, but in Gods strength.
Leaning not on our own understanding, we give everything we have in surrender to God. We trust that he will make beautiful things out of us. W e trust that he will make something beautiful out of our past failings and mistakes. We trust through faith that God will make something beautiful out of our difficult situations.
The mountains that we face, the challenges that life bring us and test us mould our character, enabling us to learn how to fully trust and rely on God and grow in our faith in God rather than ourselves.
We tackle our mountains through prayer, worship, friendship and church family. We tackle our mountains by letting go and letting God.
We trust God that we can face all things through our faith.
We lay everything at Gods feet. Everything that is weighing us down. Everything that is stopping us from fully receiving the power and work of the Holy Spirit within us.
How do the lyrics of this song line up with scripture and what does this mean for us ?
I LEAN NOT ON MY OWN UNDERSTANDING-
This can be found in Proverbs 3:5 - "Trust the Lord with all your heart. And lean not on your own understanding"
I suspect there is not one person who has not faced difficult days, situations, seasons of life or has had to make a difficult decision.
The bible verse is telling us to seek the will of God, and God will direct our paths.
God is trustworthy and the best decision we can make when going through tough times is to trust God and surrender control of our own lives to him.
A visual explanation of this is to think of sitting in a chair. One can state that they trust the chair will hold their weight if they were to sit in the chair. However, the person does not demonstrate trust in the chair until they have sat down in it and transferred their full weight to the chair.
TRUST REQUIRES A TRANSFER OF WEIGHT AND CONTROL!
To let go of our own understanding, we have to fully lean in on Gods understanding of our situation in order to receive Gods full strength.
Trusting Gog can be scary. It means letting go of our own control in the situations we find ourselves in.
Trusting God means taking him at his word. It means jumping when he says jump and waiting when he says wait.
it means turning when he says turn, and then bravely moving forward into an unknown future or difficult season.
It means not my will but yours be done Lord.
Proverbs 3:5 instructs us to put all our trust in the Lord, and not our own knowledge. The verse tells us not to be reliant on our own strength but in Gods strength.
It tells us to trust the Lord.
To trust the Lord is total dependence on God.
We need to lean in on God by going to him in our times of stress.
Times of need.
Times of hurt.
Times of confusion.
Times of sickness.
Times of heart-ache.
Times of " I cant go on like this" when everything is too difficult.
MY LIFE IS IN THE HANDS OF THE MAKER OF HEAVEN -
This reminds me of a chorus I used to sing in The Salvation Army;
I'M IN HIS HANDS
I'M IN HIS HANDS
WHATEVER THE FUTURE HOLDS
I'M IN HIS HANDS
THE DAYS I CANNOT SEE
HAVE ALL BEEN PLANNED FOR ME
HIS WAY IS BEST YOU SEE
I'M IN HIS HANDS
I love the assurance of knowing that whatever situation we find ourselves in, God is holding us firmly in his hands. Tenderly in his hands. Full of love, safety and security.
We read in Isaiah 64:8 " But now O Lord, you are our father, we are the clay and you the potter. And all of us are the work of your hand.
Because God has created us and loves us, we can trust that he has abetter outcome for our lives than we could ever imagine.
Because God knows and sees all, we can trust that even if our stories dont turn out the way we originally thought, we can trust that God is our redeemer who works all things for our good and for his glory.
GOD IS OUR FATHER
HE LOVES US
HE FORGIVES US
HE FILLS US WHEN WE ARE EMPTY
HE IS ALWAYS THERE FOR US
HE KEEPS HIS PROMISES
HE FULFILS HIS PURPOSE FOR OUR LIVES
HE IS FAITHFUL
HE ALWAYS HAS OUR BEST INTREST IN MIND
God has created and shaped each of us according to his purpose, we are the work of the potters hand. And God continues to shape and mould us as our faith, trust and reliance in him grows and our journeys with him continue.
God is powerful to help in our times of need because he is the maker and sustainer of Heaven and Earth. All things were made by his hands. He created man and woman. He created you and me.
It makes sense that the one who created us and uphold us is the one who can best help us.
Placing our lives into Gods hands means utter dependence on God. Like sheep with a shepherd.
I GIVE IT ALL TO YOU GOD-
Matthew 16:24 says " Then Jesus said to his disciples- if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself , and take up his cross and follow me"
Jesus instructs us to bear our cross, we need to embrace the situations we find ourselves in, and have faith in God that he will bring us through them.
in Galatians 2:20 it says " I have been crucified with Christ, and its no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live in faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.
We need to give our cross to God.
We need to give it all to God.
Psalm 55:22 says " give all your burdens to the Lord and he will take care of you"
We cant put our problems and struggles into Gods hands if we dont let go of them first.
We need to let go and let God!
To cast our burdens means to fully entrust it to God, rather than trying to carry it yourself. When we give our mountains and worries to God, God takes on the weight, the heaviness. We see that transfer of weight and control.
In Philippians 4:6-7 we read " do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus".
This verse is telling us that we can give it all to God in prayer. Then we allow Gods peace to guard our hearts and minds. God has promised to take care of us and guide us. We need to release our burdens over to God - this is what he wants from us.
TRUSTING THAT YOU'LL MAKE SOMTHING BEAUTIFUL OUT OF ME-
We read in Romans " therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a holy and living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so you may prove what the will of God is. That which is good, acceptable and perfect.
We act and think differently now, we respond to difficulties and life challenges differently. We fully trust and rely on God. And we are not held down by the weight of our worries and mountains. We know God is making breakthroughs as we trust in him and understand Gods will and shaping of our lives.
I WILL CLIMB THIS MOUNTAIN WITH MY HANDS WIDE OPEN -
We read in James 1:2-4 " Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow. For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing"
This verse is telling us that - perfection - complete maturity, is found only in perfect faith in God. More specifically, James uses the concept of endurance, steadfastness or perseverance to describe the ability to trust God more and more through difficult life seasons.
Each difficult season or difficult experience grants us a deeper and stronger level of trust in God.
If we hang on to the troubles and mountains we are facing, we are holding on to only our own understanding of the situations we are facing. We are not allowing our faith and trust in God to grow.
We dont have to wait for suffering to end to have Joy, there is always Joy to be found in each new day.
Struggles, difficulties, heartache, anything that is our mountain is not pointless. God uses our mountains to produce something in us that is worthwhile.
God wants us to fully trust and rely on his strength and promises.
Joy steadfastness and spiritual maturity come from knowing and trusting that God is who he says he is. And he will do what he has said he will do.
We 'shouldn't chase worldly comforts and solutions. But we can take joy in knowing that we are being held by the one who can never be shaken. We are held by the hand that created us. By the one who loves us the most.
MY HANDS WIDE OPEN -
God requires that we come with empty hands, he simply invites us to come to him.
And when we meet him where we are, with empty hands, holding onto nothing of this world. We have succeeded in bringing God the gift he values the most.
We have fully surrendered everything of this world and given ourselves completely empty to be filled by him.
To come empty handed means that we are open to receive and experience all God has for us.
God cant give anything to us if we have something else in our hands. W e need to let go of anything that does not belong there.
We need to leave our worries, challenges, excess baggage at the foot of the cross. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus and let go of anything that is a barrier between us and God. We need to let go of anything that is in the way and holding us back, stopping our faith and trust in God fully growing and maturing.
We need to give it all to God so that are hands are ready to receive him.
We need to surrender our hearts, mind and soul to God.
We need to give our mountains to him. We need to let God mould us into what he has planned for our lives.
Gods wants our hands open and empty for better things. Blessed things. Eternal things.
God wants us to give everything to him! He is our strength. We only have to lay it all at his feet and trust.
God makes a way and breakthroughs will come.
We cant put our problems, struggles, worries or mountains into Gods hands if we dont let go of them first. We need to exercise that transfer of weight and control.
I pray that you can leave your worries, hurt, anything that you need to let go of at the feet of Jesus so that your hands are empty to receive all of God. All his love. All his strength and all his blessings x