Blog 2

So you gave your life to Jesus – now what?

Hello again friends, Big Al here back with another post. I want to shift gears a little and get into a more “meatier” topic. If you have recently given yourself and your life over to Christ, this one is for you! If you’ve been in the walk for a little bit but need some guidance or direction, this is for you too! If you don’t check either of those boxes, keep reading, you never know what the Lord could share!

There’s something so thrilling when you finally release control over to God and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Sometimes, that is half the battle. I hope when you surrendered, you jumped up and down with excitement, did a dance, sang a song, told someone or many people. Then once the confetti settles, you look around and think “now what?”

Here comes the FUN part, are you ready?

Now, you learn how to live a life in full surrender to Him. But how and what does that mean? Well, essentially, it means that Jesus will come in and remove anything that is not of Him and refine ways of old to make you brand new. Hence where “new creation” comes from.

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

The following analogy helped me when I was first starting out. Imagine that you have a cup in front of you. Up to this point, that cup has been filled with things of this world. Maybe things like anxiety, trauma, unforgiveness, stress, depression, anger, etc. Any of those strike a nerve? Not very fun to have in a cup is it?

Now, in walks Jesus who wants you to give that cup to Him. Once He has it, He will begin to remove all those old things in there that aren’t from Him in order to make room. Make room for what, you ask? For more things of Him and His Kingdom. This process is how we improve and advance in our walk with God.

He will no longer allow those gross things to be in your cup any longer. There is never any blame, God is not accusatory- those things came to be because at the time, we didn’t know any better. But now, in our walk with Him, it’s our responsibility to kick it out.

Yes, he can easily snap His fingers and do it for us but where’s the growth in that? Where’s the journey in that? This process is how we grow closer to Him. It’s where are faith gets built up and gets to grow and shine. That’s where we see him in the fire.

Sometimes Jesus, through other people, will hold a mirror up to us. If we don’t like our reflection, we can blame that person for showing it to us, or we can work on correcting it. But I have great news, you don’t have to do it alone.

Things flare up sometimes because that’s God’s way of telling you it needs to come out. It’s Him providing the opportunity to get rid of it once and for all, but you have to do it with Him. It’s uncomfortable, it’s hard, it’s messy, it’s sticky. But again, we don’t have to do it alone. We serve a God who sits in the sticky mess with us. He helps us pick the pieces up. And He does it all without judgment or condemnation. He’s full of redemption and grace and mercy. It’s not always now or never either, as He is just to provide another opportunity. But if your answer is no each and every time, the cup of grossness will continue to grow and it’ll make it even harder to hear Him speak to you.

Avoidance is not your friend, it’s your enemy. Sit in the discomfort. Allow the conviction He brings because with it is redemption. With it is grace. With it is Him.

Aren’t you tired of being weighed down? Aren’t you tired of wasting energy on negativity. My friend, let it go. It isn’t yours to carry. Give it to Jesus and feel Him lift the burden off of you. That’s freedom. That’s Jesus Christ.

Praise the Lord who loves us enough to make us new each and every day.

Never forget how loved you are by Him. If you’re looking for next steps, start by sitting in stillness with the Holy Spirit. Bring a journal with you and ask Him, “What are things of old you want to remove? And what of You do you want me to replace it with?”

It’s important to add in the last part, if He is good to remove it, He is good to refill it. But He doesn’t just fill it up, He brings OVERFLOW because He is THAT GOOD.

“You prepare a feast for me
in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
My cup overflows with blessings.”

• Psalm 23:5 NLT

Enjoy the process and know that I’m praying for you. Remember when I said “buckle up”? I wasn’t kidding!

God Bless you in this next step.

Praying for you always,

Big Al with the Big Faith ❤