I Surrender All: Building and Leaving a Legacy for GenerationsSample

SEE THE CHANGE – PICK IT UP Surrender changes everything. Once Moses surrendered the staff, God did something to it. He changed it into a snake and then He told Moses to pick it up by the tail. Moses was probably familiar with how to handle snakes. He spent a lot of time outside. He probably knew that the easiest and best way to get bitten by a snake was to grab the snake by the tail. Ok, yeah, no problem, I will grab this snake...wait, by the tail? God, are you kidding me? Why don’t I just stick my hand in a pool of piranhas or how about I snuggle up with a few hundred scorpions? Are you sure you want me to grab the snake by the tail? I can’t do that God. Even though we can find Moses reluctance and hesitancy in this story, He was still obedient. He threw down his staff in an act of surrender and humility. Then even in his momentary doubt, he picks up his staff transformed into a snake by the tail as he was instructed, in an act of trust and faith. Did you know that God is okay with your moments of doubt? His will and way aren’t hindered when we need a second to process all that He is asking us to do. In fact, He is such a good FATHER that He is willing to process with us. At the same time, He is not likely going to give us the full picture of what our ultimate obedience will accomplish. You can’t say to God, “I see that I am at A, so you show me Z and then I will take the next step.” If he did that, it would scare you to death. You would stay exactly where you are because you are not strong enough yet to see what God has planned. He won’t show you Z, but he will give what you need to get to B. Hear God speak to you in this moment as a FATHER speaks to his son or daughter: “Trust me, my dear child, you’re not ready to know all that your life will accomplish or all that it will require. You will get there, but you have to go on this journey with me.” God is good and faithful to both call us and equip us to accomplish all that He has set before us. Our lives have unique purposes, that no one else in all creation can fully fulfill because they are not us. Ephesians 2:10 says it this way, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” I can still hear God’s voice when He told me to give away all the money that Marla & I had saved up to build our Legacy Lodge: “I have entrusted that money to you. You can do what you want with it, but I want you to give it away.” God was asking me to throw down my dream. He was testing me to see if I would surrender what I believed was the fulfillment of my life’s work. Together we did it. We threw down our dream, but then God changed it. He changed our vision of a Legacy Lodge for our family into a vision that was bigger than we could handle. He turned it into a vision of a legacy creator for generations of other people. It became something far bigger than us. It went from a good vision to a God vision, and then he asked me to pick it up. I didn’t want to do that. Are you willing to see God change the thing that He asked you to throw down? And then after He changes it, are you willing pick it up? How do you see God working in your life right now? What has He entrusted you with?