Release to Receive
/“I want this one...no, this one...can I have both of them? Oh, wait, I really like this one, too!”
Have you ever been shopping with an excited, yet indecisive child? You know the one. Whether an average trip to the store, a special trip to spend money they’ve saved, or a visit to a souvenir shop the last day of vacation, wherever it may be, they hold up the works by wanting everything they see! They grab one thing and tuck it under their arm, freeing their hands for another item. They use the other hand to pick up something else, and pause to give consideration to each attention grabbing “thing” that they’ve grabbed to filled their hands.
Maybe a better question is this – How many times have we been like that indecisive child — desperately hold onto things, grasping them so tightly with our white knuckled fist, that we lose sight of the first thing that caught our eye, the other things we've not yet discovered, or forgotten what we truly desired in the first place? Sometimes we can want something so badly, we don’t even grasp the motivation behind the wanting?
God gives us each passions and desires He wants us to wholeheartedly pursue. However, we find ourselves in trouble when those desires become idols, and we elevate them to a status higher than the desires God wants for our lives.
We must release the things we want in order to receive the things He wants to give us.
I heard a story once about a conversation between a daddy and his little girl. The discussion was all about the contents of a cookie jar. The little girl asked her daddy if she could have a handful of cookies from the cookie jar. Wanting to help his daughter understand the quantity of cookies different size hands could hold, the dad asked his daughter this simple question while holding her hand in his for comparison sake. “Do you want a handful of cookies (holding her small and dainty hand), or do you want a Daddy handful of cookies (emphasizing his much larger hand)?”
The girl, not quite grasping what her dad was saying insisted on sticking her own hand in the cookie jar to grab the cookies she wanted. Her heart’s desire was to reach in, take those delicious cookies, and hold them in her own hand for herself. However, her dad knew the amount of cookies his larger hand could hold was so much greater than the amount his daughter’s tiny hand would retrieve if she reached into that jar. He asked the question again, stressing the difference between the two handfuls. He held her little hand in his and said, “Honey, do you want a handful of cookies, or do you want a Daddy handful of cookies?”
As I heard that story, I also heard God’s still, small voice whisper to my heart, “Tabitha, do you want to settle for what your mind can conceive or your heart can hold? Do you want to continue clinging to the very things that are hindering you from taking hold of the greater things I have planned for you? Are you truly willing to settle for less than my best for you?”
We must release our handful to receive His handful.
Since I'm a little slow at getting it sometimes, God uses repetition all too often with me. By the power of His Holy Spirit, He’ll drop a spiritual truth in my heart in relation to an everyday situation I'm going through. I can remember two more times He has reiterated this concept of releasing to receive.
Once was when our family was traveling to Prince Edward Island and back from our home in Central Pennsylvania. We made several stops along the way. Being a homeschool family, we purposely planned some educational stops — Plymouth, Boston, the Portland Head Light, Cadillac Mountain in Bar Harbor, Schoodic Point, the Hopewell Rocks at the Bay of Fundy, and for this Anne Shirley lovin’ girl, we couldn’t pass on an opportunity to see Green Gables, especially brushed with the beauty of autumn! As we made our way up, and then down, the East Coast, making our planned stops along the way, our whole family was in awe of the beautiful scenery we saw.
Like any good homeschool mom, I provided travel journals for the boys to record some details of our trip. We’d make a stop, get back in to our vehicle, and immediately some of the journals would come out and the boys would write about how that stop was the best thing (thus far) on this road trip. However, after traveling a little further, making another stop, and reconvening in the vehicle, the chatter each time seemed to echo the same sentiments, “That was definitely the best part of the trip!” If the word “best” implies a superlative, how could every destination along the way be better than the best?
You see, had we stopped at only one place, it would have been the sole recipient of that adjective “best.” But, since our journey was longer and included many other things, we all had to be willing to release the designation of “best” as it applied to the previous stops in order to receive the next “best” we’d encounter.
We must release our “best” to receive His “better than the best.”
One last practical example God used to illustrate this concept happened on a pretty ordinary day in our home. That day, I was expecting an important phone call. I didn’t want to miss it because I knew that if it went to voicemail, the caller would not be able to leave a message. I was aware of this predicament because others had told me my voicemail box was full.
I knew I need to just delete some old messages and free up space. The problem with that sensible solution was that the messages that cluttered my mailbox were sentimental, personal, and extremely dear to my heart, and I did not want to get rid of them.
And that’s when God’s still, small voice spoke another personal message to my heart... “It’s ok to hold dear and cherish ‘old messages,’ but you need to archive them in order to make room for ‘new messages.’ I cannot receive the new if I am constantly holding on to the old.
There are new things God wants to speak to us every day. Fresh manna He wants to provide for our nourishment and growth. Remember the Israelites and the instructions God gave them in Exodus 16:15-20 about the manna they gathered each day...
And Moses told them, “It is the food the Lord has given you to eat. These are the Lord’s instructions: Each household should gather as much as it needs. Pick up two quarts for each person in your tent.” So the people of Israel did as they were told. Some gathered a lot, some only a little. But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed. Then Moses told them, “Do not keep any of it until morning.” But some of them didn’t listen and kept some of it until morning. But by then it was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. Moses was very angry with them.
We will never be able to receive the new things God wants to speak to us if we are desperately clinging to the old words. By all means, we should hold them dear, remember them, ponder them, pray over them, but we must release them to Him, so our hearts and minds are free to receive the fresh words from His Word He wants to speak over us today.
We must release old messages that get in the way of receiving the new messages He wants to speak over us today.
So, let’s do this together...are you in? Let’s release our handful from the past that’s seemingly the best to receive God’s handful of blessing and abundance for today that’s better than anything we could ask for or imagine!
My prayer for you today...straight from God’s Word to your current situation…
I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:16-21)