Help Lord! This leader is discouraged!

We all get discouraged. Discouragement is when we lose the courage to believe, even if it's just for the moment. Sometimes discouragement is short-lived and sometimes it lingers a long time. All of us can relate to the downer of being discouraged.

It is at the point of discouragement that we are called to surrender to God whatever it is that is causing distress. The Bible says this is a casting of our cares to God because He cares for us.

1 Peter 5:7-9 God's Word Translation
Turn all your anxiety over to God because he cares for you. Keep your mind clear and be alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion as he looks for someone to devour. Be firm in the faith and resist him, knowing that other believers throughout the world are going through the same kind of suffering.

Turning our anxiety into surrender
True surrender is not just the surrender of our external life and circumstances. True surrender involves the surrender of our will. This is the most difficult surrender of all. We can love God, show up to serve God, and speak of the truths about God's will. But, when He asks us to hand over "our will" to Him, that is another story all together.

To experience all that God has for us, we must surrender our will to God.

• Whatever is causing me anxiety or uncertainty is actually a call to my will--"Come to Me." Matthew 11:28

• Whatever is causing me to hold on to the "rights" of myself is actually a call to let go of my rights--"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself..." Matthew 16:24
  

What comes after surrender?
It is then our entire life begins to become characterized by a desire to live in unbroken fellowship and oneness with God.

Lord, help me to hand over to you, all of me. Amen