“Surrender your anxiety! Be silent and stop your striving and you will see that I am God...” Psalms 46:10 TPT
To strive means: struggle or fight vigorously, make great efforts to achieve or obtain something.
Do you ever get a word from The Lord and upon receiving that promise it brings such hope, expectancy and encouragement? But then, a month can go by, 6 months...a year, sometimes many, and what was promised hasn't come to pass.
There is a term used in the prophetic I’ve heard often, it’s: “there is warfare around a word”. What this means is that when you get a promise, you must hold on to it, declare it, believe for it even when you do not see the promise fulfilled.
However, sometimes the constant striving and fighting vigorously for the word seems to consume you, and before you know it, the unfulfilled promise and the wanting it so desperately takes front and center in your life.
When you receive a promise from God, it is important to declare that word, to hold onto it and to recognize that the enemy would love nothing more than seeing you give up.
However, in the midst of that, sometimes the promise can become an idol, the word is so extraordinary that you forget about the One who gave it.
For me, I’ve had a promise for years. One I haven’t seen completely fulfilled, and I was getting tired. Angry. Confused. I was questioning my Heavenly Father as to why the promise hadn’t come to pass. I had done all the “right” things, I had checked off all the boxes and yet it still wasn’t happening, it still hasn’t happened. And in my desperation, I began striving. Everyday I was consumed by the promise, declaring the truth, praying in tongues, confessing everything I could think of that I had done wrong, anything and everything, yet if I was doing what God wanted me to do, why was I so tired? Why was I angry at Him? Why did I feel like it would never happen? I finally cried out to Him, and of course, because He is loving and wise, He answered...
He took me to the verse above - Psalms 46:10, and He explained it to me. He said,
“Surrender is a choice...during a war when one side surrenders, it’s because they have fought valiantly, done all they could to win with no avail. They really had no chance of winning, so they waved their white flag and surrendered...in that same way, surrender your anxiety, cease striving is, “giving up” in what you cannot accomplish in your own strength. Even more than that, it’s realizing you cannot win this fight.
Sometimes you are called to pick up your sword and fight but I am saying to you, LAY DOWN YOUR SWORD. Stop fighting to enter into the promise I have given, BE SILENT, I know what you need, you don’t have to keep reminding me. I know what I’ve promised and I will be faithful to My Word. All I am asking of you is to surrender, shift your focus from the battle, onto the One who is victorious over it. Give up the fight and enter into My rest beloved”.
I have been challenged with this charge, because as easy as it seems to give up and to
surrender completely to God, it takes renewing the mind. It takes practice trusting Him and resting in Him. It doesn’t seem like enough, but once I began to practice this, oh how wonderful it has been. I had taken the promise and put it in my own hands, sure, what I was doing was biblical and it wasn’t wrong, but what I forgot was I didn’t hold the key to unlocking the promise, He did. And I needed to get the fresh wind and new strategy from Heaven.
Entering into His rest will bring me into the promise. Entering into his love will fill me with hope. Entering into his presence will cause me to be nothing but thankful.
The key needed for this lock looks different from what it had in the past and I needed to remember the One who holds the victory.
If you’re weary from seeing a promise unfulfilled ask the Holy Spirit for the new strategy specific for you and your circumstance. Remember who holds every answer to every question. Trust in the truths of His word, “God is not a man, so He does not lie. He is not human, so He does not change His mind. Has He ever spoken and failed to act? Has He ever promised and not carried it through?” Numbers 23:19 NLT
“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:19 NLT
“So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me void (useless, without result), Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11 AMP
Heavenly Father, the Promise Keeper, You are the Way Maker. You hold the key to victory. I ask that everyone who is waiting on a promise will receive the anointed strategy You have for them in seeing it fulfilled completely. I declare that the flood gates of Heaven will pour out over Your beloved children and every word You have spoken will be done, on this side of heaven, thank You Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides. Amen
~ Caitlin Sawyer