A Surrendered Yes

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul." Deuteronomy 10:12 (NLT)

Saying yes to God means saying no to your flesh.

And before you brace yourself for what sounds like a hard word, I want you to hear this: that is actually good news. That is some of the best news you will ever receive as a believer who is also building something.

Because here is what happens when you do not say no to yourself. When you focus on building a business for your own gain and your own glory, you do not leave room for God to be on the throne of your heart. When you put too much emphasis on doing what you want to do, how you want to do it, and who you want to do it with, over doing what God said, when He said it, and how He said it, you set yourself up to fail. Not because God is waiting to punish you. But because you have cut yourself off from the source of the very thing you are trying to build.

Saying no to yourself does not mean that following Jesus means you will not be happy or fulfilled. It really means that you have come to recognize that what God wants for you has to be better than what your mortal heart wants for yourself. And when you truly believe that, the surrender stops feeling like loss. It starts feeling like the wisest decision you have ever made.

You Are Covered

The good thing about being a SAVEDpreneur is that you are covered.

There is nothing you can do that would make God stop loving you. There is nowhere you could go that God cannot find you. Even when you mess up, and you will, your Father in Heaven is patient and He is just. He waits for you to come running back to Him. And when you repent, He is ready to give you a good washing, dress you in fine clothes, and welcome you home just to send you back out to keep building for Him and with Him.

That is not a picture of a God who is keeping score. That is the picture of a Father who has already decided that you are worth the wait.

Think about the prodigal son. He rehearsed his apology the whole way home. He had already decided he would ask his father to treat him like a servant because he did not feel worthy of the son title anymore. But the father did not even let him finish the speech. He saw him coming from a long way off and ran to meet him. He called for the best robe. The ring. The sandals. The celebration. Not because the son had earned it back. But because he came home.

That is who God is to you. And knowing that should change everything about how you approach the surrender He is asking of you.

All He Requires Is a Surrendered Yes

The scripture does not ask for perfection. It does not require a flawless track record or an unblemished past. It asks for one thing: a heart and soul that are fully His.

All He requires of you is a surrendered yes. A yes that honors Him. You give Him that yes in how you think, in how you act, and in how you interact when it comes to the life He has blessed you with.

The Kingdom has a culture. It is the culture of honor and servanthood. When you choose to put down what you want and pick up what God wants, you are showing Him that He can trust you with more. You are demonstrating that the assignment is bigger than your ego, bigger than your preferences, bigger than your comfort zone. And God has a way of expanding what you are entrusted with when He sees that you can be trusted with what you already have.

This is why so many of us plateau in our businesses and in our callings. Not because the vision is wrong. Not because the gifting is not there. But because we are still holding the wheel. We are still trying to drive something that God is supposed to be steering. And then we wonder why we keep ending up in the same places, hitting the same ceilings, running into the same walls.

Let go of the wheel. Give Him the yes. And then watch what He does with a heart that is actually available to Him.

How Bad Do You Want It

Let me ask you something straight.

How bad do you want God's blessing? How much are you willing to sacrifice to see Him smile over what you are building?

Because here is what I have learned. He does not want your polished version. He does not want the you that has it all together and knows all the right things to say. He wants the real you. The complicated you. The parts of you that you are still working through. The parts of you that you do not even like. He wants that too. He is not intimidated by your mess. He is not surprised by your struggle. He made you. He knows exactly what He is getting. And He still chose you for the assignment.

So give yourself to Him. Not the highlight reel version. All of it. Your heart, your mind, your soul, your history, your fears, your ambitions, your wounds, your gifts. Hand it all over. Because He will take better care of you than you ever could.

That is not a passive statement. That is a promise backed by every story in the Word of a person who surrendered everything and walked into something they could never have built on their own. Abraham. Moses. Ruth. Esther. David. Paul. The thread running through every single one of their stories is the same. They said yes when it cost them something. And God did something with that yes that far exceeded what any of them could have planned for themselves.

Your yes carries that same potential.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

Submit to Him. Not just in the big decisions. In all your ways. In the daily decisions. In the moments nobody sees. In the strategy sessions and the pricing conversations and the partnerships you are considering and the content you are about to post. In all of it. Let Him lead. And He will make your paths straight.

That is the promise attached to the surrendered yes.

Pray This Today:

Great God and my Good Good Father, thank You for being alert and aware concerning me. Thank You for demanding more of me so that You can get the glory out of my life. Thank You for trusting me with Your work and with a part of Your kingdom.

I humbly give myself to You. Take control of my mind and my heart. You made me in Your likeness and in Your image. And because of this, I have a right to all the goodness You have for me while I am here in the land of the living.

I receive Your forgiveness for every moment I chose to live in my own strength, for every time I held the wheel when You were trying to steer, for every yes I gave to myself when You were waiting for me to give it to You instead.

I am only strong in You. Today, I choose You. And only You.

It is so and it shall not be otherwise.

In Jesus name. Amen.

Reflect: Where are you still holding the wheel? What would it look like to give God a full, unconditional yes in that area today, not when you feel ready, but right now?

Maleeka Hollaway is the founder of SAVEDpreneur Media and Lead and Influence. She writes from real life, real faith, and real experience. Follow her at SAVEDpreneur.com.