Let Go and Let God

Hello, welcome to Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self, the show that empowers you with the Holy Spirit and gives you the ability to overcome every scheme of the enemy so you can enter your promised land. Today, you're going to get a new strategy for success in your life.

 

[Music]

 

Hey, welcome to Self Talk. I'm your host, me, Dr. Ray Self. Thank you for being a part of today's show…sponsored by, you know it, the International College of Ministry icmcollege.org. Thank you for being part today. I appreciate you very much. For all my listeners, God bless you. Here we go. Heavenly Father, thank you for the show today. Thank you for everyone hearing the show. I pray that the anointing be upon me and my words will be a blessing to them. I want to talk about letting go. Yeah, it's a cliché, you know, just let go, let God. But you know what? There's a lot to that. There's a lot to trusting God and knowing that when God has it in His hands, He's able to do far more exceedingly and abundantly more than you could ever think or ask for. The problem is when you hear the words let go and let God or just trust God, it becomes a cliché, and it loses its power and loses its meaning. What I want you to understand today is there is a principle with God that can change your life forever. A principle that moves the hand of God. You see, like me, and you, we like to know what's going to happen. We have our plans. We have our ideas. We have our visions. We also have things that we would like to see changed that we've been unable to change such as a person who hurts us continually, a child who refuses to obey, um, a boss who refuses to recognize you, um, an offense, or maybe a character flaw. But there's all kinds of things that we have wanted to change that we've been unable to change. But yet we feel like it's our obligation to try and, try and, try and try, and try. You know, there's a, a serenity prayer which is very famous. You know, “Lord, help me to accept the things I cannot change, change the things that I can, have the wisdom to know the difference.” 

 

Let me tell you something, folks. There's a lot we have not been called to change. There's a lot that God wants to do for us. But God will fold His hands and just sit back and wait till we have finished our efforts and finished our striving and finished all that we can do and get exhausted and frustrated and burned out. I've often said this: if you're continually burned out, that means you're running on your own strength, and you have not trusted God. Now, trusting God doesn't mean blaming God for everything. I get a little frustrated when everybody– people say, 'Well…” no matter what happens, they go, "Well, God's in control. God's in control." It's a very frustrating statement because people use that to blame God for everything and not take responsibility for anything. A lot of things that happen are the consequences of our action, the consequences of sin, the consequences of living in a fallen world. It's not about God at all. It's about mankind. However, God can turn things around for our good. Okay? God causes all things to work for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purposes in the book of Romans. However, trusting God is about letting go. The Bible says, "Cast your fears, your anxieties upon the Lord." In Proverbs, “Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways, and He will direct your paths, and He will do it.” “Lean not onto your own understanding…” The principle is simple, powerful, and hard to do because it's against our nature. It's against our nature to trust God in everything because we strive. We're strivers. We want to change that person's behavior. We want to change our spouse. We want to change our children. We want to change our boss. We want to change our situation. And now listen, we need to do our part and do our diligence. However, trusting God means we take the things that God did not give us responsibility for, which is usually other people and certain circumstances, and we release them to Him. We say, "God, I, I, I can't handle this. I don't want to handle this. I'm going to turn this over to you. I'm going to let go and let God.”

 

You know, I've seen this work, uh, when families have an addict in their house. Somebody's struggling with an addiction, and they try to fix them. They try to cure them. They try to make them stop whatever they're doing till they get to the end of their rope. And at some point, many of them say, "Lord, I turn this person over to you." To let a– to turn a person over to God, to let God have His will over another person is an act of love. It's not an act of giving up. It's an act of love, and it's a powerful act. Let go and let God means you have taken a situation, a person, a circumstance, whatever it is, and you have given it to God with all your heart, and you are trusting Him to do something. And I want to tell you something about God. When God realizes that you have trusted Him to take care of this issue, this person, and you have released it to Him, I've seen time and time and time again, God move mightily. God is waiting for us to release it to Him. To let go. Let go, let God. That means giving it over to God, casting your cares upon Him, casting that situation upon Him, and releasing it and letting it go. Stop worrying about it. Stop fretting about it. Stop trying to control it. Stop trying to change it.

 

Now, if you're like me, and a lot of people, we will take it back. We'll give it to God, we'll take it back. We'll give it to God, we'll take it back. We'll give it to God, and we will take it back again and again. But you know what? It's okay. It's not the best thing to do, but you can release it again.  Release it again. Let go again. Say, "God, I give this to you. God, I trust you with this. God, I release this problem to you. I release this person to you. I trust you, Father." And God, when He knows that His child, you, His child, is trusting Him with all your heart to handle something, He'll do it. He will do it. He will do it. Let go and let God is something extremely powerful. It's against our nature. It's against our logic. But our Heavenly Father loves us. When we release something to His care, a person to His care, a circumstance to His care, a situation to His care, He will move. So many times I believe God is just waiting for us to fully trust Him. You know that's what faith is, it's trust. Having confidence in Him. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Faith means, “Lord, I trust you with this.” I– and, and it's important, I think, just to verbalize it. “God, I'm trusting you with my wife. I'm trusting you with my marriage. I'm trusting you with my child. I'm trusting you with this financial situation.” 

 

Now listen, it doesn't let you off the hook from doing the best that you can, but it does take the worry and the responsibility off of you, the stress off of you. You see, God wants to do exceedingly and abundantly, more than you could ever think or ask for, but you must release it to Him and trust Him with it. And I know it's easier said than done, but you can do it. You can do it. Countless testimonies of people who have released situations to God, and God will move on their behalf. God wants to show Himself strong in your life. He wants to show His power in your life. He wants to do amazing things for you, but you need to get out of the way. We need to all get out of the way of God and trust Him with all our heart. Acknowledge Him in all our ways, the scripture says. It's an act of faith; it's an action. It's an action that you take, trusting God with things that are beyond your control. Now, God does give you responsibility, things that you are called to handle yourself. But even in that, you should acknowledge Him and thank Him for the opportunity. Ask for His help. But there are other things that are beyond your scope of influence. Even though you want to be in your influence, they're beyond your ability to change. They're beyond your ability to make it happen the way you want to happen, want it to happen. Especially when you're dealing with other people. You know, we're not called to fix other people. That's what the controllers do. We've talked about that.

 

Trusting God is releasing that difficult thing to Him as an act of faith and believing He's going to do something for you. Let it go. Stop worrying about it. Stop fretting over it. Stop trying to fix it. Stop trying to change it. If, if there's something you have to do or you, you should be doing as, as a responsible adult, yeah, do it. But releasing circumstances, people, situations to God is powerful. Let go and let God. It's not just a cliché. It is a powerful act of faith. It's something that moves the hand of God. Our Father loves us so much; when He knows that we have completely trusted Him in a certain situation or with a certain person, He moves. When we're trying to do it on our own, say, "God, I don't need you. I've got this," God will say, "Go ahead. Knock yourself out. And when you get tired enough, burn out enough, frustrated enough, come back to Me and I will help you.” I hope you understand this principle. Let go and let God is powerful. Don't take it– I know you'll take it back. You'll let– I've done it a thousand times. I've let go and trusted God, taken it back, trusted God, taken it back. That's okay. But keep giving it back to Him. Take it back. Give it back. Take it back. Give it back. You can do it. Let go and let God is more than a cliché. Maybe you need to ask God, "Lord, what is it in my life I need to let go of and trust you with? Show me my part. Show me your part. Lord, if I'm stepping over my boundaries and getting into your business, please forgive me. I'll let go of your business. I trust you. I trust you, Father.” Lord, we thank you. We praise you. 

 

So, right now, I pray for everyone listening to this show. This is a little short episode today, but the principle is extremely powerful. Let go and let God. Right now there's people listening to me that have– those worried sick about a child, maybe a teenager. Now listen, you still do your discipline. You don't enable, you set your boundaries, but you have to let them go and trust that God loves them more than you and He can bring about a change. Maybe it's a spouse you want to see changed. You've done everything you can to change that spouse. Let go. Let go. Trust God. Maybe you're trying to see a, a situation at work change. Surrender it to God. Surrender it to God. Maybe it's a financial circumstance. Surrender it to God. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. All the gold and silver, the earth and the fullness thereof. He can provide for you. Trust God and don't blame God for everything, but trust God in everything. The Bible says in everything give thanks. Let go and let God is one of the most powerful things you can do in this lifetime. And it's an act of faith. It's an act of will. It makes you uncomfortable. Let go of that person right now. Let go of that situation right now. Say, "Lord, I give it to you. I release this to you. I trust you, Father. Have your way, Lord." Sometimes people think, "Well, letting go is, is mean." It's not mean. It's actually an act of love. It's an act of love. Trusting God with a person is an act of love. It doesn't mean you don't care about them. It means you're going to quit trying to fix them, control them, make them change. You're trusting God with them. That's the best thing you can do. Amen. 

 

This is Dr. Ray. Thank you for listening to this episode of Self Talk. Amen and amen. Hey, you know the drill. Don't forget to share this episode with many people. We're getting a lot of downloads lately. It's very exciting. Thank you so much. Don't forget to go to the website for the show, icmcollege.org/selftalk. Subscribe. Give me a review. Email me if you have any questions at drray@... drrayself@icm– no, excuse me, drayself@gmail.com. Don't forget to email me. If you'd like to donate, oh, that'd be so cool if the Lord leads you. I mean, seriously, if you feel in your heart, we are 501c3. Would love– the donations do help us a lot. This show costs a lot of time and money. Uh, best way probably is to go back to my main website, icmcollege.org/donate. I appreciate you. God bless you. This is Dr. Ray signing out.

 

[Music]

 

Thank you so much for listening to today's show. I appreciate you very, very much. Don't forget go to our website for the show. The easiest way to get to it is at icmcollege.org/selftalk. There you can access any of our previous over 200 episodes. You can like, you can subscribe, you can get on our email list. Don't forget to share it with your friends. Again, thank you for being a part of Self Talk. God bless you.