After the Yes, Walk With Him
A key turning in a lock, a simple picture of a willing yes that opens the day to the Lord’s lead.
Devotional Credit: My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
Photo Credit: Unsplash
Philippians 3 reminds us that our confidence is not in the flesh, it is in Jesus. Oswald Chambers helps us see that surrender is not mainly about handing over things, it is about yielding the will to the Father. When the will bows, the heart finds rest. It is not a one time rush of emotion. It is a settled yes that carries into ordinary moments.
Chambers sketches three angles of surrender. For deliverance, Jesus invites the weary to come and find rest. For devotion, He calls us to deny ourselves and follow Him. For death, He shows Peter that another will lead him where he would not choose, and that this path of union will glorify God. These are not ladders to climb. They are ways the Spirit trains our yes.
This shifts how we think about purpose. After surrender, we do not chase a role to justify our lives. We walk with a Person. The will is yielded, so the day becomes a place of fellowship. We learn to prefer Jesus in the small crossroads. We stop waiting for the next crisis to feel close to God, and start watching for His lead in the next conversation.
I am grateful for the clarity. The Father is not forcing us into His plan. He waits and wins the heart with love. In that love, saying yes to Him becomes the most reasonable thing in the world. The life of abiding grows from that yes, not from pressure, and not from trying to prove something.
Journal Entry, Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I wait for your willing yes. I do not crush the will. I work in you to will and to act for My good pleasure. Present your body as a living sacrifice. Be renewed in your mind so that you discern what is good and pleasing and perfect.
Come to Me when you are weary, and I give you rest. Take up your cross and follow My Son. Lose your life for His sake and you will find it. Be united with Jesus in His death, and you will walk in newness of life. Set your mind on things above where He is seated. Your life is hidden with Him in Me.
Abide in Me. Apart from Me you can do nothing. Fix your eyes on Jesus who finished the work given to Him. Let the love of Christ control you, so that you live not for yourself but for Him who died and was raised. I am faithful. I sanctify you completely. I equip you with everything good so that you do My will as I work what is pleasing in you through Jesus.
Scripture references: Philippians 3:3, Philippians 2:13, Romans 12:1 to 2, Matthew 11:28 to 29, Matthew 16:24 to 25, Luke 9:23, Romans 6:4 to 11, Colossians 3:1 to 4, John 15:4 to 5, Hebrews 12:2, John 17:4, 2 Corinthians 5:14 to 15, 1 Thessalonians 5:23 to 24, Hebrews 13:20 to 21, John 21:18 to 19, Galatians 2:20.
Real-Life Analogy
Granting an app permission on your phone changes how it can serve you. Until you allow access, it cannot guide, remind, or update. Once permission is given, it quietly goes to work in the background. Yielding the will to the Lord is similar. The indwelling Spirit of Jesus is present and ready. As we agree with Him, He expresses His life through us with a steady wisdom and calm we could not produce by rules or grit.
Try this today. Before you reply to a difficult email, pause for ten seconds and say, Lord, I trust You to align my will with Yours as You live through me in this reply. Then write with honesty, patience, and a readiness to serve.
Prayer of Confidence
Father, thank You that in Jesus I am yours and complete. Thank You for making the path clear, not by pressure, but by love. I gladly yield my will to You. I receive this day as fellowship with Your Son. I rest in Your faithfulness to work in me what pleases You. Lord, I trust You to carry this yes into each choice and to express Your life through me.