Don’t Cross Me
Aren’t you loving this series, “I Believe in God, But…?” This week, Don’t Cross Me hit a nerve for many: an unedited, un-tempered look at the indisputable fact that God wants an All-Access Pass to our lives. He wants it all…our hearts, our minds, our hobbies, our marriages, our kids…our money. When we try to welcome Him into some areas of our lives and block Him from others, we become divided and unstable, and we often don’t know why.
Many of us look at our lives and see a lack of power, fruit, passion, victory…so we pray for God to do something, to fix the problem. This weekend was a reality check: breakthrough and blessing will come when submission and surrender take place. When Christ-followers give Jesus access, He transforms us in ways we could never have dreamed possible!
Here are three critical questions we studied this weekend. Spend great time fleshing these out with Jesus:
Three Critical Questions:
1. Why does God want total access to my life?
- A. You are designed for it. God made u to love you, to be near Him. He wants to bless you, guide you, comfort you, and the way that works is for us to receive His love and grow in intimacy. That only happens if our lives are in proper order. Put simply: when we live recognizing that there is One God and One Lord, and We’re not Him. He doesn’t want to just be the Lord of all. He wants to be YOUR Lord.
- B. It’s best for you. You were made to rest in the leadership of another. Not only did God design us to follow Him, He crafted us so that in doing so we would be at our best by resting in His leadership and worshipping Him alone! What that means is that when He’s at the center of your life with complete access and total freedom to lead, He has the power to move in and transform every area of your life! It’s acknowledging that He’s God, He knows what is best for you and you do not!
2. Why wouldn’t I want Him to have total access to my life?
- A. Pride – On some level most of us think we can handle life on our own, maybe in some ways even do a better job than God. From the earliest pages of the Bible and the story Adam until now, we nurture pride, we esteem self-reliance and independence. “I’ve got this…I can handle my life. I believe in God, sure…and I’ll take His help, but I’m good.” In the OT there is an indicting little phrase that was used to describe the tragic lives of those who worshipped pride and not God. It says they “Did what was right in their own eyes.” That doesn’t have to be you!
- B. Protection – We’ve been hurt, and in our pain we’ve learn patterns of protecting ourselves from pain, from people and from God. So, without ever saying it perhaps, we begin to pick and chose the areas we’ll place under the Lordship of Jesus. And in the others, we tell God KEEP OUT. But that leaves us trying to share the throne with God…with a divided, torn heart. We want God to hear and answer our prayers…and He longs to heal us, provide for us, protect us, bless us… but as C.S. Lewis once said, “He cannot bless us unless he has us. When we try to keep within us an area that is our own, we try to keep an area of death…There’s no bargaining with Him.” He always wants what’s best for you!
3. So How Can I be Whole Again?
- A. Admit - Just like the 1st step in AA, admit that you are powerless and your life has become unmanageable with you as your own lord. Admit that you need His help if you’re ever going to be whole again.
- B. Humble yourself - Ask God to forgive you for rejecting His leadership in your life…for treating as common that which is priceless.
- C. Surrender and submit to Him - DAILY. When you humble yourself, He doesn’t shame you, He embraces you…healing begins & breakthrough starts.
We were never intended to “play church”…and we don’t want to be people who “play Jesus.” We’re designed for real transformation in the hands of the God who loves us and who knows what’s best for us. When you submit and surrender to His leadership in your life, you’ll find the life you’ve been longing for!






