We Surrender | Girls Gone Bible 01:01:50

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First of all, hi, I'm Angela. Hi, I'm Ari. And I'm Angela. We're keeping that in. And this is Girls Gone Bible. We're a faith-based podcast. We talk about God. We talk about Jesus. We talk about the Bible. We also hit all things mental health and life. And it's just, it's uplifting. It's purifying. It's sanctifying. And I just, we really, we're so happy that you're here. We love you so much. Sometimes we tell stories because...

our life is literally like a movie. Like things happen in me and Ari's life that's truly simply not normal.

We're in Miami you guys this past week We had a couple of events and a couple of like things that we had to do for work So we go to Miami. I'm with Ari and we're with our best friend Carolina and Carolina and Ari my friends are a little bougie, right? We're calling ubers. We take turns calling ubers. They keep getting uber luxe, uber black My friends are they're bougie like they're getting the best the best we go to this restaurant It's like this five-star fine dining situation

Wearing gowns, okay? We're dressed. Oh, oh, yeah. We go to this restaurant. We leave. It's my turn to call an Uber. I forgot to call, like, a nice car. So there's this beat-up... No, no, I'm not... I don't care about that stuff, but the seats, like, the stuff was... It was the most beat-up car. The seats were ripped. The guy, it smelled like weed.

Our Uber driver's doing drugs. My friends are so mad at me. I go, is this it? I'm so scared to get out. I'm so scared. I'm so scared.

It's only an extra, like, five bucks to get the XL. Well, imagine us. We were fighting, weren't we? No, we weren't fighting. Oh, no, we were fighting because you were asking Carolina to take 5,000 photos of you. I was so cold. I was like...

Get me out of here. Please. I was freezing. I just wanted to go home. And Ari does this thing where she'll be like, okay. She at least doesn't lie. People are usually like, okay, can you take one more photo? She goes, okay, just ten more. Okay, just five more. And I'm like, this is the worst day of my life. Anyways, us, I will never get that picture out of my head of us in these gowns.

Crammed in the back of the... While we were in Miami, we got invited to this premiere to see the film Cabrini. It's a faith-based film, and it's genuinely one of the best films I've ever watched in my life. And I'm just so grateful for what God is doing in the acting world, in the movie industry. There are so many faith-based films that are out in the world right now. Angel Studios is just doing so much great.

So much for God. Cabrini was one of those characters. She had broken English. She wasn't from the country. She had poor health and it didn't stop her. And I'm sure you can understand that coming from Albania, you know, and she built this huge empire and changed so many lives. The story of Cabrini is literally the definition. She is the scripture personified of if God before you, who can be against you? I mean, she...

did so much and she got turned down so many times. She helped so many children, so many people, and every single time that she was rejected, shut down, turned down, she just relied on God. And God opened doors for her and He created opportunities. This goes to show you that when God has you on a mission, nothing can stop you. You guys, today we're talking all about surrendering, how to surrender to God, what that looks like, what that even means.

There's countless stories in the Bible about people surrendering, surrendering to God's will. Above all else, you guys, we want to live a life that is fully, completely, and totally surrendered to the will of God. We can either live by our own will or we could live by God's will. And I promise you, 10 times out of 10 times, God's will is better than ours. So, so today we're going to be reading...

Genesis chapter 22. We're in the NLT version. So as you guys remember, there was a time where they actually, Sarah and Abraham actually lost faith in God's promise on their life. And so that's when Hagar had a baby with Abraham and that's when Ishmael was born. And then Goliath

God was still so gracious in their lives and still promised them their son and promised that Abraham would become a father of many nations through his son Isaac. Isaac is eventually born because God's promises always come to pass.

And then we get to Genesis chapter 22, where it says that Abraham's faith is tested. And before we go on, I want to read in Genesis 21. The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age.

This happened at just the time God had said it would. Let's never forget that God's promises always come to pass. And this proves to be true in all of our lives that it happens just at the time that God says that it would. Sometime later, God tested Abraham's faith. Abraham, God called. Yes, he replied. Here I am.

Take your son, your only son, yes, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.

Abraham told the servants...

So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders.

while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, Isaac turned to Abraham and said, "'Father?' "'Yes, my son,' Abraham replied. "'We have the fire and the wood,' the boy said. "'But where is the sheep for the burnt offering?' "'God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,' Abraham answered, and they both walked on together."

When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. At that moment, the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham. Yes, Abraham replied, here I am.

"Don't lay a hand on the boy," the angel said. "Do not hurt him in any way. For now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son." Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket.

So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh Yireh, which means the Lord will provide. To this day, people use that name as a proverb. On the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided.

Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. This is what the Lord says.

Then they returned to the servants and traveled back to Beersheba, where Abraham continued to live. I mean, you can only imagine, right? Like, I can't even grasp as a father what it would be like for our God to be like, you have to sacrifice your son. Can you imagine that?

how he was feeling in that moment, the questions that were going on in his mind, how do I have to do this? Why? But not once did he back out or I mean, think about it. He didn't ask why, if or whatever. He did it. Exactly. He didn't question God. Well, Abraham is he's a man of faith. It's not that Abraham is so much more special than any of us. He simply has faith.

And he knew that God would come through. He believes God's promise. And so he

The terrifying thing about this for Abraham is that his whole promise from God that he would be the father of many nations, his whole line of descendants that he was promised comes through this. It's not just that he loves Isaac. The whole promise comes through Isaac. He needs Isaac. And so for him to have so much faith to literally go up and be like, I don't know exactly what God is doing, but I know that he'll come through for me.

is the, like it says right here, God tested Abraham's faith. And there's a scripture that says that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness. So count it all joy, brothers and sisters, because the testing of our faith produces steadfastness, which means also patience, which is like being firm in our faith. And it's only through the testing of our faith that we're able to see if we even have steadfastness.

faith. Faith is the evidence of things unseen. We can't know if we have faith until we're hit with adversity and hardship and until we're hit with having to make a really tough choice. And he had to make such a tough choice. I was reading this and I actually saw the most incredible thing while I was reading. It's verse 12.

When the angel says, don't lay a hand on the boy, do not hurt him in any way. For now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your own son. And I think about the fact that

It says, you have not withheld from me even your own son, your only son. And I think about how God also didn't withhold his son, his only son that he loved so much. And it reminds me that even though God asks us to do really hard things, he doesn't ask us to do anything that he wouldn't do for us. I know.

You know? I know. It's such a two-way street with God. Like, we don't just sacrifice and surrender to get nothing back. Like, we gain so much when we give and we lay down. We gain so much more. We think by holding on, we're going to keep what we have. But the second we actually lay it down is when God is able to bless us and give us so much more. Yeah. What I saw here was, I think this is the most key thing in here. It's when...

He said, stay here with the donkey. Abraham told the servants, the boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there and then we will come right back. So he had such unshakable faith. He knew that they were going to be back. Mm hmm.

Wow. So he literally, that's crazy. That's actually so crazy because he knew even because this is way before Jesus. So he, he doesn't even know at this point, God's ability to like resurrect anything, but he had faith that even if he has to give up his son somehow, some way he will be resurrected. Yeah. If, if he has to sacrifice him, he will raise him from the dead, you know?

Whoa. That is, I love that so much. That was his promise. He said, I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you and I will make your name great and you will be a blessing, which means that that was God's promise to him. So he held on to that promise. He's walking there in pain, knowing that he has to sacrifice his son, but he knows what God's promise says. And

And it reminded me of my own life. And when I started reading the Bible and how I just held on to my life so much and try to control it. And the minute I started reading God's words and his promises and

it just made me feel so comforted of like, okay, well, God said I don't have to be afraid. God said that he will be there to provide for me. He will work everything out for me. And so every time I start to control my life, I remember his promises and it's so much easier to just let go and trust him. That's why we have to trust God and read the word. So good. The scripture where it's like,

If you try to find your life, you will lose it. But if you lose your life for Christ's sake, then you will find it. I mean, everything in the Bible is so beautiful and poetic that it sounds like a cliche. Let me tell you that every word in this Bible, every word in this book is not a cliche. It's real. It's true. It's perfect.

We've seen it in our lives that when you actually lay your life down and you say, I don't want it at all. That's when God is like, good job, my good and faithful servant. Here you go. Now let me give you a life worth living. Oh, yeah. I love, I just love that Abraham is so certain about God. And the thing is, though, what I love is that Abraham wasn't always this certain about God. He has fallen and gotten back up. And I think that it's through that.

these experiences that we have to where when we do doubt God and then we come back around to be like, what was I even worried about? How could I even doubt him? Why was I nervous about that? And we come to see through these life experiences that God's promises, even when we do fall and we do doubt him.

that they come around and they do come true anyways. That's what should also produce endurance in us for the future to look back on old situations and be like, wait, I thought this was really bad. And I actually rebelled against God because I doubted him, but he still was gracious towards me anyways. And throughout my mess, he was able to bring his promise to pass. Now I can take that into the future and remember it for this time that I'm in now as well. And then Abraham, so Abraham can look at the time where he had a...

son with Hagar, Ishmael, and he doubted God then. But then he had a situation with God just before this, where he had to leave his place where he lived with his family and go into an unknown territory. He had to get up, move his whole life, and he trusted God. And so he has all of these different life experiences to look back on and be like,

I'm in a really hard situation right now, but let me look back at my life and see God's faithfulness throughout my life. And that's what we have to do when we're hit with tough decisions that we have to make and moments where we have to surrender to God's will, even though it goes against what we want or what we think we should have to be like. But what's happened in the past?

Yeah. You know what I mean? Well, I think that's why God, well, I know that's why God tested him. God didn't, God knew what he was going to do. God knows everything. He knew that he was going to pass the test, but it was for Abraham to show Abraham that he doesn't put anything else above God. So it was a test for Abraham to show his love for God, you know? And I just think that's so beautiful. And it's, it's rewarding when you pass that test and you're like, okay, look how far I've come.

Just like what you said about how it was a test for Abraham, even if God is testing us and isn't actually going to make us surrender something, but he wants to see if we will. Not saying that you should do things for God in order to get something back, but you don't know how much God will bless even your willingness to surrender something. Yeah.

Yes, of course. Surrender isn't an overnight thing. It's a lifelong process. It's obedience. Obedience is key to surrender. All you have to do is take that leap of faith of obedience every single day. It's a daily surrender, daily submission. Yeah. It's a moment-by-moment surrender. It is.

Because I might wake up feeling good on fire, surrendered, whatever, and then I might be hit with something in the middle of the day that makes me question everything. And then I have to surrender in that moment. And then maybe later in the... You know what I mean? Like, it's truly... It's seeking God in everything that you do.

And just surrendering and yielding to him and his will. And sometimes we're not always going to pass the test. We're going to fail. But it's just going to show the area that we need to work on more. So true. You know? Mm-hmm.

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And I just, this story is just a great indication of when God tells you to do something, you do it. You don't argue with him. You don't second guess it. It might be hard to understand in the moment. And we might not really, we can't grasp it like him with the son. He couldn't understand why he had to do it. I mean, I,

God had promised him this, his son, and now he has a son. And now he, God says, well, by the way, you have to sacrifice him now. We don't always understand God's ways, but it's worth it in the end to just be obedient, even when we can't see it, because it's rewarding and you will see why in the end. A hundred percent.

I think because people are going to be like, well, how do you surrender? And how do you surrender? You have to trust God. That's where it starts. You have to trust that God knows better. You have to trust that God is more wise than us. You have to trust that he is sovereign, all-knowing, all-seeing. He's in the present, in the past, and in the future. He knows what you did 20 years ago, and he knows what you're going to do in 20 years. He literally...

there is not a single reason why we should ever feel like we know better than God. We don't. I know. We don't. And I know. And there's just been so many even moments now in my life where I'm like, I don't understand this. It's it doesn't we don't need to understand it. But God knows God understands and his ways are better than ours. So we just that's why I'm like, even if

Even if it hurts, let it hurt, but just know that he knows better and give it to him. Just give it to him. I mean, I, truthfully guys, I have had, having to surrender comes in all areas of your life. It's not just sin. And trust me, we've had to surrender a great amount of sin in our lives. And it's been the biggest, most beautiful blessing of our lives. And let me tell you something when you're, we're going to do a whole episode on sin, but when you're surrendering sin, it,

feels almost impossible before you do it. But once you actually do it, there's an empowerment from the Holy Spirit that will come upon you that will, you'll literally be like, how did I even struggle with that? You know what I mean? I know. So, so surrendering sin is a huge thing, but you also, a lot of the time have to surrender something that's not even necessarily bad for you. But if it's not God's will for you, it's gotta go. I know he's, I know he asked us to, to

let go of a lot of things that are very precious to us, that there's been, there's many people that are listening where God has told you not to marry that person and you have, like, you know what I mean? Or leave that relationship and you stay too long and then you have to deal with the repercussions of it. So, yeah, I mean, trust me, I've had to surrender multiple relationships in my life. I have, have been in relationships where I really loved the person,

But they weren't God's person for me. And it's very clear. And it was even clear in the moment. But it's so hard when an attachment is formed. And when I was younger, if I'm being honest, I wasn't always...

I wasn't always consulting with God first before I did things and then an attachment would be formed and then I would have to go through a really painful breakup or have to separate from that person and it would have been so much easier had I just been surrendered from the very beginning. Yeah, because God told you to walk away and you probably just stayed so long and then you had to deal with the pain tenfold later. Please, guys, just know that if you prolong your surrendering to God in a certain area...

If you're if you're if you if you have Jesus in your heart and he's Lord of your life, let me tell you, he's going to bring you to surrender one way or another because he loves you so much. So he's not going to let you live in that thing or with that thing or whatever forever. But it's going to go longer than it should have. And it's going to be a thousand times more painful. That's why obedience is actually such a gift to yourself. You avoid so much pain when you surrender to God.

I think about surrender is just so scary too. I think about when I was like getting out of nightlife before I started this, this podcast and I was getting, and I was trying to get out of nightlife and, and,

God had called me out of it a while before I would start making money again. And it was the scariest time of my life. Like it was truly, I mean, I don't know, I'm sure there is, but in my life, like there hasn't been anything even really scarier than the lack of provision in that way. And I

I was so scared, but I surrendered anyway. And it was a little while of so much uncertainty and so much fear and so much of like, God, okay, this was your word. And this is what you said to me, but I don't see you coming through. So what am I supposed to do? I even had moments of back and forth, like maybe I go back, maybe I do this, maybe me. And

and I'm so lucky or so grateful that I was, I stayed faithful to God and his word. And I do trust God. Like I just trust him. And I knew that he would come through and he did. How long did it take? A couple months. Because we, we were in this together. Yeah. We were in the same exact boat. Yeah. And we had a couple moments, both of us of being like,

God, is he coming through? What is he going to do? How is he going to do it? It was a really scary situation. Yeah. To not know if, how, when you're going to start making money. And...

I'm not saying that it was like abundance all at once, all of a sudden, but he sustained us. It was sufficient for the time being. And he came through. And I know that he will honor and bless that time of obedience in every moment of fear and nervousness that we had about the future. I think that he's going to bless that as well because that obedience through the fear means so much to God. Yeah.

Oh, my God. I'm just thinking about us during that time. And I but I remember even though I would have fear, I would be like, dude, I know God. Like, I know Jesus. I know what he does. I know how he comes through. The one thing that I and I want you guys to know that there are the gifts of the spirit. One of them is faith.

And while a lot of us may have the gift of faith inherently and to begin with, it's also something that you can ask for. And you should be asking God every single day, God, give me faith and trust in you and in your word and your promises. If there's a moment where I do doubt God, I just immediately bring it back to him. And I'm like, God, give me faith in you. Remind me of every time that you've come through in my life. And he will. And he does. And I trust him. I know. Yeah.

I trust him. You guys don't understand. I have, I've been a very prayerful person my whole life. I've prayed my whole life and I've prayed with such, just like with such a tight grip on everything in my life.

And everything in my life that I love so much right now, I never even asked him for. That's how good he is. And everything that I asked him for that I didn't want, he didn't give to me. And I'm really happy that he didn't. And he gave me, he answered prayers I never even prayed. That's the God that we serve. Like he's listening all the time. He...

He delights in us so much that he wants to give us the best life. His plans, it's not, I'm just going to say it again, it's not a cliche. His plan is so much better than ours. I know. It has more joy. It has more peace. It's more fruitful. I know. Would you say that when you think of this past year of your life where you had to surrender the most, was it your career? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm even in this place now with acting where I'm like, when I first started the podcast, I'm not going to lie, I had a lot of anxiety because I literally have done films that I wouldn't do now. I have a film that's in post-production that I no longer align with.

I, but then I was like, but I love acting so much. What am I going to do? How am I going to do this? And I got to the point. And I remember in the beginning, I was like, oh, but I can still do that. And I would like say in my head, you know, it's just acting. It's just whatever. I don't align with those beliefs at all anymore. But I got to the point where I was like, God,

I don't care. I don't want it. If you want this for me, let's do it. If you don't want this for me, I'm totally fine without it. I am in a complete and total surrender to God in every area of my life. And isn't that just a... You can't even imagine what life feels like when you live in a life like that, in a life of complete surrender. That's been my...

I think that is truly why God brought me through what he brought me through. I was clinging on to my life so much that, you know, I think about how

how did I like people will be like, how did you surrender? And I'm like, I honestly didn't. I didn't surrender and I didn't have faith. And it wasn't until sometimes you're forced. You have no choice but to surrender and have faith when you're stripped of everything. And it wasn't until I got brought to my knees till I didn't have anything left in me. And I because I love like when we study certain subjects, because I think about

my journey this past year and like what I went through and it helps me like get vulnerable to get on here and talk to you guys but I specifically remember um uh one day where I was just like dead and like laying in my bed like looking at the wall super disassociated and I had nothing left in me and I was just like what am I gonna do what am I gonna do I have no career I

The things that I loved so much just got completely taken from me. Like, what am I going to do? And I just remember being like, well, I have no choice. I have to just surrender. And I think like when you don't know who God is, it's really hard to surrender. And I remember we were like every day was such a struggle for me. And I just was like,

I think surrender can just be, there's nothing like intimacy and humility with God, I think is such a big part of surrender. Just, just having humility and, and just building intimacy and talking with him. That is like a little baby step to surrender. And it's really hard to, to just all of a sudden wake up and be okay and not try to control things and not try to

Just to forget about things. Like, you know, I was so heartbroken and I didn't know how to stop the thoughts. So for me to surrender my thoughts was really difficult. I mean, I was a prisoner to my thoughts. I really was. So that was one of the big things that I had to surrender to, the thoughts that overpowered me. And me trying to stop understanding why...

why somebody could do what they did to me and why the thing that I loved the most had to be taken from me, why my career just wasn't working out. I just didn't understand why. And I questioned it every single day. And it made me sick. My heart was so sick. I didn't know how to let go. And so...

God kept putting me through the test every single day. And I, and I suffered every single day until I said, you know what? I can't do this. I don't know why this is happening. I don't know why I'm not with this person. I don't know why my career isn't working out, but I'm just going to keep pushing through. I'm going to keep talking to you. I'm going to keep praying. I'm going to keep watching sermons. I'm

And believe it or not, I just kept when you just keep going and you keep building that relationship with God. I used to be so afraid of pain and I'm not anymore because my pain was the breakthrough to my life. And so now, like, I know that sometimes.

through my, through my pain, I have like, he walks with me through it. And so I know that I'm not alone. And there's a peace. There's a peace that I have. I still hurt in my heart. I do. I still hurt, but I have a peace and a knowing that he's, he's doing something. He's working it out. It's for a reason. He's walking beside me through it. And so I, I,

I talk a lot about peace on here because I never had peace in my life. I lived in, uh, my nervous system was always shot and I want you guys to not, I want you guys to live in a life of peace. I don't want you guys to be stuck. I know what it's like to be stuck. And when you're stuck and you have no peace, it's because you haven't surrendered it to God. And I'll never forget when we went to this sermon and, um,

I was just having a really hard time. I couldn't stop the thoughts and the pastor said,

why are you still worrying about this? This isn't your burden to carry. Give it to God. And those that, that phrase just was like, it was like a light bulb. Give it to God, give it to him. Anytime that you start to control what you want, you just say, I, this isn't, this isn't for me to control anymore. I give it to God. I give it to God. You know? So beautiful. I mean, I have seen you firsthand, um,

surrender your life before my eyes to God. It's been the most beautiful thing that I've ever been able to experience in my life. And you are just, but you are, you should like do a master class on how to surrender to God because you're obedient and willing heart. And you are just, you're so humble. And that's what makes you so

And that's what makes you so willing to surrender to God because you're so humble because you know that God knows better. You know that he's wise. You know that he's sovereign. And I love what you said about the humility. You have to be arrogant.

will truly, like pride will truly be the death of you. Arrogance will keep you from ever seeing God. It'll keep you from ever being able to fully surrender to God. When you have such a tight grip on your life because you think that you know better, we don't know better. We simply just don't. To surrender means that you know that God, you have,

I think where this all really comes down to, and I know that we say it all the time, and it's literally what our ministry is based on, but you've got to read the Bible. You have to read the Word because it's hard to trust God when you don't know Him. How are you going to trust somebody that you don't know? Yeah.

We trust God because we know him. I have read, not all of it, but so much of this thing and I have studied it and I have it written on my heart and I hear his promises. I hear how God speaks to me through his word and I write it down in my heart and then in moments of hardship, I think back to it. Every time I'm in hardship, one of my prayers that I always pray is God, may every piece of scripture that has ever entered my heart, may it rise up in power in my mind right now.

And so that happens to me all the time in bad situations where scripture will just come to my head and I'll be like, oh yeah, that's what God says about that. But it's hard to do that when you don't know the word. So I implore you guys to start reading. It'll change your life. You will naturally...

you will naturally start to submit to God's will because you're gonna know, you're gonna understand the character of God and who He is and how He comes through for people. From Genesis to Revelation, the way that God comes through for everybody, that He is trustworthy, that you can trust Him with your life. You really can. And honestly, I believe that one of the reasons why people have so much trouble surrendering to God is because you don't believe that what He has for you is better than whatever it is that you're holding on to. It's true. It's true.

It's true. You've made... You've put your faith into everything before God. And I was thinking about it and I was like, it wasn't when I...

you have to remember, I didn't know God. I had no idea anything about him. And so it, it, it took me the, it took me to again, being on my knees and, and I, and I'll never forget being in the worst pain and being like, God, can you just please help me right now? I don't know what to do. And the peace that he gave me in my heart, he came through for me so many times. So I'm like, okay, I,

I just prayed and he just supplied me with this peace, with this supernatural peace that no one else has ever been able to give me. Okay. So that was like a little baby step for me. Okay. I trust him. So I'm like, okay, so now let me just try to read this.

And believe it because he's coming through for me in all these other ways. When I've never experienced anything like this before. That's why I tell you, you know, people are like, oh, God, like, is God real? I'm telling you because I experienced him when I didn't even know who he was. That's right. You know, and so I'm like, OK, so.

let's just, let's just like, this is how, this is what I was going through. I was like, okay, I tell you all the time about my career. It was the biggest thing for me. I just wanted to make something myself. I, I just, I, I controlled it so much that nothing was happening. And when nothing, when things just aren't working out and nothing is happening,

and nothing is happening, that's God speaking to you. That's God telling you, lay it down. Let it go. I tried so hard to hang on to my career for the longest time, and that was the one area that God was like, you're annoying. Like, I'm not going to let you.

Try to control this area. And just like you, I literally was praying for things, having such a tight grip on literally things that were sinful. And God's like, I'm not going to yield to you in this situation. Like, you're going to yield to me. I know. You know? And that's why, like...

God brought me through what he brought me through. He's like, seek me first, focus on me, focus what's on important, and then everything else will be added to you. I will provide for you. But first you have to give it up. Yes. You have to let go. I think surrender too is...

letting that old part of you die every single day. I had to let go of everything I knew, everything I was. I had to let it die. I had to let it go. It's literally the verse from Luke 9, 23. And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. And then in Luke 14, 33, it says, so therefore, whoever of you

So therefore, whoever of you who doesn't renounce all that he has, he can't be my disciple. You have to renounce all that you have. You have to lay it all down and pick up your cross daily. Like we said earlier, it's a daily submission, a daily battle, a daily fight.

And we're not saying that it's easy, but it's worth it. And it's the only it's like it was it's what God calls you to do. And when God calls you to do something, he will always empower you to do it. He will always give you the resources and the tools. And can I read this really quick about John the Baptist? So in John chapter three, it's.

It's this moment where you guys know John the Baptist. He used to do baptisms before Jesus even came. And it's talking about how Jesus was coming and John the Baptist, all of John the Baptist followers were kind of like nervous for John because they were like, who is this guy that is coming? Basically saying that he was in the hierarchy of everything, like Jesus was going to be exalted above this guy. And so John pretty much essentially had to

yield to the will of God and surrender this area of his life. So while John was originally kind of like the top guy, the leader in the situation, he surrendered to Jesus. And there's this moment, and this is where humility comes from, that when you, one of the easiest, one of the things that will make surrendering your life, your whole life to God is knowing why you're doing it. And

It's because we want to exalt Jesus. We want Christ to be amplified in us. And there's this moment where John says, so John's disciples came to him and said, Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one who identified as the Messiah is also baptizing people. Everybody is going to him and instead of coming to us.

John replied, no one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. You yourselves know how I plainly told you I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.

In another translation it says,

I must decrease while he increases. And that is the ultimate way of surrender. I truly am at this place where I am in full surrender to God, that all I want, both of us, all we want is for us to decrease while God increases. And our only goal is truly to make way for him, to prepare the way for Jesus. That's what our whole life is dedicated to. And that's

But it's so easy to surrender because we know the goal. We know that we are so little in this grand scheme, this big picture of what God is doing in the world. We're so little and he's so big. I think the biggest thing for me with you guys is that I know what it feels like to

be so scared. Yeah. Be in fear. What is going to happen in my life? Where is my career going to go? What is it going to work out with this person? What, what am I going to do? I know that feeling of just, oh, it's, it's every day. You're just in this panic of, of life and

Life doesn't, life isn't that hard. I didn't know that. I didn't know that life could be so good and so peaceful. And I didn't know that we had a God that is literally going to provide for us, who will never leave us nor forsake us. I didn't know that. And that's why

Like, think about what I'm saying to you. We have a God that won't leave us nor forsake us. He's not going to leave us and he's not going to let us down either. But it takes a humility and an intimacy and a rawness to come before him and say, hey, I

I don't want to live my life for myself. If you don't want it for me, then I don't want it for myself. And as much as I want something, I know that you see the bigger, the bigger schema thing. So I'm going to let it go and I'm going to put it in your hands because it's not about what I want. It's about what you want, because I know what you want is better.

And so, yeah. There is nothing that God will ever take away from you that he will not replace with something better. Please understand that. I promise you, and I want you to also remember that when you look back on your life, because I was about to say, when I look back on my life, everything he's ever taken away, he's replaced with something better. And you might be someone who says, no, but that's not true in my life.

I'm just going to encourage you to think again and to really make sure you're looking at your life through the right lens because when you look back, you might be able to see, "Oh, God took this away, but there's nothing better." I can guarantee if you look closely and you shift your perspective to believe God of who He says He is that He will replace it with something better, that He does work all things for your good and His glory.

you will be able to look back and be like, actually, no, now that I put the pieces together, he did replace this in this. And this did have to happen like this. And it was, he did work it all together. I promise you, we all, while we have different stories, we have the same story. It's the same God in every single one of our stories. You can look at it from that lens and find the good in what happened. And I just, I, it's like a game of substitution. And I think about how

Even in the story of Abraham and Isaac, Abraham originally was going to sacrifice Isaac, but then the angel of the Lord said, no, no, you don't have to do that. And he substituted it with an animal that was there. God, we should have paid for our sins. It shouldn't have been Jesus up on the cross. It should be every single one of us. But God played the substitution game again, and he substituted us again.

with Jesus and Jesus bore our sins on the cross.

And then we must also substitute our will for God's will because God will substitute everything that we think is so great in our lives. He will substitute for something so much greater because that's who he is. I promise you surrendering when you don't want to or when it's scary or when it hurts. It's so scary. We understand. Trust me. We deal with it every day. We have made decisions.

Our life has changed so much in the past year. You guys see, not even a fraction of what we go through on the daily. And just because we know Jesus and just because our life is so amazing and just because we're so joyful does not mean that we're exempt from pain. We say it all the time. It's a daily battle. We deal with things within our family, within our lives, within our own mental that we have to surrender every single day.

to God's will and we have to surrender into the fact that like, yes, this is really bad, but I know that God is working it out. It's every day. And honestly, it's the price that you pay to even be alive. It's just the truth. You have to go through it. It's hard. Life is so hard, but it's also so beautiful. And it's a lot easier with Jesus. Yeah, I you couldn't have said that better. And not only will he bring you something better, but

What he takes away, he will bring you something so much better. And...

That is why I can look at my God and be like, wow, you are real. Because what I thought was so bad was actually a grace from God. Yeah. You know, and he and sometimes he needs to do that to wake you up, to change you. He needs to take that thing that was so precious from you that you thought was precious and to wake you up and to bring you to the next phase of your life. The truth is you also sometimes surrender yourself.

with tears in your eyes. Sometimes you surrender willingly, but also reluctantly. Sometimes you surrender broken on your knees to be like, I don't know why you're doing this. I don't know. This doesn't look good and I'm really scared, but I'm going to surrender anyways. Do you understand that every time I have to surrender to something, it's usually with tears streaming down my face with so much fear and so much pain in my heart that

But just because I have fear and just because I have pain, it does not take away my trust in God and it never will. And bad things happen and things are weird and things are hard. But God is good. The situation is bad, but God is good. I deal with it every single day and it's really hard. And I will always surrender and I will always trust God and I will always have faith in him. No matter how difficult it is out here, nothing is taking away my faith in Jesus because he has shown up.

Every single time. I just don't doubt him. I don't care what I'm going through. I don't care what storm I'm going through. I don't doubt him. I'm like, okay, I know that. I just, I trust him so much with everything. I know. I just...

I know that whatever storm I'm in, I know I'm going to come out of it on top. That's right. I know that I just have to go through the storm. There are seasons and there are storms and you just have to go through it. And he's going to be right there with you going through it. And you come out on the other side and there's always just this breakthrough in this. What I went through, I just, this, there's a resilience in you. Mm-hmm.

And when you're just scared, you just you have to be reminded who you're doing it with. In my mind, it's just it's like being a little kid who's like just holding their dad's hand and like, I don't know where I'm going. I don't know what I'm doing, but God does. So it's all good. It's so true. Do you understand that I move through life like literally with my eyes closed? Like, OK, God, like what have you say, Dad? And.

I don't know how I got here. It's literally the best way to live because you don't need to live through life by your own strength. Do you know how... We'll lose our minds trying to do that. Do you know how tough it is trying to control your own life and going by your own might and your own strength? Let God handle it, you know? And I...

Every time I would get the, like, every time you get those thoughts of like, oh my God, what do I do? Is it going to work out? Go back to the scripture. Find like what he says. I always say this scripture for, I know the plans I have for you plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future. He has plans to give you hope and a future. That's God's promise to you. Hmm.

So don't worry about it. He's like, you know what I mean? Don't worry about it. He's got you. He's got you again. Every single day, my prayer, and it might be the Catholic in me, but like the Our Father prayer is one of my favorite things. I say it almost every day when I don't know what else to pray. That's what I pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth.

as it is in heaven. It's in all of my prayers, God may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, in my life as it is in heaven, in my career, in my finances, in my relationship as it is in heaven. May your will be done above everything else. We talked about the ultimate surrenders in the Bible and there is no surrender that is more prominent, ultimate, incredible than the surrender of Jesus himself.

And I want everybody to remember, and Easter is coming up, and I can't wait to do a whole episode on the death of Jesus and his resurrection. But I want everyone to remember that while God is sovereign and Lord, he also came down in human form in the body of Jesus. So while he was fully God, he was fully human. He felt every single thing that we've ever felt, every moment.

moment of pain on the cross, which by the way, they had to create a new word for being hung on a cross, which was crucifixion, because there was nothing that could explain the pain that you feel when you are crucified on a cross. Jesus was fully man, so he felt everything. And Jesus, he went out with his disciples and he went on the mountain and he

It says that he went a couple yards away from his disciples and he started praying and he started crying and he was sweating blood. He was so anxious and he said to God himself, "Father, if you are willing, let this cup pass from me, not as I will, but as you will."

He asked God to let the cup pass from him. He was fully surrendered to the will of God, which would ultimately be his death on the cross and his burial and his resurrection. It was all for a purpose. It was all good. He didn't want to. I want everyone to remember that Jesus didn't want to die. He would and he did on behalf of us, but he didn't want to. Nobody wants to do hard things.

Nobody does, but God calls you to do hard things. And sometimes He calls you to go through hard things. Sometimes you have to do the surrendering. Sometimes you're forced to surrender. Sometimes things are taken from you. Sometimes things do happen to you that you have to surrender to the situation, surrender everything.

and accept in a way that unfortunately this is just how it is right now. I have to go through this. I have to face this. Jesus had to go on the cross and he did it because that was the will of God. Sometimes the will of God for our lives is hard, but it's also so beautiful and it will ultimately be so beautiful because look what happened with Jesus. Look what he was obedient until death.

And look what came from it. There's so much fruit that comes from your surrender. You have no idea what a beautiful thing it is to surrender, especially when it's hard. Yeah. And you know what?

I look back on every time I couldn't get out of bed, every sad time, every time that I didn't think I was going to make it. And I'm telling you right now, I am so glad I went through every single one of those times because I would not be the person I am. Take it as a blessing if you're in a hard time right now and let God walk with you through it. Yeah.

And just lean on him. Be obedient, even when it's hard. Do you know that what surrender is? That is the ultimate surrender is being obedient, even when you don't want to be just staying on the path to committing to Jesus, obeying him, you know, um,

I'm at the point because I saw what he did for my life. I just want to please him. I just want to make him happy. So even if it hurts and I have to sacrifice these things that I maybe still want to do, I just want to make him happy. So I'm on the path of this obedience and I have such a peace in my heart. Yeah, it's so true. I mean, there is so much fruit that that is is

bore because of your obedience and your sacrifice. And I always say it, but sacrifice is supposed to hurt. It's a beautiful thing. I think that everyone just needs to remember that at the end of the day, Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. He's sovereign. He's great. He's good. He knows what's up. He knows what to do.

If you're going through a hard time where you're getting things taken from you or you're having to surrender, I just want to say that while it's so difficult, I'm so happy that God even has this call on your life. He loves you so much and he's calling you to a place where he's so gracious. You don't even want to go, but he's calling you anyways because he knows what the end result is going to be. And I just want you to know too that God knows that you'll get there and that

He knows what's on the other side, and that's why every tear that you cry, it hurts him, and he's not happy. He catches every tear, but he also knows what it's going to produce in your life, and so that's why he lets you go through it. And that's what you should remind yourself of. He doesn't want this for me, but there's a reason for it. So what am I going to do in this season of difficulty? Yeah.

Am I going to sit in despair? Am I going to be better? Am I going to be better from this? Am I going to grow my intimate relationship with him so he can bring me out on the other side of this storm? Because let me tell you something. There's a peace that he gives you that literally surpasses all understanding. And when you can live a life like that, you won't live with knots in your stomach. You're not going to live with overbearing thoughts. You're not going to live a life of...

trying to control it with your own might. You're going to be able to sit back and say, hey, God's got this. And you're just going to let him lead the way. And it's going to be so fruitful and so good. And I just, if you aren't there yet, you will get there. And I can't wait for it.

I think in a very simple way to say how you surrender is you just, you say it with your mouth, you believe it in your heart, you give everything to Jesus and you invite him also.

Say, "God, I invite you into every area of my life and I need you to show me the areas that are not yet surrendered to you and then I need you to help me surrender them." That should be your prayer every day, all day. Every day I pray, "God, whatever's in me that's not you, let's get it out." I give it to you, I surrender it to you. It's a daily thing. And then there are practical things that you have to do. You have to literally stop doing things. You have to stop talking to people. You have to actually physically get rid of things.

And then ultimately what matters here is that you guys know who God is, who the God of the Bible is, the one true God, the way, the truth, and the life, and that's Jesus. We're going to invite you guys to receive salvation and to receive Jesus.

Life is so good when you give your life to Jesus. It's not perfect, but it's real. It's peaceful. It's fruitful. It's everything that Ari described. I invite you guys today, if you have never said this prayer, say it with us. It's time to surrender your life to a God who is trustworthy, who is worth being obedient to because he knows better and he's got you and you have no idea how great it's going to be.

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe that you died for my sins and you rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and I invite you, Holy Spirit, to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name, amen.

I just ask you guys to every day invite God, invite Jesus to be the Lord of your life, the ruler of your life. He's in control, and we're simply just along for the ride. I just want you guys to remember that surrender is peace. Surrender is not doing it by your own strength. Invite him in. Come to him in a childlike manner. Say,

Jesus, I can't do this on my own. I need you to intercede. I need you to help me. I need you to help me with my thoughts. I need you to help me with this relationship. I need you to help me with letting go of the things that I can't, that I am grasping so tightly to. Ask him to come in and help you. He will provide the strength. He will be with you. He will walk right beside you through it. He will help you with your pain.

I promise if there's one thing you can trust me on is that he will be right there to help you even when you don't have the strength to do it. We love you. We're in this with you guys. I think...

we're going to create like a group chat community thing for all of us to sit and talk together. We also have a couple of things that we're planning, kind of like different platforms that we can be on that we can be a little bit more intimate with you guys and talk to you directly and do a whole thing. Girls Gone Bible is becoming something really incredible and really beautiful and

I don't know why God chose us. I don't know why you guys chose us, but we are so grateful. We love you. We're here for you. You don't know how much we pray for you guys on a daily basis. And I can't respond to every DM that I get and neither can Ari, but I promise you, if we see it, we pray for that person. So we love you guys so much. We're here for you. And we know that you're here for us. And thank you for just growing with us and for allowing us to come on here and just be

tell you about, tell you guys about what Jesus has done in our lives. We love you so much. Yeah. And while I'm here, maybe you guys can write in the comment section on what we can be praying for you for. Write in the comments what you're going through, what you need prayer for. So me and Angela can, can be praying for you. And yeah, like Angela said, we are so incredibly thankful for you. And we just, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for

just loving us and being there for us and being our ggp gang and we love you guys so much you guys have truly been the biggest blessing of our life so thank you so much we love you

Don't copy me. Don't copy me. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he turn his face towards you and give you peace and empowerment from the Holy Spirit to surrender to his will. Lord, your will above ours every day in Jesus' name. Amen.