Just Say Yes
“And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end…And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:31-38
Could anything have sounded crazier to a young virgin named Mary than hearing an angel of God tell her she would give birth by the Holy Spirit to Jesus Savior of the world? How Mary responded would in today’s me-centered world seem crazy. She simply yielded herself, and submitted, to God. She didn’t debate. She didn’t argue. She didn’t weigh her other options. She didn’t say no thank you, nor no way. She essentially just said yes. Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior, was born by the Holy Spirit through sweet, submissive Mary, the human vessel God chose for the most important birth ever in the universe. Oh, if only we would simply yield ourselves to God! To submit to Him! To just say yes to Him! To throw ourselves at His feet with humble hearts in love and adoration, with the greatest desire of all to love and please Him and to surrender to His will and ways! To submissively and lovingly and thankfully bow down before Him and to be His vessels. Without debate. Without argument. Without resistance. Without rebellion. Without weighing our other options. With nothing other than remembering He is Lord and with our hearts and lives devoted utterly to loving and serving Him with all we are! Yes, if only.
The day years ago God told me to lay hands on and pray for a dog in a shelter downtrodden beyond description the shelter manager told me emphatically had to be euthanized due to age and severity of his condition and that I was forbidden to take from the shelter, I resisted God but gave in and started to do it anyway. His Spirit spoke to my heart as I stretched my hand through the dog pen, telling me to go inside the dog pen and pray there instead. I rolled my eyes in pride. More resistance. What difference would it make? The dog would be killed anyway. I did it anyway. I could tell by how the dog walked up to me he was meant to live, and I took him with me. That day God led me, a broken woman, and the broken dog, to a broken suicidal homeless man to help save his life. I named the dog Red after the homeless man. Red the dog lived for years more, and God birthed what is now an international ministry through Red’s Story which you can see on video and read at www.walkbyfaithministry.com.
What would our lives, and this world, look like if we stopped resisting God and yielded to Him utterly? Will you just say yes to Him? He is Lord!