How are you going to live this new year? Are you planning to better yourself or make things better for yourself? Or what would you say about giving everything to God and letting him decide what’s best for you. If this is something you’re interested in doing, then we need to figure out how to give everything to God, right? Let’s do it.

Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. (Romans 6:13, NIV)

This verse shows us how to give everything to God in three steps

1) Refuse to give any part of yourself to sin 2) Offer yourselves to God 3) Offer every part of yourself to God. Let’s see what they could mean.

1) Refuse to give any part of yourself to sin

Our minds have a lot of power. For example, we can decide we don’t want to give our mouth to sin, to badmouth other people. Because we are children of God, we can refuse to give any part of ourselves to sin. Not just our body parts but also our soul and spirit, our heart and mind, our will and strength. We can also refuse to give any of our money, influence, abilities, time or anything else to sin. Not even our little finger.

2) Offer yourselves to God instead

This is something we need to do every day, not just at the beginning of the new year. It is wise to tell God in prayer we want to give our everything to him.  As we throw ourselves whole-heartedly to serve God with everything we’ve got, we are blessed beyond measure. Not with the things that the world values but with eternal things: peace, love, joy, hope and faith.

3) Offer every part of yourself to God

This is when we give every part of ourself to God, all those things we refused to give to sin. When we dedicate our spirit, mind, body, heart, mind, will, strength to him, we can be sure we are on the right track. We can be sure God will use our everything to his glory. We can prayerfully ask where God wants to use our feet or mouth or money today. Or how anything of ours can be used as instruments of righteousness from now on. God has a plan for you, every part of you. When we give everything to God, he is ready to use us. He is not going to harm us but bless us.

Are you ready to live your best life? Start with giving your everything to God. And then watch for God to move mightily in your life!

 

Dear God,
Empower me to not give any part of me to sin.
Because I want to surrender myself to you
and give my everything –
spirit, mind, body, heart, mind, will, strength – to you.
Take all I have  – money, influence, abilities, time – and use it for your glory.
I want you, I want to be yours,
nothing else, nothing more, nothing less.
I offer myself to you, I dedicate every part of me to you.
Use me, do what you want with me.
Be praised forever more.
In Jesus’ name,
Thank you, Lord.
Amen

Q4U: Do you give everything to God? Why/why not?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you dedicate every part of you to God!

Photo courtesy of Marian Trinidad, design by Mari-Anna Stålnacke. Linking up today with #SmallWonder.