Four Words Changing my Life Right Now

The situation was completely beyond my control. As I journaled my thoughts, my mind couldn't help but wish I could make decisions for people.

Family drama is often fraught with the clashing of proud, free wills. No matter how much you love someone, there is no guarantee they will heed your advice. Or even desire it. It was driving me crazy.

Oh, how I wanted to manipulate circumstances, maneuver hearts! Make them see. 

I set aside my journal and pen, closed my eyes, and prayed. I asked God to dig down in my heart to find the root of my angst.

In his kindness, he showed me: I had convinced myself I knew best. 

Here I sat, as if my clammy hands held all the factors at play, as if my nearsighted eyes could read the motives of every heart involved. As if I could foresee the most effective outcome and force it to come about.

Though I know the verse “None is righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10), I keep living as if I am the exception. The Lord graciously clarified that my motives are not as pure as I think they are. He reminded me that I don’t know as much as I think I do.

Head in my hands, these words suddenly entered my thoughts: “Have your way, Lord.”

Four small words, a Holy Spirit reminder that I could let go.

Peace flooded in as I relinquished the angst of micromanagement. Since that day, I’ve employed the phrase and accompanying heart posture many times and have found sweet relief.

A closer look at each word in this phrase can help us to embrace the freedom of surrender.

Image by Razvan Narcis Ticu on Unsplash

Have

/hăv/: to be in possession of

Synonyms: allow, accept, bear, carry, retain, own, possess

Here we surrender our burdens, our questions, our emotions over to the Lord; we let go. We can visualize releasing something from our hands into the hands of God, saying, “Here you go. It’s all yours.” In this phrase, it’s an imperative: “You have (take) it. I don’t want it.” We are not only letting go of the players, personalities, decisions, and desires intertwined in a particular scenario, but also the outcome.  

Here, God gladly receives these from us. How do we know? In 1 Peter 5:6-7, God tells us through Peter that we can cast our anxieties on him, humbly, for he cares for us. It is so freeing, especially when we consider to whom we are relinquishing responsibility.

But that brings us to the next word.

Your

/yoŏr/: The form of the possessive case of the personal pronoun you

The you in possession here is none other than God himself. Colossians 1:17 tells us that “he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” He is the creator of all things, the possessor of all knowledge and wisdom. He is omniscient, meaning he knows the heart of every man (John 2:24-25).

What else belongs to God?

• Steadfast love and strength (Psalm 59:16)

• Righteousness and justice (Psalm 89:14)

• Peace (2 Thessalonians 3:16)

• Salvation (Psalm 40:16)

• Mercy (Psalm 40:11)

• The heavens (Psalm 8:3)

• And so much more.

  
  

Here we are saying, “Not my way, but your way, because what you own, what you possess, is good. I confess that my desires can be rooted in self-service, selfish gain, and self-centered outcomes. Even if my intentions were wholly holy, only you know best how to bring them about.”

Which leads us to the word that follows.

Way

/wā/: a course (such as a series of actions or a sequence of events) leading in a direction or toward an objective

Synonyms: approach, means, process, method, path, purpose

Scripture tells us that God’s ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9), and he knows how to work all things together for good and for his purposes (Romans 8:28). Comparing our plans to his is laughable, really. We know so little.

Our limited minds can’t understand how God accomplishes his purposes. He is not a puppet master pulling strings; he has given people free will to make choices. While we may be frustrated at the outworkings of someone’s stubborn will, or blinded to our own, we can ask him to soften hearts. Including ours.

Who among us will ever fully comprehend grace? Yet God desired to pour it out on us and even designed a way to do so without compromising his justice or holiness (2 Corinthians 5:21). In this, we see his way is trustworthy. His ways are pure.

This person we are praying for, the circumstances that feel overwhelming, the questions we can’t answer that keep us awake at night—he knows every detail. And in his way, he can bring resolution and peace.

The last word of this phrase is the key.

Lord

/lɔrd/: a person who has authority, control, or power over others; the Supreme Being; God

Synonyms: master, sovereign, superior, ruler

The first three words in our phrase were good. But strung together without direction, they are empty, without authority.

By invoking the name of the Lord of lords, the King of kings, we acknowledge the one true God, and we display a full relinquishing of our own expectations to the only one who sees all the pieces of the puzzle.

We may cobble together a solution made up of a few opinions and our own observations, but only God is the Alpha and Omega, both the beginning and the end of every story.

Will These Four Words Change Your Life Right Now?

Spoken aloud, these words are keys to relinquishing control, a vocalized yielding for the body and mind to follow.

Four similar words are found in the pages of Scripture. In fact, Jesus taught his disciples to pray them: “Thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10 KJV). He proceeded to model this spirit of humility in a holy, agonizing moment of submission to his Father's will just before he was crucified (see Luke 22:41-44).

Can you see the correlation? Thy (your) will (way) be done (have).

Whatever words we use, the heart behind the words will be one of complete surrender. Though it may feel like control lost, it is, quite simply, freedom found.