Living a life of surrender to Christ isn’t easy. It’s agonizing at times. Praise be to God that we surrender to a loving Savior and Heavenly Father.

Jesus made it clear. “Hold on to your life and you’ll lose it. Surrender it to me and you’ll find it.”

What a crazy principle. It goes against our natural thinking. But it’s true.

Jesus plays it out to the max. He boldly states that our soul is in jeopardy if we don’t surrender to him. That’s serious stuff.

That's what we'll center on today as we start a new devotional theme this week.

KEY PASSAGE;

Matthew 16:24-26

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"

RESOURCES:

Download the 21-DAY FRESH FAITH EXPERIENCE at www.retreatingwithgod.org.

Visit FRESH FAITH 24/7, a place where you can retreat with God and get to know him more deeply: www.freshfaith247.com.

Connect with Jon at jon@freshfaith247.com

We can’t throw everything out of our lives to accommodate rest. Indeed, there are some things we might have to toss or put on hold. Maybe a couple commitments that we need to pause for now.

Let’s take a look at one of the busiest men of the New Testament—the Apostle Paul. After he came to Christ, he vanished for years to prepare for ministry. Most of us dive headlong into new things when opportunity arises. Especially when asked to serve God. But not Paul. What can we learn from him? Let's explore that today in our audio devotional.

KEY PASSAGE:

Acts 2:46-47

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

RESOURCES:

Download the 21-DAY FRESH FAITH EXPERIENCE at www.retreatingwithgod.org.

Visit FRESH FAITH 24/7, a place where you can retreat with God and get to know him more deeply: www.freshfaith247.com.

Connect with Jon at jon@freshfaith247.com

The practice of rest is hard, but silently experiencing God’s presence is even harder. In our flurry of activities, input, noise and our interruptive devices, we’re up against an army of enemies. Rest and communion with God don’t come naturally.

If Satan can keep us busy, he keeps us from God. We have to be intentional to win this war. Let's dig into that today in our audio devotional.

KEY PASSAGE:

I Kings 19:9-13

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

RESOURCES:

Download the 21-DAY FRESH FAITH EXPERIENCE at www.retreatingwithgod.org.

Visit FRESH FAITH 24/7, a place where you can retreat with God and get to know him more deeply: www.freshfaith247.com.

Connect with Jon at jon@freshfaith247.com