{yielded}

It is hard to imagine two weeks have already come and gone since the sweetest collection of souls were together at the Declare conference. We became more than just attenders to a conference, we became sisters. I know I speak for the lot of us when I say we were nearly rendered speechless by the habitation of God’s stirring. Not totally speechless of course because when you get a whole batch of word junkies in a room a Holy Roar has a way of ebbing into a massive tidal wave of freedom.I have been overwhelmed with encouragement reading, listening and watching the beautiful partnerships God cultivated over the course of those three days and I am reminded yet again: What is yielded unto God in complete surrender has no option but to eventually rise. We MUST rise.I know it has taken me every bit of two weeks to sift through my lavender leather journal pages of all the affections God brushed over my soul during Declare. Not so sure I can even articulate it now. I believe there are some in-season “Word seeds” God sows so deeply into the soil of our heart it could be years before the world sees the rupture of that springing seed of Truth Fruit. There are experiences that so overtake you with Spirit and Faith and Fellowship you simply stand back with arms dropped in abandoned surrender and you yield to every ounce of what it has to offer. That was Declare this year.Over the course of three days gathered with writers, bloggers, teachers, dreamers, influencers, Truth-unlockers, speakers and communicators, words are slung around thick as air. So to come to this space and attempt to express a single unfurling of those words is impossible. When I stood before you that morning I couldn’t help flash to all the moments of yielding and pleading and praying for you well before I ever knew who you were. You were such a glorious answer to a 1000 prayers.Paul so candidly charged Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5 to {stay sober-minded, endure the suffering, do the work of an evangelist and above all fulfill your ministry}. Thank you for being willing to dive deep with me into the passion and feelings the spoken Word of God provokes in our soul while at Declare.It is so important for me to express again what I did the morning we were together, “We will surely forget every word I speak today, but we will most assuredly never forget the way God has made us feel, inspired us to be and what He has equipped us to release on this globe.”I think Declare is most perfectly described when we can negotiate the acceptance of some of the closing statements of the conference:“Be in agreement with God over the beautifully deep place you find yourself.”Be in agreement? That’s tough sloshing around in real life living. I kick and pout and demand so much more than I agree with the “place” I find myself. I want rights and opportunity and chance. I lust for control and feedback and exciting new projects. I falsely believe that I control more as I am doing more.So often we panic ourselves, our families and our ministries over what we feel we should be doing….and all the while there is this glorious place of surrendered peace simply whispering, “Just keep yielding.” We are prone to doing because doing more should result in being more.There is a distinct difference in {doing to do} and {yielding to do}.I’ve grown a hot Holy fire for a single word I found in Matthew 27:50 shortly after Declare, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and {yielded} up His spirit.”Even in death, Jesus maintains authoritative control over His destiny. Wait? What? Authoritative Control? It says, “He yielded”…how is that control? It means Jesus DECIDED to give over to the destiny predetermined for Him by God. He ignored the shouts, assaults, temptations and grumblings and He decidedly yielded His will to the Father. Was there “doing” to Jesus’ ministry? Of course! He healed the lame, gave sight to the blind and salvation to the lost…..but His doing was always a result of His yielding to God, not His doing. Doing alone is limited. Yielding is eternally energizing. Should there be doing? Of course. I can’t expect to reach a dying world for Christ without a lot of elbow grease, pressing through with crazy faith steps, and pushing while you are praying so that more people can hear the Hope of Jesus. Of course there is some serious straining and efforting to get the message out. But, if the effort is not backed by a mind, will, and emotions that are palms up and surrendered, the doing will merely result in “punching in the air”and an exhausted soul. Yield, wait for instructions then do. It has always been about what we are yielding over what we are doing. Jesus was doing the greatest work humanity would ever know when He was crucified on the cross and yet the Inspired Work of Heaven, The Bible, describes it as a yielding not a doing.Let yourself off the hook, dear heart. Just drop your arms back and yield.If it’s loud in your soul shout a loud “I yield!”If it’s quiet and sore in your soul, toss your head loose back and whisper, “I yield.”If your soul is rocking in celebration jump and dance dear one, and scream at the top of your lungs “I yield!”May the resounding roar that flows from our guts be that we have yielded our lives in surrender and in our yielding may we begin to Declare a Mighty Soul Rising of doing in Jesus Name!If you need to borrow someone’s belief {Click HERE} to see a list of #digitalevangelists I highly recommend following.