Maybe It’s Time to Give Up - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - September 10, 2021
Maybe It’s Time to Give Up
By Rick Warren
“The battle is not yours, but God's.” 2 Chronicles 20:15 (NLT)
Imagine you’re sitting on a plane that’s about to take off. As the plane goes down the runway, you start flapping your arms. As the speed picks up and the nose lifts in the air, you flap your arms faster and faster. Once in the air, the flight attendant approaches you and says, “What are you doing?”
And you say, “Oh, I'm helping us get off the ground.”
That’s ridiculous, right? But that’s basically what you do when you try to do things only God is equipped to do. Just like you don’t need to hold up a plane, you don’t need to hold up God.
Do you want to know why you're tired all the time? Why you're frustrated? Why you're worn out by life? The reason you're so tired is you're trying to fight battles that belong to God, and you are not God.
“The battle is not yours, but God's” (2 Chronicles 20:15 NLT).
People tend toward independence, and so when you see a problem, you think, “I’ve got to figure this out. It’s up to me!” You assume God’s role, and it wears you out, because you were never meant to carry it in the first place.
You've been running in circles trying to solve problems in your marriage, your body, the economy, your school, the world. You're trying to solve them on your own power. You're trying to fight the battle on your own, and you're getting tired.
When you finally just give up and come back to God and tell him you’ve made a mess of it, you may think you’ve let him down.
But you haven’t let God down, because you were never holding him up. You don't have God in your hands; he's got you in his hands. If you’ve got God in your hands, it's not God. It's an idol. If you’re trusting in something that you think you can control, then that thing is not God.
God is not disappointed in you, because he's not expecting you to do what only he can do. You don't hold God up. He holds you up.
Let go and surrender to God. Because then he says, “Great! Now we can get something done.”
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!
Be Encouraged Each Day to Live Out God’s Purposes
As thanks for your gift below to help share the gospel with more people around the world through Daily Hope, we’ll send you Pastor Rick’s new book, Daily Hope Devotional: 365 Days of Purpose, Peace, and Promise.
Each devotional starts out with a Bible verse, followed by teaching that explains God’s Word and shows you how to apply it daily so you can face any challenge and live the life you were created to live.
As a special bonus when you give, we’ll also send you What's Driving Your Life?: A 10-Day Turnaround for a Fresh Start. Featuring 10 hand-picked devotions from Pastor Rick’s new book, they’ll guide anyone feeling stressed, worried, or discouraged toward seeking God for a fresh start.
Request your copy below when you give—and take the first step towards a year of real purpose, lasting peace, and unfailing promises.
Thank you for your partnership!
*The USA IRS code permits you to deduct the amount of your financial gift to Daily Hope that exceeds the fair market value of materials you received from Daily Hope.
This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
You can listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.
