What does it all mean

So what does it mean to be "All In"?   As I have stated previously it is often a daily decision to be all in.  It requires stepping out on faith.  It requires the faith of Joshua and not giving in to the fears of Jonah.   At times it requires just taking that first step and trusting God to shine light on the next step.

For the past several months we have been struggling with a major decision and many things we have been reading and hearing have been so timely and have spoken to us in a great way.  One of the things I heard recently was an interview with David Platt as he talked about taking the new position as President of the International Mission Board.   In this talk he spoke about making our lives a blank check and putting that blank check out before God and allowing Him to spend our lives as He sees fit.    Then today our pastor talked about this same thing and even gave us "All In" checks that we could sign and lay on the altar.   In the memo it says "Whenever, Wherever, Whatever.    Wow this is a huge statement.   Am I willing to do whatever, wherever and whenever God asks of me?  Am I truly "All In"?

 I need to fill out my commitment card and decide what I "will put down" and what I will "pick up"?   I know part of it and need to pray about the rest.

I know that whatever I put I must be completely surrendered to Jesus and continually decide to surrender to Him and allow Him to be the leader of my life.  It will require daily decisions to put down and to pick up. 

So what would you put on your blank check of your life?   Are you willing to follow where ever He leads?

I mentioned that we have been struggling with a major decision.   It all started back in April.  We thought a door was open but it was not.  But looking back we now see that it was just something to prepare us for another opportunity that would come up in late June.   So many things that we saw in April were directly related to the opportunity in June.   Often God works that way, He will give you a glimpse and will  prepare you for something that is down the road.

Well we made a decision back in early July and I had intended to talk more about it today.  However I will hold off a few more days until we get a little snag worked out.    We know that this is what we are supposed to be doing.  We know that His hand is in this and we know that He will provide through it.   We believe that there will be blessings as a result of being willing to follow but would do it without the promise of any blessings.   We know that many of our family and friends will think we are crazy.   First of all I don't recall asking for their approval or permission.    Secondly I have never really cared what others think. But I can say we are "All In" on this decision.   More on this in the coming days.

For now think about the blank check of your life.   What should be written on your check?   Are you to adopt, foster care, go into ministry, change jobs, drop an addiction, be more submerged into God's word?   What do you need to pick up?  What do you need to put down?  Are you willing to be a blank check?  How can God use you?   Be willing to get "All In" 

As full disclosure I will also state that I struggle with being all in.  I like to be in control and being all in requires that you operate on faith and that you are not in control so for me it is a daily decision and it is a decision topic by topic.  The goal is to daily turn more of my life over to Him and allow Him to be more in control.   Through these daily steps of turning over I will hopefully become more All In over time and will become that blank check that I need to be.