To Live As Christ

A Personal Journey With God

About Me

Subscribe Via Email

Book Recommendations

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
© 2025 To Live As Christ · Design by Steck Insights Web Design Logo
A Surrendered Heart

A Surrendered Heart

October 21, 2015 by brianmichaelsteck Leave a Comment

When it comes down to it, nothing else matters… no other decisions we can make, no hark work we can do, no truth we can say… it’s all for loss if we do not possess a surrendered heart.

And I believe that is what God is longing for from us. He created us with the purpose of enjoying us and us enjoying Him, but our pride, lack of trust and selfishness robbed us both of that end.

When you take a step back and look at your life, don’t make assessments primarily based on lifestyle — although, your life will bear the fruit of what is planted at the core — focus in on the heart.

Are you surrendered? Are you trusting? Are you willing to give up, let go, walk away and follow, all for the sake of the King that is calling you?

Our Heavenly Daddy is calling us to deeper surrender. He modeled it first when He surrendered Himself on the cross through Christ. Should our heart let go of the reigns, we will find the unending pleasure of fullness of intimacy with our eternal Lover who desires to lavish good gifts on us and lead us abundantly through the obstacles of life.

As a good friend often says, “God doesn’t want much, He just wants it all.”

Filed Under: Surrender Tagged With: Surrender, Trust

Camdyn Sleeping After Emergency

Abiding in the stillness: Lessons in dependency

April 15, 2015 by brianmichaelsteck Leave a Comment

My mother-in-law burst into my office holding my year-and-a-half old daughter. Red in the face, lethargic and looking irritated, this precious little girl scratched at her stomach. “Something’s wrong!” exclaimed her grandmother. “She doesn’t look right and she just threw up.”

Moving deliberately, but calmly, I asked my one-on-one, who I was meeting with at the time, to excuse me. We walked back over to our home next door from the leadership school we staff. My wife was arriving home at the same time and explained that our daughter had tasted a few bites of pancake hours earlier, which contained egg — an ingredient our daughter is highly allergic to — so we made the decision to get our daughter to the emergency clinic.

I drove like a banshee to the nearest clinic, my worry and excitement growing as our little one vomited in the car, onto my wife who was holding our daughter. We raced into the clinic where they assessed that our little girl’s heartbeat and breathing were still in a safe place but that they couldn’t take our insurance, sending us across town to another clinic that would.

Her lethargy growing and our prayers and urgency swelling, we booked it for the next clinic where, thankfully, we were admitted almost immediately. Throwing up more as we were brought back into the triage center, we could tell our situation was distracting nurses from their work and concern across the room was growing.

As we disrobed our child, we could see her skin was bright red and she was very uncomfortable. Her vitals were taken and we waited an uncomfortable amount of time for the proper antihistamines and steroids to be administered to our little one. They told us that if the situation worsened, we’d need to call an ambulance and rush from the clinic to the emergency room.

Our nerves strained, we hung in the balance with our little child in our arms, doing our best to calm her and ourselves.

In moments like these, when it is almost impossible to “be still and know”, how do we find our “abiding current” — that deep wellspring of sustaining peace that resting in God provides?

We held our daughter tightly as the nurses delivered two shots at once. Screaming back at the trauma and pain of the situation, our daughter climbed into my arms and we spoke words of consolation to her. The skin irritation and pain soon diminished and, after monitoring her for an hour or so, we were released from the clinic.

In retrospect, I know that God is teaching me to draw from the peace that only He gives. I’m not saying that God made my little girl sick or any of that — we can leave matters of will to another day — what I am saying is that He is effectively using situations like these to whisper to me, “I am your peace”. In the midst of trial and turmoil around me, I have a decision to either join in the rush of the moment, or “be still and know that He is God” and I am man, and that is enough.

Can you give over control (especially in regards to the situations that you can’t do anything about anyway) and trust that He is enough for you?

What does it look like for you to trust him in the midst of life?

Filed Under: Surrender Tagged With: Abide, Dependency, Trust

Our fleeting grasp of grace

April 1, 2014 by brianmichaelsteck Leave a Comment

Trembling, I stood before the judge in my crisp suit, trying to make the best impression. With eyes tearing and a quaky voice, I answered all of her questions. I hadn’t slept much the night before and had been shaky with fear for what her judgement would be.

The crime wasn’t really even my fault, yet I knew the responsibility lay on my shoulders and that there could be both expensive and potentially painful consequences.

We had invited a detoxing heroine addict to be a guest of our home. As he writhed in pain and overcame the terrible addiction, our hearts broke for him. I had allowed him to use my car to apply for a job, which had given opportunity for a drive downtown, a relapse, an arrest and eventually this court scene.

My car was impounded. Heroine needles had been found in my car and I was sure that somehow I was going to get pinned with this crime. I was paralyzed with fear and completely at the grace of this judge. Without ceasing, I prayed under my breath for mercy and that the judge would have wisdom to see the reality of the situation.


This fear that gripped me bears a striking resemblance to the fear that binds our hearts in regards to grace. So many of us Christians are striving, clutching — trying to maintain hold of our fleeting grasp of grace. We push so hard to earn God’s favor. When we feel we do, we can’t enjoy it, because the fear of losing it slips in.

What if we let go and invited God to take over… completely?

What if we forgave ourselves for the sins that God has already forgiven ourselves for?

What if we stopped trying to work for God’s approval? Do you believe He loves you just how you are… that he made an “as-is” purchase?


Friends, we are no longer slaves to sin. Nor are we slaves to guilt and shame.

We cannot earn our salvation. The moment we try, it is as if we clench our fists around a fleeting grasp of grace and try to muster up strength to keep hold of God’s favor. But Abba’s favor is more like floodwaters or torrential rain that pours over us. We cannot escape it, nor harness it as if we have earned it.

God’s grace towards us was purchased solely by His sacrifice of His son, Jesus Christ, on that Golgatha cross. Your good works didn’t raise Him from the dead — and they won’t free you from your guilt.

Christ’s life overcame death and He will free you from your guilt and striving. He calls you to relinquish your fleeting grasp of grace, stretch out your arms and bask in His Father’s torrential, loving downpour of grace.

Filed Under: Surrender Tagged With: Grace

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 6
  • Next Page »

Categories

  • Church Philosophy (8)
  • Discipleship (26)
  • Family (7)
  • Government (1)
  • Lordship (14)
  • Music (4)
  • Prayer (3)
  • Scripture Studies (7)
  • Soul Care (4)
  • Stewardship (4)
  • Suffering (2)
  • Surrender (18)
  • The Kingdom Centered Mind (8)
  • Uncategorized (2)
  • Worship (10)

Quotes

Loading Quotes...

Affiliate Disclaimer

This website contains affiliate links, however we only recommend books, music and videos that we have used, benefitted from and feel will improve the lives of our readers.