How to Partner With God When You Don’t Want To.

• • Partner with God to gain better.
• Some of the things you can let go of to partner with God:
  • So then how do you partner with God’s will when He is asking you to do something you are not ready for?
  • Believe that God’s intentions for you are good
  • Be flexible
• Conclusion

Do you want to know how to partner with God when you don’t want to? Have you been experiencing a situation where you are tempted to hold on to the past? Have you ever held on to something dead just because you feel like there can never be better? Do you think that the situation, although dead is better than nothing? Mary Magdalene in John 20 felt the same. She went back to the tomb early Sunday morning because she wanted to see Jesus. At the tomb was Jesus’ body and no matter how much she tried to talk to His body, there would be no response. Mary just wanted to go back to the tomb as a way of holding on to the past.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ² So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Mary wanted to go and talk to Jesus in the grave. Mary was comfortable just seeing Jesus’ body and that was why she freaked out when she realized that the body was not there. She felt like it was saying goodbye to Jesus all over again. She did not know how to partner with God at the time by letting go of the past. Have you ever been in a situation where you had to say goodbye to something twice? You almost wonder why you have to go through the same situation again.

Maybe it is a career that you have had to let go of. Maybe you thought at some point you would come back to it, Unfortunately for you the door was shut permanently. That was what Mary was experiencing another death. There would be no evidence of the time she had with Jesus. She did not know how she would have to go on knowing that now all she had were memories with no real proof. She was not ready to partner with God on what He was doing.

So when she went to the tomb a second time, she went to cry. And maybe try to see if there was something left that she could hold on to. She did not care if it was a cloth, she just wanted something to hold on to. She even told Jesus- she did not know at the time that it was Him, that all she wanted was to be shown where the body was. Mary was so busy holding on to the what-if that she could not even recognize that Jesus was standing in front of her having resurrected and conquered death.

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into tomb ¹² and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. ¹³ They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Mary just wanted the body not realizing that Jesus was before her and in an even better form.

Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). ¹⁷ Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Have you lost something and are having a hard time letting go? Are you still holding on to the hope of it being as you were used to, knowing very well there is no hope? Are you having a hard time trying to partner with God because you are not ready for what He is doing? When God takes something away, it’s because He has something better for us. It is difficult to see it at the time when you are experiencing the loss. But I want to remind you that we have a God and Heavenly Father, whose thoughts for us are not only pure but also perfect. His intentions for us will always be good. So if you feel like things are being taken away from your life, just know that God has something better for you.

Partner with God to gain better.

When Jesus resurrected, He conquered death and redeemed us all. So now we all have access to the power that raised Him from the dead since that power is the Holy Spirit and He lives inside us. This same power that is The Holy Spirit, helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us when we do not know how to pray. This is the perfect example of how God takes what we deem as good to give us better. What does God want you to give up because He has better for you? How can you partner with God to receive the best He has for you?

Isaiah 55, tells us that God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We can only see so far ahead. Remember God knows the end from the beginning and knows what is best for you. Mary Magdalene thought Jesus in physical form was the best it could be. But when Jesus appeared to her, He told her that now God was her father too. So basically, she was now part of God’s kingdom, not as a slave but as a child of God, with the same access that Jesus had. This would not have been possible had Jesus not died on the cross.

Before you can experience the best Jesus has for you, He has to take away anything that does not benefit you. And it is going to take you to partner with God when He asks you to let go. You cannot receive when your hands are full. Jesus had to be taken away from this world for us to receive everything that was ours, to begin with.

Unfortunately, you can only receive it after you have let go of what you have. The widow of Zarephath had to let go of the little oil and flour she had and feed Elijah and then her provision came. Provision is always on the other side of your letting go. Do you feel like God is asking you to let go of something?

Some of the things you can let go of to partner with God:

• Career
• Relationship
• House
• Car
• God could ask you to sow the money you have left, as seed on the ground. He could ask you to give it to someone who is in need.
• God could ask you to sacrifice your time to serve others
• It could be that God wants you to leave the familiar to the unfamiliar like He asked Abraham. Abraham at the time was 75 years, he had fully established himself. Then God appeared to him and asked him to leave his father’s home and go to the land that He would show him. Can you imagine leaving all that he knew to do and starting over? Abraham had to give up the comforts he now had for a greater reward that God had promised him without having even seen it.
• God could ask you to let go of your insecurities and fear and embrace the path that He has for you. Moses had to get over his insecurities to allow God to use him. Have there been moments where you allowed your insecurities to hinder you from walking on the path that God wants you to? Moses was afraid of talking to people because he feared facing the same rejection he had faced 40 years prior to the burning bush moment. Is doubt, worry, or fear of rejection, holding you back?

These are just some of the things that God could be asking you to let go of. The truth of the matter is that letting go of something you hold dear or what you have ever known is very difficult. In fact, trusting that God would give you better after you have released what He is asking you to is even harder.

But the only way you can experience the abundance that comes from Him is by first releasing the very thing you have been holding on to. For you to bear more fruit you will have to allow God to prune you and pruning requires letting go and losses of some kind. So how then can you position yourself to embrace the new God is trying to do and also have the courage to let go of the old thing He is asking you to? The bottom line is faith.

So then how do you partner with God’s will when He is asking you to do something you are not ready for?

The plain truth is that letting go is not always easy. And sometimes, God might be asking you to let go of something you value or simply put your comfort zone.

Believe that God’s intentions for you are good

When God takes things away, it is not only frustrating but also hurts. Maybe it’s a job because of redirection God has taken away from you. It could be that you have been in that career for years and now God wants you to leave it and so He allows for you to lose your job. It hurts. In the moment it can be difficult to partner with God on what He is doing. You can even have a hard time believing that He wants to help you. Especially when you thought things were supposed to go a certain way and they do not. You had a specific path you wanted to follow, but it looks like God has closed all doors.

Sometimes God can redirect us to get us to His will and for us to get to experience all that He has for us. God did not spare Jesus from experiencing the pain of the cross. This is because He knew the benefits that would come from it. Because God is Sovereign, He can allow us to go through moments of pain. This is because He knows that there is a glorious end on the other side of the pain. God is a loving God who will never cause pain unless there is a purpose for it. Because He is your Loving Father, He will refuse you temporary pleasure for permanent joy. But it will require you to recognize that God is good. And that His purposes for you are pure and have an expected end as He says in Jeremiah 29:11.

By His death and resurrection, the relationship between man and God was restored. We received salvation and eternal life, and death and sin no longer have a hold on us. Through Jesus, we also received the Holy Spirit who lives in each one of us. Therefore, we can get whatever we need when we need it. While Jesus was on earth, one had to travel to where Jesus was to receive whatever miracle they needed. Also, the Gentiles could not receive salvation. So Marys’ seeming loss was a gain to the whole world.

What have you lost? God always restores and His restoration is always better. He tells us that He will give us double for our trouble, garments of praise instead of mourning. Whatever you have lost is nothing compared to what God is about to give you. For now, ask God for help to let go of the should have. And could haves and tell Him to help you to trust His will. He is your Creator and Father so He knows what’s best for you.

It is important for you to understand that God’s heart is pure. In His purity, He always restores and gives double for your trouble. If you have a hard time believing look at the story of Job. God restored more than he had before he experienced the losses. Abraham was no exception because he gave up his comfort zone for God. God made him a father of many nations and the founder of the Jews.

Be flexible

One of the best ways to partner with God is by being flexible. Jesus in His resurrected form was different than before. God can sometimes package the same thing you lost differently and if we focus on how different the package is we can miss out on God’s blessings. We cannot box God and sometimes He will give us answers to our prayers in unexpected forms. If we do not have a relationship with God, we can easily miss out on God’s blessings because we do not understand or like the package. Child of God, how many times have you missed out on God’s blessings because you disregarded the package He wrapped your answer in? Flexibility is vital in your walk with God. He can redirect your ways because He has a better plan for you.

Remember all things work out for our good. And if we hold on just a little longer, we will realize that there was better. If things are being taken away from you, God is preparing you for better than you could ever imagine. Just trust Him and be flexible. It is painful right now I know. But get ready because God promises that the sun will rise and those that are mourning will laugh again. God is doing a new thing, can you perceive it?

Conclusion

Although letting go is difficult, you need to understand that God always has better for you, and it will be found on the other side of your obedience. It is easy to hold on to what you have because it is familiar and what you are used to. God, however, always has better for you and for you to experience the abundantly, you have always been asking for, He might require you to let go so that you can gain better. Have faith that God will do what He promises and that is He will restore. There will never be a time where giving up something for God will not come with a reward. The restoration might not come when you want it to, but the truth is that it will come.

It is important to have a relationship with God because that is where you will get to know who He is and know His heart. God rewards those who seek Him and He rewards those who give up anything for Him. Ensure that you have an open mind. God might restore in a form that is different from what you had before. Mary had to have an open mind and realize that her relationship with Jesus was not lost but it was different.

The same goes for the same thing you lost. It will not look the same. But as you trust in God and cultivate that relationship with Him, you will be sensitive enough to receive it when He presents it to you. Whenever you let go, you give room for the new thing that God wants to bring in your life to come.