DTS WEEK 11: Lordship

This week, our Fall DTS students heard from Eric Byrd on Lordship (keeping Jesus in His rightful place in our hearts). Eric Byrd is a worship leader and teacher who works with YWAM Kona. He is passionate about this generation understanding what it means to honor and fear the Lord, and he came with fire in his heart ready to unpack what lordship is and means in a culture that highly values self above all else.

How does it make you feel when you consider the idea of surrendering everything and anything back to Jesus? Feelings of nervousness, worry, and confusion may come up. Questions of “How do I even do this? Why should I do this? Do I really trust God?” may flood your mind. The reality of keeping Jesus as Lord is that we must know and love Him to do so. Nobody is able to trust somebody they don’t know personally with their life, family, friends, and future. So, the first questions we need to be asking ourselves in this journey of lordship are more about how we see God. What do we believe about His character? What has happened in our life that impacts how we see God? Starting here allows us to build a foundation that helps us really know and love Him. And, from knowing and loving Him, we can trust Him with all that we are and have.

God’s heart for us is tender and kind and in asking us to trust Him with everything, it isn’t coming from His own place of insecurity and needing control over us. He wants our very best, and there’s a level of humility required from us to believe that where He guides and what He presents for us to step into is the best He has. Lordship can’t come from a place of perfectionism or striving. Surrendering to God just because we feel like we have to without really understanding why or knowing Who we are surrendering to leads to further anxiety, distrust, and confusion.

So, I encourage you to take some time today to unpack what you believe about God. Do you struggle to believe He loves you regardless of what you do? Do you feel bound by perfectionism and striving? There is freedom found in the love of God. He never designed you to be stuck in the anxiety of performance. Freedom is your portion!