“Give me faith to trust what you say: that you’re good and your love is great.  I’m broken inside, I give you my life.”

As I’ve been preparing to lead worship next week…just listening and praying over songs, I can’t shake these lyrics by Elevation Worship. Sometimes you sing songs and dont’ even think of the words coming out of your mouth.  Maybe you’re lost in the melody and you ignore the truth you sing, but with this one, you can’t.  I can’t.  Because it speaks so clearly to where I am right now…at this moment.  Its a prayer I’ve been praying put to music.  The beautiful thing is this…God uses songs like this, in moments like this to remind us of how true those words are in every other moment of our lives.

We all have corners of our lives we love to rule.  Some more than others.  Its amazing how badly we want to be in control, how hard we work to maintain that control, and how bad it hurts when we discover we never had it in the first place.  Every facet of our lives is a piece of territory we’ve relinquished or we have yet to forfeit.

We all want to be king.  We all want the final say.  And somewhere along the line we have convinced ourselves that we can do this on our own.  That to live life pursuing what matters most to oneself is the best way to live…until it leaves us broken.

We love clean slates, second chances…and when Jesus gives us that, we love Him for it.  But when He asks for our heart, soul, mind and strength…we hesitate…because we still want to be king.  And by we, I mean me.

Jesus is not interested in being king of my kingdom or even making me a better king of my kingdom.  He is the one true King.  He wants everything…heart, soul, mind, and strength.  He wants every breath from our lungs, every beat of our hearts, every thought that crosses our minds, every word off our lips, every song we sing, every dream we dream…He wants it all.  He deserves it all.

He desires every piece of our territory because he knows the more we sell ourselves to someone other than our King…the sooner we will find ourselves in pieces.  Every lifestyle, worldview, belief system, every whatever is at your fingertips, vying for your allegiance…offering one more way to sell just a little bit more of yourself to someone other than your King.  And they all leave you in pieces.

We all have kings.  We all serve those kings…sometimes wholeheartedly.

So who or what is getting your best?  That is your king.

I am not fit to be king and neither are you.  Like this song says, “I may be weak, but your Spirit’s strong in me.  My flesh may fail, but my God, you never will.”

So who is your king?