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There is something in your hands right now that you are holding very tightly.

Maybe you know exactly what it is. Maybe you have known it for a while but have been hoping the feeling would go away by itself. The quiet sense that God is asking you to let go of something. A relationship you have been fighting to keep. A dream you have been carrying for so long it has become part of how you see yourself. A plan for your future that made perfect sense until it started costing more than you expected. A person you love who you cannot stop trying to hold on to.

You have prayed about it. You have cried about it. And the answer you keep getting is not the one you wanted.

Let go.

And you cannot. Because letting go feels like giving up. It feels like losing faith. It feels like the opposite of everything you were told trusting God looks like.

Have you ever wondered where the Bible first mentions the word love?

If I asked you to guess, you might say the Garden of Eden. Between Adam and Eve. Or perhaps Noah protecting his family. Maybe even Jacob falling in love with Rachel. That would seem to make sense.

But none of those are right.

The first time the word love appears in the entire Bible is one of the most unexpected moments in Scripture. It appears in Genesis 22, just as Abraham is about to walk up a mountain with his son. God says: "Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac."

Pause there for a moment. The very first time the Bible speaks about love, it is in the context of surrender.

I do not think that is a coincidence. God was not asking Abraham to place something insignificant on the altar. He was asking him to place the one thing he treasured most into His hands.

And perhaps that is one of the hardest lessons we will ever learn as followers of Jesus. Sometimes the things God asks us to release are the very things we love the most.

There is one detail in this story that I cannot read without feeling emotional.

Abraham did not get to the mountain the same day God spoke to him. He had to walk for three days to get there. Think about what that actually means. For three days, Abraham woke up knowing where he was going. For three days, he walked beside Isaac. They talked. They ate together. They rested at night under the same sky. And every step brought them closer to the moment any father would dread.

Every one of those steps also gave Abraham another opportunity to turn back. Most of us would have taken it. We would have convinced ourselves that we misheard God. That surely He did not mean this. That there must be another way. We would have prayed for a different answer on day one, bargained for a different answer on day two and found a reason to justify turning around on day three.

But Abraham kept walking. I wonder what was going through his mind during those three days. The Bible does not tell us. Perhaps he remembered the years he and Sarah waited for Isaac. The countless prayers. The impossible promise that God had finally fulfilled. Whatever he carried in his heart, every mile they walked he remained resolute in his trust for God. Every step was another quiet act of surrender. Long before Abraham ever laid Isaac on the altar, he had already been laying down his own will one step at a time.

Many of us may be on our own three-day journey right now. God has already made it clear what He is asking. The difficult part is that we have not reached the mountain yet. We are somewhere in the middle. Still walking. Still wondering. Still asking ourselves whether we can really let go.

Looking back, perhaps the greatest work God was doing wasn't waiting on the mountain. It was happening with every step Abraham took towards it.

When Abraham raised the knife, the angel of the Lord stopped him.

Then Abraham looked up. And there was a ram caught in a thicket.

God had already provided what was needed. The ram was there before Abraham arrived. Before he raised the knife. Before he built the alter. Before the three-day walk even started. God already knew a ram would be in the thicket.

And Abraham named that place Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide.

I wonder how many times we are afraid to let go because all we can see is what we are losing. We see the closed door, but not the one God is preparing to open. We see the sacrifice, but not the provision already waiting on the mountain.

One of the biggest mistakes we make is waiting until we feel ready to let go.

Sometimes we tell ourselves, "When I feel stronger, then I'll obey. When I'm no longer afraid, then I'll let go."

Sometimes the hardest step is the first one. But once you take it, you'll often find that God gives you the strength for the next step.

If God is asking you to release a relationship, stop sending the message you know you shouldn't send. If He's asking you to let go of a dream that has become an idol in your life, stop building your identity around it every day. If He's asking you to trust Him with something you cannot control, begin by praying a simple prayer every morning: "Lord, this still matters a lot to me. But today, I'm choosing to trust You with it again."

You don't have to solve everything today. You just have to take the next step God has already made clear.

After the ram was found and the sacrifice was made, the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time.

And God said: "Because you have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you."

Genesis 22:16-17

I will surely bless you. God didn’t say I might bless you or I will consider it. I will surely bless you.

The blessing that was waiting on the other side of the surrender was greater than anything Abraham had been holding onto. Not because Isaac was not worth holding. But because God's plan for Isaac, for Abraham, and for every nation that would come after them was greater than anything Abraham could have protected by disobeying.

Whatever God is asking you to release right now, He is not asking you to trust blindly. He is asking you to trust the God who has already placed the ram in the thicket.

Open your hand. Let it go.

The provision is already there.

✝ Kingdom Mantra

Is there something God has been asking you to release that you have been holding onto? Hit reply to this email or drop a comment below if you are reading this on our website. I would love to hear from you. God bless you and do have a great weekend. ❤️