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Letting Go and Being Meek
Episode # 565
October 01, 2017
With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
This is the continuation of a series of Podcasts started in Episode #564.
Waiting can be the active surrender of letting go, or just part of being ‘meeked’ that we might BE meek. Waiting on God is a bigger adventure than we know!
(John) I don’t know about you, but this time of waiting and letting go and waiting for Him to fill, there has been… I’ve been anxious about waiting. I’ve been anxious, because I’m waiting. I’m anxious, because I’m anxious about not waiting. I’m anxious – you know what I mean? And so, I’m trying to wait. I’m trying, you know. It’s just crazy. I’m, I’m trying to wait. Yeah, that just doesn’t make any sense.
(Martha) Well, it takes a lot of letting go. One story I sometimes tell is that when Shulamite – the first book was published, and Shulamite was being formed by the Spirit, the Lord had said to me very directly, “You do not name this thing until I name it.” And I knew I didn’t want to name it by my name, but I was waiting. And at that point in time there was a lot of excitement about it, and a couple of the men wanted to start organizing it, etc. And it felt like a business, and I did not want that. So, I went to the Lord and said, “What am I going to do? I don’t want a business. It’s not Your will that it be a business with a, you know, executive set up.” He said, “Let it go. Let them have it. Just let it go. It’s not yours.” And what He did was, He met both of those men, both of them were called to support my work. And I couldn’t rightfully or righteously bring that about. The Lord had to do it. Things happen when you let go that could not possibly happen if you’re trying to fix everything and control everything. So, letting go is faith, because it means you’re letting go of control, of manipulation, of trying to get it in hand. You let it go, and God is perfectly able to get it in hand.
(John) I got something about very similar to that. I wrote it down as a note to bring to the podcast. And I said, “If we live tightfisted, we are prevented from receiving that which the Lord is giving.”
(Martha) Umm, umm, umm.
(John) And so, all of a sudden I thought, “Oh, my gosh!” That is number one, the waiting; number two, letting go. And if I’m coming with an agenda or a purpose or a work or a do, whatever it is, and I’ve got that gripped, there is absolutely no way I can receive what the Lord wants to give. What you have shown me over and over and over is when I live openhanded rather than tightfisted, the Lord gives me something so much greater than I would even ask or do or be able to make.
(Martha) Umhmm. And that’s the point. He wants us to let Him be God. But if we want to be God, He will let us, and then we don’t have the thing. Plus, John, everything has to originate with Christ. He’s the beginning, He’s the Alpha. He’s the beginning, and He’s the Omega, the finishing. If the idea or the project doesn’t originate with Him, it’s going to fizzle, because He cannot maintain what is not in His hand.
(John) Well, I’m, you know, any time that I run on my agenda or my time frame, I think He purposes to thwart it.
(Martha) Umhmm.
(John) I literally think that He purposes to…
(Martha) I’m glad He does, even though it’s painful. And I’ve told the story before, but I have a whole series of devotionals on the word ‘let.’ And I’ve told the story before. I was sitting in a garden in Spain, and there was something going on at home that I had gotten word of, and it had the potential to be very, very destructive. And I was just beside myself over it, because I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t help it or control it or stop it. And I was just in agony there, and the Lord said very loud, “Let.” When I absorbed that word, He began to say, “Let it go. Let it be. Let Me.” And it turned out very favorable to me. It turned out that the Lord defended me. It wasn’t about me, but He made it very favorable to me in a way that I couldn’t possibly— He put me in a position where I couldn’t possibly affect it or control it. And so, He did it without me. And He loves that. That’s why letting go is so powerful. And I realized in my notes for this podcast there’s a real meekness. I’ve always felt like meekness was a character attribute of Christ, but meekness is the willingness to let go. You have to be meek by choice in order to do that, to not fight, to not fret, not to fix, not to control, not to get in the middle of it. It is an exercise of meekness. “And the meek shall inherit the earth.”
(John) And all the men of the Bible, the great men of the Bible were “meeked”, and how they were “meeked” is by waiting.
(Martha) Yes.
(John) David, Moses, Paul…
(Martha) That’s right. That’s right.
(John) I mean Paul waited for fourteen years. David waited in the wilderness. Moses waited in the wilderness forty years. I mean, so…
(Martha) That element has to be in, in any work of God.
(John) So, being “meeked”, as a man I know that – and that’s probably why I feel it in my chest when I’m sitting there waiting is because I’m being “meeked”. And the Lord is… I guess that’s a word that they use with a horse too, isn’t it?
(Martha) Umhmm.
(John) A strong horse, you have to meek him by breaking him, right?
(Martha) What you break is his will, his willfulness.
(John) And as a man, and as the men of the Bible that were “meeked” by the Lord, they all waited. They all had to let. They all had to let… I mean, awful situations. You’ve got a king wanting to kill you and chasing you and wanting to, you know, wipe you off the face of the earth. You’ve got Pharaoh, and he’s wanting to kill you, because you murdered and turned against the royal family. And so, he wants to kill you. You got Paul, who is blind and who was a murderer. And I don’t know what kind of fears he had that, you know, maybe he feared the Christians would come and kill him for doing everything that he did. I don’t know, you know. Those are the things we don’t know, but what we do know is that the season of waiting and letting go and not having control was a very meek-ing thing. And like you said, “the meek inherit the earth.”
(Martha) And I was thinking too today that meekness describes a lamb and sheep. And they don’t have any other alternative. 24/7 they are meek and helpless. And so, the shepherd is there, and they’re completely protected by the presence of the shepherd or whatever guard the shepherd puts on them. But that’s the nature of the sheep. And it’s not the basic human nature that we have. Basic human nature is, “I will be God. I’ll learn about it, and that will make me God.” And so, it’s attacking the most primal thing in us that, “I don’t need God. I will do it myself.” That’s what it goes after. The requirement to let go, to not own anything, to not control anything, but what God takes away, you let go. And what He asks you to give, you give. And then He is fully able to be God in our behalf.
(John) Well, when you come knowing, what you’re really doing is you’re coming sufficient and having something
(Martha) Umhmm.
(John) It’s self.
(Martha) Umhmm.
(John) But when you come letting, this is where it goes into the faith thing. You’re coming with faith that He is going to do it, that He’s going to provide. And then there’s again the tightfisted thing. You can’t come tightfisted. You can’t come knowing. You can’t come having. You have to come wide open and receiving.
(Martha) And the big issue is independence and control. And we all… It’s the death of our independence. And what’s amazing is once you learn the phenomenal outcome, which is things you… He fixes it ways you would never imagine. You could never possibly anticipate how He’s going to do it. But once you learn that about Him, you know that you have faith in Him. So, letting go is not the crisis that it used to be, however the situation gets worse as you go along. So…
Letting Go and Being Meek – Episode # 565 – Shulamite Podcast
There’s more to waiting on God than just being still. Sometimes waiting is the active surrender of letting go. Other times waiting is part of being ‘meeked’ that we might BE meek. Waiting on God is a big challenge and an even bigger adventure than we realize!
This “Let” message, for me, needed repeating. It’s a message that’s been taught and illustrated in the past, through CD and printed material from Shulamite, but it’s not been continually practiced. At times, the Holy Spirit has caught me on it but more often than not — due to a lack of hearing and obeying on my part (or more precisely: wanting to be God in a given situation), I am wringing my hands . . . waiting – yes, but begrudgingly, not in faith and certainly, not in meekness.
Just remembering this now: we were in James 4 in service this morning and the phrase “submit to God” was part of our hearing. Definitely a work of the Holy Spirit; waiting, relinquishing control, submitting to God, does not appear to come naturally.
When Martha mentioned that Jesus Christ is the beginning and the finishing, it brought to mind the first part of that verse: “Looking unto Jesus . . . ” And when I do that, I see the perfect Example of letting go: He came as a Lamb and when His arms were “wide open” (as you referred to, John) on the cross, Father was able to give.
Thank you; His blessing to all at Shulamite.
Wow, what a timely message for me personally. I can’t fix anything but I still try, I fret,
and figure and worry to find a solution……….bless you and bless you LORD for this
perfect description of my having any independence from my FATHER and HIS PLANS.
Such a huge lesson for us all! Bless you Sue, glad it was a timely message for you!