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Sometimes the next step in prayer is letting go. This altar of the soul is a specific time and place where we release or submit our will to God and leave the outcome in His control. In these moments we lay the dearest parts of who we are and those we love before Him and step back—not knowing what will happen next. This solitary, suspended moment can feel perilously risky. 

Letting go is a relational prayer centered in a love relationship with Jesus. Because He knows that the releasing of our will for ourselves and those we love can be filled with pain—He knows this from personal experience—Jesus sustains us in the midst of it. In the act of release, the Spirit bestows a surge of grace, and His presence becomes the benediction. Praise His name! As we let go, we free fall into the arms of Love.

Pause with me and call to mind the biblical, historical, and present day heroes that have most impacted our lives. One of the notable commonalities of those we admire is their altar experience. In this moment their predetermined will skids to a halt against God’s higher purpose for their lives, and they choose to submit themselves—even if it means sacrifice or suffering. Inevitably, the agony of their relinquishment is their finest hour, and the events that follow bring lasting influence. In the same way, when we yield our preconceived will and take up the will and call of God, we join the great epic story, a Kingdom adventure that will take us beyond ourselves. 

But what happens if we see the value of the prayer of relinquishment, but are too afraid to pray it—yet? The next best prayer is “Lord, I am willing to be made willing.” This middle ground release, unleashes His strength to begin to make the full transaction possible. “[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight” (Phil. 2:13, AMPC). We can trust God in every phase of relinquishment. Nothing is too difficult for Him, and everything dear to us is safe with Him.