Aug. 5, 2025

Life Of Surrender: Part 2

What does it look like to make more room for Christ in our everyday lives? In today's episode, we journey with Lauren Alessi as she explores what it truly means to live a life of surrender. Building on yesterday’s conversation, we’ll reflect on the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:25 — uncovering how letting go of our need for control, our habits, and even our mindsets can open the door for deeper transformation and healing. Together, we’ll discover that surrender isn’t about becoming less, but i...

Let’s join together as a community in prayer and devotion, trusting that as we lay things down, God will fill us with something far greater and eternal.

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You are listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1327. Today's episode is called Life of Surrender Part 2.

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Hey there. We're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven.

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This is the My Morning Devotional podcast. Hello, everyone, my name is Lauren Alessi and I am your host for this week. I am speaking on just living a life full of surrender to Christ, to just dying to ourselves day after day after day. And that's really like we talked about yesterday when, when

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23, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. That's truly what a life of following Jesus looks like, of dying to ourselves and living a life full of surrender. But that was yesterday's verse. We're gonna focus on a new verse for today. And again, I really hope this week blesses you. This is something that I really feel like the Holy Spirit has been stirring in me, even in just little things of life. So I really hope it blesses you.

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But let's jump into today's verse and it says this.

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25, for whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for me will find it. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for me will find it.

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Sometimes I have to repeat verses because I'll say it once and I think I really understand it, but it can be kind of confusing. So I have to repeat it over and over again until I really try to grasp the understanding of it. But sometimes the more you read the Word of God, you realize that heaven and the kingdom of God kind of works in opposites. That loss leads to gain that, that death leads to life, that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. And I think it goes back to when God says, yeah, your thoughts are not my thought. Your ways are not my ways. So stop trying to understand my ways and my thoughts. Just listen to what the Bible says. And the Bible says this. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for me will find it. Dying to self isn't about becoming less on the totem pole. It's not about sometimes people can really misconstrue this idea of dying to yourself. And it's just like I have to completely give up who I am in my life and everything I want my hopes and my dreams. No, it's not about becoming less. It's about making room in every part of our lives for Christ to come in, for Christ to live in us. And everything that maybe we would naturally do, we say, hold on, I surrender that to Christ. It's not about becoming less.

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It's about Christ becoming more. In our lives where maybe we would naturally try to control a situation. We're saying, hold on. No, no, I'm surrendering that part of me to God. I want him to take control of me.

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I want him to come into my life and have this. This part of me.

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Maybe parts of our lives where we can maybe get more emotional, maybe get more, I don't know, angry, sad.

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We're saying, hold on, I want that part of me to. I want to make room for that part of me for just Christ. I want Christ to show me how I should manage my emotions here. And I want to make room for Christ to live in my emotions and show me and lead the way for how I should be leading my emotions. What you give up in your life, the Lord is going to replace with something eternal and far more valuable. When we replace even our earthly desires, even things we want on this earth, God's going to replace that with something eternal.

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When we replace even things in our mindsets with. With things that we say, okay, I have this really bad toxic habit because of the way I was raised, but I'm going to surrender that to God. And I just want him to flow blood my brain, and I want him to heal me. And I'm making room for Christ in my mind and in my brain and how my brain operates, that's going to lead to something far more valuable. And that's healing. That's true healing.

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Again, it's not about dying to yourself so that you can become less. It's about making room for more of Christ in your life. It's about making room for more Christ to live and dwell in us. Let's pray. Jesus, I trust you with what I lay down today, Lord. And Jesus, it's not just about me.

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We trust you for what we lay down today, God. If it's our mindsets, if it's our dreams and our desires, God, if it's even a toxic mindset or habit, Lord, that we keep bringing from the past, God, we lay it down to you today. And we make more room for you, Lord, in our lives, in our habits, habits, in our lifestyles, in our mindsets. God, we make room for you. Help us not to become less of ourselves, but Lord, help us to make room for more of you. And remind us that what we give up in this world pales in comparison, Lord, to what we gain in you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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So there you have it. Your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these documents devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow. We pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.