Lifting Our Hands In Real Life

Good evening, Family,

I’m grateful to hear that today’s devotional was received. Even though we couldn’t gather in person, the Word still met us right where we are. Thank you to everyone who took share how the devotional spoke to you. (If you missed the previous post, here’s the link.) 

As a follow-up, I want to leave you with three practical ways lifting your hands shows up in everyday life:

1.Letting Go of Control

Lifting your hands is a decision to stop forcing what only God can fix. It’s choosing trust over tension and saying, “God, I release this to You.”

• Surrendering outcomes you’ve been trying to manage

• Praying, God, I trust You with what I can’t fix.

• Choosing obedience even when clarity is incomplete

Raised hands say, “I’m no longer fighting You or forcing this.”

2. Being Honest About Needing Help

Hands go up when pride comes down. Lifting your hands means inviting God into the real places the questions, the weakness, the areas you’ve been carrying alone.

• Inviting God into areas you’ve been silent about

• Reaching out for prayer instead of retreating in isolation

• Admitting weakness without shame

Hands go up when we stop pretending we’re strong enough on our own.

3. Taking the Next Step Anyway

Lifting your hands isn’t passive  it’s responsive. In Scripture, the man’s hand wasn’t healed until he stretched it. Worship looks like obedience in motion: forgiving, moving forward, and doing what God has already shown you.

• Taking the next step God has already shown you

• Forgiving, even when it’s uncomfortable

• Moving forward instead of staying stuck

In Scripture, the man’s hand wasn’t healed until he stretched it.

That means the step God is asking you to take isn’t dependent on you feeling ready or whole first. The stretching came before the restoration. Forgiveness often comes before relief. And movement must come before breakthrough 

 Sometimes healing is on the other side of obedience. When you stretch what’s been hurt, when you move forward instead of staying stuck, God meets you in the motion  and that’s where restoration begins.

Remember, lifting your hands isn’t about what happens in a service  it’s about how you live when the service is over. 

Let’s lift our hand and voices and pray this: 

Father, today we stretch not just for ourselves, but for our families, our friends, our minds, our communities, our government, our country, and our world. We lift our hands in surrender and step forward in faith, trusting that as we stretch, You restore; as we release, You respond; and as we move, You meet us. Cover every area of our lives and lead us into what’s next. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I’m praying for you as you stretch, surrender, and step into what God has next.

With love,

PB