Do you want more of God than you have?

It’s not possible.

Same with Jesus. You can’t get more of Jesus. Or the Holy Spirit. Can’t get more of Him, either.

I’m guessing I have your attention.

How many times have we participated in a worship service, singing or crying out, “Lord, I want more of You. I want more of Your Holy Spirit.”God has already given us His Son—all of His Son. And He gave us His indwelling Spirit—all of His Spirit—at the moment of our redemption. He has held nothing back. As A.W. Tozer once said, “The Spirit-filled life is not a special deluxe edition of Christianity. It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for His people.”

What is biblical is giving God more of us.

Problem is, this takes work. It’s a lot easier to put the onus on God. To tell God that it’s His responsibility to give us more of Himself than He already has. In effect, we’re implying that if we’re missing something, it must be His fault for not giving us everything we need.

Don’t get me wrong. Redemption is, indeed, all God’s doing. We don’t—we can’t—contribute to our salvation. God did do it all.

So what’s going on when you and I feel as if something is missing…that something more is needed? The missing part is us. All too often, we’re the ones holding back part of ourselves from God. An area of life we’re not willing to change. An attitude we’re not willing to release. A behavior we’re not willing to surrender.

Total surrender is not easy. The word is not attractive in our culture. We rarely use it to refer to our relationship with the Lord, yet surrender is the very heart of that relationship. Our surrender.

Still, as a teacher, I can give more of Jesus. When I teach, I can ensure my content focuses less on communicating information and more on Who that information reveals: the majestic, glorious, holy, risen, worthy, Lord. My goal is to give more of Jesus. In that sense, my listeners do get more of Jesus.

But when I think about my times of worship, my heart aches at the thought that—at the very moment I might be crying out, “Lord I want more of You; more of Your Spirit”—my heavenly Father might be saying the same to me. “Ava, I want more of you—all of you, no holding back. Only in total surrender will you experience everything I want to reveal to you about who I am.”

That’s my heart’s cry. “Lord, I give you more of me, no, I give you all of me…no holding back.”

Will you join me?