One Yes Away

What if you were only one yes away from total life change?

Amanda and Brice Cocoa Beach Youth Quake April 2008

Amanda and I met in April of 2008 in Cocoa Beach, Florida and we started dating October 1st if that same year. In the beginning of December, we went to Maryland together to see one of my former band mates who was in the country for a short time. (Jamie, the Australian guitar player.) While we were there, I distinctly remember her laying on my chest and I had absolute assurance that “she was the one.” We hadn’t even known each other for 9 months but I knew she was the one I wanted to marry.

The engagement ring was very special to me. It was given to me by my mom. After my parents divorced my mom had her engagement ring (given by my dad) re-set into a new band. My mom decided to pass that ring on to me. It was my dad’s diamond set into my mom’s band. I received the ring, got it cleaned and sized. I had devised a clever way to acquire Amanda’s ring size without her realizing it so I could have the engagement ring sized perfectly. I spent $30.51 on her engagement ring.

In April of 2009 we planned a trip to Ft Lauderdale to visit my sister and I had planned to pop the question while we were there. It just so happened to be the same weekend exactly one year later and not too far from when we met. My sister already knew it was coming and tried to create a bunch of opportunities for me to make it a special moment. But one thing had to happen first.

I HAD to get her father’s blessing!

In one of the opportunities we arranged for the guys to ride in one car and the girls to go in another. That way I could make the call in private. Her mom saw a number that she didn’t recognize and didn’t answer. In her defense, they’re Canadian and don’t often receive calls from the States. I tried again and I think they realized it was a New York number, so they picked it up. I gave a brief update on our time in Florida and then asked her mom if I could talk to Bob.

“Hi Bob, I didn’t just call to update you on our time in Florida. I wish I could talk to you in person, but I actually called to ask your blessing to take your daughter’s hand in marriage.” (I had rehearsed this line so many times in my head I am certain that this is exactly what I said)

....

-eternity passed-

....

Bob- “Wow, Congratulations...Wow...Congratulations...Wow, wow.

I let them know that I was going to ask her in the next 24 hours and I’m sure they would be hearing from us again. And that was the end of the call.

While his favor was implied, he never actually said ‘Yes.’

The next day we went to church. On the way back to my sister’s house we went by a little park that had a pond. We walked down around, and I took her under a palm tree (her favorite), got down on one knee and asked her to be my wife.

She said, “Of course!”

She also didn’t actually say “Yes.” (Like Father, like daughter.)

Then the turtles came up from the pond and watched me put the ring on her finger. Not even kidding.

Our Wedding Day 10/10/10

We’ve all spent some time waiting on a yes. I was waiting on a yes from the man who would become my father-in-law and I waited on a yes from the woman who would become my wife.

Each of those yes’s was the turning key in the lock of life change. The blessing from my father changed their family, while the yes from my girlfriend would change our lives. In fact, it even changed identities. My girlfriend’s dad would no longer just be known as a father, but he would add “father-in-law” to his identity. My girlfriend would no longer be known as girlfriend and would become fiancé and later, wife.

What if your life was just one "Yes" away from total change?

Our Christian walk if full of decisions. Our first "Yes" is when we receive the grace and forgiveness of salvation found in Jesus Christ. Every moment after that is a pursuit of holiness and relationship with the Father.

Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

We’ve heard about “taking up your cross” in our churches but what does it mean? It’s recognizing that our decisions must be made from our desire to pursue the Father BEFORE our own desires and dreams. It is a repeated, consistent submission to His will and way for our lives. Paul gives more explanation in Galatians when he says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

We should have been on that cross however we said "Yes" to Jesus’ free gift of grace and mercy that was paid for by Him hanging in our place. We must keep saying "Yes" to the guidance and leadership of the Holy Spirit. This is the essence of living by faith.

It is immeasurably important to continually reflect and pray on where our hearts are. We must be seeking Him in the “secret place”, in prayer and in worship. The Holy Spirit will convict in your heart the things that God doesn’t want you to have in your life. The trouble is, sometimes we love those things deeply. Sometimes we have become so familiar with that thing that it makes it difficult to let go, to give it up, to allow our minds to be renewed and our lives to be transformed. (Romans 12:1-2)

Sometimes that thing is a way of thinking, a theology, a habit, a person, an expectation and sometimes it is our own desires. When we say "Yes" to Jesus and “take up our cross” we give up our rights in favor of the will of God. That can be really difficult to do, especially if you don’t have the intimacy with the Father that comes in the secret place.

Jesus says in the Gospels, “how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” The Psalms also reflect this concept. Psalm 84:11 says: “He [God] withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.” In order to walk in integrity, we must know the one who sets the standard of integrity and gives us the Holy Spirit to walk it out.

The Father is waiting on our "Yes". He has made an offer to take His way. He has offered you a position, a place, and a role in carrying out His will in this world. That “Yes” can have eternal effects. Revival could be waiting on your next “Yes”. Revival in your home, in your family, in your church, in your community and your city could be simply waiting on your "Yes" to Jesus. “Yes, I submit my ways and desires for Your will to be done through me, Jesus.” Just like when I asked the question to my girlfriend’s father, “may I have your blessing?” or when I asked my girlfriend, “will you marry me?” the Father has asked you, “Are you ready for me to use you?”

“Are you ready to make a difference for me?”

“Are you willing to step into what I have created you for?”

God has chosen normal, “unqualified” people to do some of the most incredible things all throughout history. Moses was a murderer chosen to deliver God’s people from oppression. David was an adulterer who was called a man after God’s own heart. Saul killed Christians before becoming Paul and writing much of what we call the New Testament.

There is a part of a song called “Take Courage” by Lindy and the Circuit Riders where it says “There’s a Yes in our hearts and it carries through eternity/ Simple obedience changes history”

Is there a “Yes” in your heart that is just waiting to be expressed? The Father is waiting for your yes to change history. You may never lead revival meetings like Billy Graham or Reinhard Bonnke but your "Yes" can change and redeem the history of your family, your church or your city.

Take some time and pray. Ask the Father if there is “Yes” you might be holding back. Let the Father search your heart. Let Him show you what needs to go, or where you need to go.

What if we were one "Yes" away from another great revival? What if the greatest harvest of salvations in the name of Jesus is just waiting on your "Yes"? Do you believe that your simple obedience to Jesus can change what will be written in history?

Yes Jesus, Here I am, Send Me.

BriceEugene