Unhinged In His Love
by Allene Whyte
There is something incomparable about getting away for a re-set in God’s presence. My heart was longing for a chance to shut in with Him for an extended time and let my daily responsibilities fall away… it had been longer than I could remember since I was at a retreat just to receive, and I was so blessed to have this very gift in the mountains over the weekend.
As I let go of all distractions and leaned to worship Him, I was drawn into His presence and closed my eyes. I began to see a vision, and I knew it was something He wanted to talk to me about. I saw His hand holding a key in front of a closed door - He had the ability to unlock it. I have had similar experiences with God before, where He then gives me the keys to unlock certain doors, which is astounding! I am always amazed at what He wants to speak. This is what I expected to happen… but instead, something surprising followed: He moved over to the hinges of the door and took it completely off. He said: I can open a door in any way I choose, and I can remove the door completely, so that nothing stands in our way.
“Wow! He’s so genius!” I thought. “What is this door? What is He going to open up for me?” So many different things flashed through my mind. What sort of miracle did He want to perform in my life? Did He want to unlock favor and blessing in a new way? Did He want to make my two-year-old miraculously sleep through the night?? Did He want to give me more vision about the future? And of course, as I continued to wait on Him to unfold what He was speaking, He took it to another level.
This is actually the door to your soul. I want you to become unhinged in My presence. I hold the key to this door, but I want you to be the one who opens it by removing it completely and allowing nothing to stand between us.
I was floored. I didn’t think I had allowed anything to stand between God and I, but He shined His light on my heart and revealed this trace of fear, and with it, I couldn’t totally surrender to Him with an utter “Yes!” in every way. For me, there have been so many questions that I’ve waited to get answers on, and because He is a good Father, He leads me through those questions in such a sweet and gracious way. But even when the object of my affection is the answer I seek, the object of His affection is always my heart in the process.
In Acts 16, Paul and Silas’ ministry is exploding with signs and wonders, and suddenly, they are wrongfully thrown into prison and locked up. They did not ask “why”, but became completely unhinged in their worship to Him. And when they did, the actual prison doors had no choice but to be totally unlocked and opened. Even then, they didn’t make a run for it because… It wasn’t about the doors. They remained in the cell until they were formally released and saw a miraculous conversion of a key household in the process! They clearly worshiped the God who has the power to open and close doors, and so do we.
As I responded to what God was speaking to me in that moment, I pictured the door being completely removed between He and I. I envisioned myself letting go of every process I typically depend on and I took a leap into the mystery of His eternal goodness and love. I cannot explain the freedom that this brought to my soul. The weights of my understanding were lifted, and they were replaced with a trust in something that I can fall back on when I don’t have the answers: His nature.
What is God asking you to surrender? Perhaps it is to open your heart up to His courage to step out boldly. Perhaps it is to give Him your full trust in a place you can’t see, or your need to understand. When we become unhinged in the beauty of His ways, there is absolutely no trace of fear, because even that is surrendered. It’s an “all-in” without “all-the-answers”, and He is so worthy of that response.