Have you ever heard the saying “let go and let God”? It’s a popular phrase heard in churches all over the world and it encourages believers to give their lives to God, especially when times are tough.
Whether you are dealing with personal struggles, family challenges, or financial obligations, letting go and letting God handle it can give you a new perspective on our troubles.
After all, worrying does little to help a challenge, while action helps solve one.
In order to let go and let God handle it, it’s important to take the right approach. This doesn’t mean we should brush off a difficult situation and expect God to fix it.
Rather, we should take action by presenting our situation to God, then actively search for ways to address our struggles.
There are 6 important steps to consider when you’re ready to let go and let God handle it. The steps are straightforward, easy to implement, and I believe you should help you better understand your challenges and your relationship with God.
The stronger your walk with God, the better prepared you’ll be to handle life’s ups and downs.
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
Let Go And Let God: 6 Steps
Let’s take a closer look at the steps you can take to let go and let God handle it. These steps should help you come closer to God by understanding yourself, identifying your struggles, praying to God, and building your faith with others (learn why God’s timing is always perfect).
Accountability and continual review of your life is essential in order to stay on the right track.
1. Self Reflection
How often do you set aside time to think about your life? It’s healthy to take time away from our busy schedules and to think about where we are in life and the direction we’re going.
Self-reflection should include assessing your family, work, and social life. Ask yourself these questions:
- Are you happy with your current situation?
- How is your walk with God?
- Where have you and your family been and where are you going (purpose and goals)?
A few minutes of self reflection each day can keep our mind balanced and keep us focused on our goals.
2. Struggles
In self-reflection we can acknowledge the positive things that are occurring in our life as well as the negative. Positive things in our lives tend to build us up and they give us confidence.
Conversely, negative things in our lives tend to weigh us down and cause stress. Our struggles affect our mind, our work, and our interactions with others (my article: how to give grace to others).
Understanding the negative things occurring in our lives can help us improve our situation. The list below includes a few common struggles.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
- Anxiety
Anxiety tends to sneak up on us. What begins as a small worry, can become something that consumes our minds. It can affect our health and our relationships and it can become a chronic problem even if we don’t realize it.
There is little benefit to anxiety so why allow it to creep into our mind?
Anxiety should be let go. Let God take control of anxiety and focus on more productive ways to get through each day.
- Stress
Stress is largely a negative by product of life. Sure, a small amount of stress on our mind can cause us to act in a situation and some stress to our muscles can create stronger muscles over time.
However, chronic stress of the mind is something that millions of people suffer from each day. It can occur from everyday situations, such as relationships, traffic, or managing others at work.
Similar to anxiety, it can cause long term health problems and it has negative effects on our mind.
>> Significance of “Bind My Wandering Heart To Thee“
Self-reflection can help us identify triggers for stress and then we can work with God to reduce the stress in our life.
- Money
Money is something that few people like to discuss, however, it causes a lot of problems in our lives. Nobody intends to become indebted and nobody wants to have money issues (credit scores or a lack of money when it’s needed).
Let go and let God handle your money worries. You’ll still have to address your debts and your money needs, but God can help you develop a plan to organize and simplify your life.
Sure, you’ll still need money, but a few lifestyle changes could pay big dividends and improve your situation
- Relationships
Are your relationships suffering? Relationships are created (and ended) each day.
Throughout our lives, we will meet people at work, in our church, and in marriage. Ask anyone who has a good relationship with friends and family and they will tell you things aren’t always easy.
Most relationships, especially marriages, go through ups and downs and it takes perseverance to make it work.
Self-reflection and prayer can help us understand challenges in our relationships and we can improve the way we interact with others. God can help heal our relationships through His word and guidance.
- Self-worth
Many people go through times in life where they lack confidence. It may be a result of a lost a job or because you were embarrassed by a friend.
How we view ourselves is important in life and we shouldn’t spend too much time being occupied with what others think of us. Our confidence can be built with faith and knowledge.
If you’re struggling with self-worth, let go and let God handle it!
3. Prayer
Once we’ve thought our struggles through self-reflection, it’s time to act! Prayer is powerful and it can be done alone or with others, any time of day.
Prayer helps our walk with God and allows us to talk directly with Him. Prayer shouldn’t always focus on ourselves, however, our struggles and praises are often part of every prayer.
Pray about your struggles and don’t just ask God to fix your challenges. Ask God for guidance, ask for direction, and ask Him to surround you with positive influences where you can learn and grow in your faith.
Be consistent with your prayers.
A prayer routine helps to make it a habit. Many people choose to set aside time in the morning or evening to pray in a peaceful environment. If you have a long commute to work, consider allocating time during your drive to pray.
4. Discipleship and Studying
Discipleship and studying the Word will help you grow in your faith. In order to let go and let God handle it, you need to understand God’s teaching.
The Bible is filled with wisdom and God’s Word can make your challenges seem insignificant in the grand scheme of life. Your challenges that once felt overwhelming, might feel like a bump in the road after you share your struggles with God.
He has a way with expanding our perspective to see the bigger picture.
If possible, become more involved at church. In church small groups you can share your challenges with peers you trust and you might learn they are experiencing similar challenges.
Find a devotional where you can dive into the Word, or create a Bible study and gain insight from a book of the Bible.
5. Accountability
Accountability is an important part of being a Christian because it allows us to work with others to build our faith. If you have a friend in faith, share your struggles with them. Share your prayers and share the guidance God has provided.
Are you committed to taking steps to reduce your stress, anxiety, or financial issues?
An accountability partner can help you stick to the plan. God can also keep you accountable – pray to Him and share updates on how you are dealing with your challenges.
6. Review
The last step required to let go and let God handle it is to review and improve the steps you’ve taken. Return to the self-reflection step and reevaluate your situation.
Has your understanding of yourself improved? Have your struggles improved?
If you’ve improved, thank God and continue to improve yourself by strengthening your faith.
If you haven’t improved, consider what you’ve missed. Was there sufficient prayer, yet not action? Was there action, but without purpose?
Improving our life and our walk with God should be an iterative process!
Challenges With Let Go and Let God Handle It
Sometimes, simple phrases like “let go and let God” miss the mark. It really depends on how the phrase is used and what it suggests. Let’s take a closer look at two criticisms with the phrase.
- Simplified
Without context “let go and let God” may send the wrong message. If a non-believer hears this, they may believe that all their problems will be solved if they only ask God for help.
While coming before God is an important step in letting go, it isn’t effective if we don’t participate in the process.
In order to let go and let God handle it, we need to become more self-aware and we need to take guidance from God. We can listen to God through our prayers and through reading the Scripture.
We can also learn from fellow Christians and mentors in the church.
- Should We Ever Let Go
If we truly “let go” does this mean we are letting go of the rope? Have we exhausted our efforts and we are to stop fighting?
Letting go is meant to signify that we shouldn’t struggle and we shouldn’t accept our current situation. Sometimes we must take a step back in order to see the bigger picture and letting go means that we can step back and reevaluate our situation.
We shouldn’t let go and fall to our demise. Rather, we should let go and approach our challenges with understanding that God can provide.
Isaiah 43:18-19 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Conclusion
Can you let go and let God handle it? There are times when life becomes overwhelming. We encounter challenges in our work, our family responsibilities, and our social life and our health suffers.
We may try to push through the challenges, however, it’s important to step back and see the big picture – God’s big picture. Through self-reflection, prayer, discipleship, and accountability, we can overcome challenges in our lives and build our faith.
A strong foundation in faith will make overcoming obstacles in our life much easier and prepare us to future challenges. If you decide to let go and let God handle it, don’t expect Him to do all the heavy lifting.
You’ll need to take action and build yourself as well! God’s guidance is plentiful and found in prayer, Scripture, and fellowship.
