Week 1 | Wednesday

Published June 3, 2026

Maybe God showed you something to drop through your prayer yesterday. Perhaps you’re still praying through that. Either way, being able to drop things – material things, attitudes, experiences, expectations, etc. – is only possible when we embrace what’s known as downward mobility. John, one of Jesus’ disciples, writes, “He must increase, and I must decrease” (John 3:30).

God promised a child to Abraham and Sarah in the book of Genesis. He told them all nations would be blessed through their offspring. But God must have been taking too long because Sarah convinced Abraham to have a child with another woman to speed things along. That didn’t end well at all. Of course, God had His way. Sarah gave birth to the promised son, Isaac. His family line led to Jesus, fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham.

There’s a wake in Abraham and Sarah’s lack of downward mobility. Women fighting for the love of one man, brothers quarreling, nations divided, wars, and division into conflicting faiths that still exist today. The world is bobbing in the waves, saying, like Abraham and Sarah, “I must increase, and he must decrease,” or, in other words, “It looks like I need to make this happen another way.”

The story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane gives us a beautiful picture of downward mobility. Jesus will see God’s promise to Abraham carried out. All nations in the world – all people – will be blessed through him. Jesus knew what was coming. He knew he was hours away from being tortured, nailed to a cross, and bearing the weight of humanity’s sin. Jesus had already dropped so much, but at this moment in the garden, the burden of what was on the horizon felt like too much to bear. He had already dropped everything to do only what God the Father wanted him to do. Still, he faced the responsibility of carrying out the most significant event in all human history. 

At one moment, he wanted to find another way. Yet, seemingly in the very next moment, Jesus embraced downward mobility. “But please, not what I want. What you want” (MSG). Jesus has been tempted in every way we have been or will be, including the temptation to find another way to see God’s plans come to fruition. Yet, he surrendered his desires, his actions, his choices, his very life. Jesus was faithful to his Father’s plan because of his confidence in his Father’s faithfulness.

Becoming like Jesus means we become more confident in God’s faithfulness. That emboldens us to surrender our desires, our actions, our choices, our very lives.

Life with Jesus is a surrendered life.

Write a prayer of surrender to God in the space provided. Ask your Heavenly Father to help you surrender whatever you’re holding on to.