Every day, you have to surrender your heart to God.

When you wake up each morning, before your feet hit the floor, you have to say, “God, before I even start this day, I surrender my emotions to you. I want you to be Lord of my feelings. I want you to control my mind and my emotions. I surrender my heart to you. I want you to fill me with your love.”

Job 11:13-18 says, “Surrender your heart to God, turn to him in prayer, and give up your sins—even those you do in secret. Then you won’t be ashamed; you will be confident and fearless. Your troubles will go away like water beneath a bridge, and your darkest night will be brighter than noon. You will rest safe and secure, filled with hope and emptied of worry” (CEV).

We find three commands and eight promises in that verse. God says if you do this, then he’ll do that. Every promise has a premise.

First, he gives you the commands: Surrender your heart to God every day. Turn to him in prayer. And give up your sins, or confess your sins to God.

Then notice the eight benefits: You won’t be ashamed, you’ll be confident, you’ll be fearless, your troubles will be like water under the bridge, the dark night you’re going through is going to be brighter than noon, you’ll be able to sleep well because you are safe and secure, you will be filled with hope, and you’ll be emptied of worry.

Wow! Who wouldn’t want to experience those benefits? You ought to write that Scripture on an index card and put it somewhere you’ll see it throughout the week. Let it remind you to do those three things—surrender your heart to God, turn to him in prayer, and confess your sins—so that God’s love will fill your life and cast out all your anxiety and fear.

Try it this week, and then watch how God fulfills his promise as he fills you with his love.

One time I had the privilege of lecturing at Oxford University, and while I was there, I was invited to go to a meeting of Oxford Analytica. This is a group you’ve likely never heard of that has enormous influence in the world. Every day around 6 a.m., the leading scholars of Oxford gather in a room to get reports from all around the world about what’s happened in the last 24 hours, from crop prices rising in China to more unrest in the Middle East. Then they make the decision about what needs to be said about it. By 11 a.m. a report has been given to groups that pay big bucks for this information, such as the CIA and major corporations.

Oxford Analytica is founded on the idea that the best leaders make the best decisions when they have the best information. Even if you are a good leader, if you don’t have the best information, you’re going to make a bad decision.

You need the best information to live the best life that God wants you to live. That information is right there in the Word of God.

The Bible says in Matthew 4:4, “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (NLT).

God wants you to make the best decisions and receive his best for your life. You do that by feeding on the Word of God throughout your day, every day.