Tuesday, January 11, 2005

What is Surrender?

Hello. Well, as we talked about before I'm going through Rick Warren's book "The Purpose Filled Life." I am learning much. Yesterday's lesson was on surrender, or submission, to God. You know, I thought I was at that point but I find there is much work to be done. If you go through The New Strong's Concise Concordance, there isn't a listing for surrender. You have to check out submit to get an idea of the language used. Even then, it quotes only Hebrews 13:17 as reference. So, when left to my own devices, I turn to Webster's Dictionary. Now, the one I have is old, but a dictionary is a dictionary to me unless you're looking at new words. (Bohemian, I know.) The listing is really long so I'll paraphrase as much as I can. "to give up possession of or power over...to give up claim to...abandon..." That made me think. Have I really submitted, surrendered all I am to Almighty God? Have I given up claim to my life? Have I given God all the power over my life and how it is lived? Have I served God with abandon, knowing He is the One who has the final say?

Okay, OUCH! There are so many ways in which I fail to surrender. And, since I truly want to be a godly minister to the people to which God has called me, I have to put my hands in the air and give up. That's why I love worship that is more expressive. I can put my hands in the air to (1) surrender to God, and (2) ask Him to pick me up and make it better. This life can really beat us up emotionally, huh? So, I want my Heavenly Father to reach down and let me surrender to His love. Isn't that a neat visual?

So, on to surrender. I wonder if anyone else is scared of failure. I wonder if anyone else is afraid to succeed fearing they won't be able to keep it up. Basically, I wonder. The place to which I've come says that I cannot be fully used by God unless I reach total and absolute surrender to His will and His way. That comes with serious knee time included. Prayer, my dear readers: Deep, unbound, walls-down prayer to God. I think that once we get outside ourselves and can pray with that kind of openness, then God can speak to us freely. It's like unplugging your spiritual ears. Get the wax out of your spiritual ears and then you can hear clearly.

So, today, I encourage you to look at your life as I will mine. Reach inside and know that there is nothing to fear because God is love and love takes away fear. Open yourself up to the Heavenly Father who created you and knows you, and you will find rest for your souls. Pray with your spirit as you never have before. Then, you will hear clearly the still, small voice of Almighty God speaking to you as you could have only imagined.

May this day bring you blessing, healing, comfort and prosperity in the Lord.

1 comment:

RevCindi said...

Dan, thank you for your comments. We may disagree and that's alright. There's a lot to be said for open debate. I checked out your blog and am surprised by the angst. But, I wish you well and thank you for the time you took to read my thoughts and comment. God bless you, Dan.