I have finished the work
which You have given Me to do. —John 17:4
{CHAMBERS} “True
surrender is not simply surrender of our external life but surrender of our
will— and once that is done,
surrender is complete. The greatest crisis we ever face is the surrender of our
will. Yet God never forces a person’s will into surrender, and He never begs.
He patiently waits until that person willingly yields to Him. And once that
battle has been fought, it never needs to be fought again.[…] It is only after we have begun to experience
what salvation really means that we surrender our will to Jesus for rest.
Whatever is causing us a sense of uncertainty is actually a call to our will—
“Come to Me.” And it is a voluntary coming.[…] “If anyone desires to come after
Me, let him deny himself…” (Matthew 16:24). The surrender here is of my self to
Jesus, with His rest at the heart of my being. He says, “If you want to be My
disciple, you must give up your right to yourself to Me.” And once this is
done, the remainder of your life will exhibit nothing but the evidence of this
surrender, and you never need to be concerned again with what the future may
hold for you. Whatever your circumstances may be, Jesus is totally sufficient
(see 2 Corinthians 12:9 and Philippians 4:19).[…] Beware of some surrender that you make to God
in an ecstatic moment in your life, because you are apt to take it back again.
True surrender is a matter of being “united together [with Jesus] in the
likeness of His death” (Romans 6:5) until nothing ever appeals to you that did
not appeal to Him. And after you surrender— then what? Your entire life should
be characterized by an eagerness to maintain unbroken fellowship and oneness
with God.”
{ELGIN} One of the dangers
that we face as we travel through this life is the danger of wanting what is
good and being willing to “trade” what is best to get it. Where has God placed you to fulfill His purpose
for you? (Ephesians 2:10) “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ
Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Surrender means that you stop resisting. You hands are held high, your heart is yielded. Your cry is “Have your own way Lord. Have your own way. You are the potter and I am the clay. Mold me and make me after your will. While I am waiting, yielded and still.” But .. all too often we want to be the
captain of our destiny. The good .. the
reasonable … rises up in our hearts .. the question is raised .. why can’t I be
like everyone else .. why won’t He just let me be like everyone else. There is the possibility of a mutiny in your
heart. Oh friend, don’t you see that
what you are experiencing is natural, predictable. It’s the battle between the flesh and the
Spirit. In Psalm 51, David wrote … “You
do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”
Don’t expect the world to praise you for choosing God over everything else. In fact, they may find opportunity to condemn you for it. Certainly there are those who say that “God told them”, when in fact, they are at the helm of their lives. They use God as a banner, but they are not devoted to Him, only themselves. Time will tell. Like the wheat and the tares, it is often hard to distinguish, until it is time to bear fruit. I often used the analogy of a mango tree when I preached in Haiti. You may call yourself a mango tree, but if your branches do not bear mangos but oranges instead, you are not a mango tree. In the same way, if you say you are called by God but there is no Spiritual fruit on your branches, then you are not called by God. I am not speaking about counting the number of souls saved through your work as proof, although that may certainly be some of the fruit. Do people see Jesus in you? Do you bear witness to God and give Him glory or do you seek affirmation from men. (John 12:43) “they loved human praise more than praise from God”
Don’t expect the world to praise you for choosing God over everything else. In fact, they may find opportunity to condemn you for it. Certainly there are those who say that “God told them”, when in fact, they are at the helm of their lives. They use God as a banner, but they are not devoted to Him, only themselves. Time will tell. Like the wheat and the tares, it is often hard to distinguish, until it is time to bear fruit. I often used the analogy of a mango tree when I preached in Haiti. You may call yourself a mango tree, but if your branches do not bear mangos but oranges instead, you are not a mango tree. In the same way, if you say you are called by God but there is no Spiritual fruit on your branches, then you are not called by God. I am not speaking about counting the number of souls saved through your work as proof, although that may certainly be some of the fruit. Do people see Jesus in you? Do you bear witness to God and give Him glory or do you seek affirmation from men. (John 12:43) “they loved human praise more than praise from God”
So, all that said, what is
the point. As Christians, the life we
are to live is described best in Galatians 2:20. “ I have been crucified with Christ and
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Living by faith … going when He says go .. doing
when He says do … in this life of faith the way is steep and rocky. It will exhaust you if you try to go it
alone, in your own strength, under your own will-power. Your new life requires total dependence upon
the One who called you to it. The minute
you try to do it yourself, try to make a course change, you will feel the
weight that only God can lift. That
should be a reminder that you do all things through and only through Christ Who
gives you supernatural strength, born out of your faith in Him and surrender to
Him. Believe me, I know.
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