Transparent Tuesday: Surrender

 Two weeks ago, I posted about the American Dream and how we could practice giving rather than gathering. Last week, I discussed Putting God First in our lives; both posts were inspired by the book entitled Anything by Jennie Allen.

"I surrender all, all to thee my precious Jesus, I surrender all..." That hymn is much easier to sing than it is to actually live out. When we believe in the power of God and then choose to put Him first in our lives, the next logical thing is to surrender everything else that was in the way. We must surrender in order to truly live.

Part 3

For believers in an eternal God, it shouldn’t be unusual to risk our entire lives for Him. It should be the norm for every person who claims Christ. In our society, it is so easy to get caught up in doing the "right" things. Like, we have to go to college so that we can get a good job. We have to find a good paying job so that we will have enough money to live comfortably. We have to start a retirement fund so that we can live easy lives when our working days are over. But when we try to live "easy", "comfortable" or even "practical" lives, we could be missing out on what God has called us to do. I am not saying that it is bad to go to college, get a good job, and retire. It is good to have those things in place. Maybe God's plan for you is embedded in those things. But if God laid something different on your heart, would you be willing to risk all of those things in order to answer the call???

If Christ is raised from the dead, we risk it all, losing what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose. If we truly believe that Christ hung on a cross for us and died for our sins, then we must have the mindset that we, too, can risk it all. If we truly believe that this is only our temporary home, than praying for ANYTHING and risking it all, isn't sensless. Yes, it is radical. But aren't we all called to radically follow and serve the One who risked it all for us??? So if you are ready to surrender to God for ANYTHING, now what…..PRAY. Only through His Spirit will we know what to do , and only through His Spirit could we do it. 

Little deaths always feel like big deaths until you let go….then you wonder what was the big deal? What do we hold onto our possessions for? It is amazing how the things you try to hold onto the longest, or refuse to surrender, seem to be the things that you miss the least when you finally let go. I think of Jonah. If I refuse to do what God asks of me, HE has the power to make it happen anyway. Would you rather just listen to God, or end up in the belly of a big fish. Your choice. 

She traded entitlement for surrender and God took her up on it. If you pray the prayer, expect God to take you up on it. One thing that God is teaching me about surrender is that I must step out of my comfort zone in order to truly surrender. For me, I find comfort in keeping to myself, being introverted. It takes me a while to warm up to people. I can pinpoint two specific times where I felt God leading me towards strangers....wanting me to ask them their name, or how their day was...just start a conversation with them. And both times, I have failed. I let fear take over, instead of trusting in God. I think about Daniel 3, and how God prepared Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego along the way with small steps of surrender (choosing to not eat the King's food, choosing to not bow to the King's statue) before they were to be thrown into the fiery furnace....I have to respond to my small steps first. Do I compromise to make life easier or better? Do I respond out of fear or in faith? Will I conform in order to fit in? Will I hand on to my life or surrender it to God?*** I have to practice surrendering to God in these small steps so that I will be prepared when God leads me towards my fiery furnace.

***Taken from sermon notes at Fellowship Bible Church of NWA, Mosaic Congregation presented August 25, 2013, by Doug Raines

"Our hands are lifted high in SURRENDER, Your grace for me is always enough." 

Samantha