by John Doyle
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present (Surrender) your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this this World, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Romans 12: 1 – 2
Let’s start the devotional by singing a verse from the hymn *I Surrender All*
All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give;
I will ever Love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.
I Surrender all, I Surrender all,
all to Thee my blessed Saviour, I Surrender all
Many of us over the years have heartily sung these words, but living in their reality may be very different. The word Surrender may be understood as a sign of weakness, and yet there’s no more secure place to live than in daily surrender to the Lord Jesus who is utterly faithful, unchanging and steadfast and Who surrendered His own life for us all.
The meaning of the word surrender includes ‘To yield to the power, control or possession of another; to agree to forego in favour of another; to give up one’s rights.’ If we’ve learned to be in control of our own lives, surrender may be difficult for us, because we fear being out of control.
I have heard some say “that surrender is the opposite to control. The Devil controls, but God never will” But we know as believers that God is in control of all things and graciously He gives us each the opportunity to surrender to His Ways and His Will for our lives. Surrender to Him draws us to the heart of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and intimacy with Him. In surrender we’re saying, Lord Jesus, I take You into every part of my life. I will hold nothing back. I make a free will choice to surrender all I am to You, and to uncompromisingly obey you.
A great start to Surrender is allowing the Lord and His Word to search our lives and help us expose those things that we are reluctant to Surrender as they have become a constant habit in our lives. I am not referring here to sinful things which we do need to turn from. The reference here is to those habits in our lives that keep us from a closer walk with God. When we seek the Lord He will never fail us, so let’s encourage one another in these difficult days of Lockdown to allow the Lord to search our hearts and lives and reveal those things to us that we have yet to surrender to God.
Another Hymn for us to sing together as we think on this important truth:
Search me, O God, and know my heart today
Try me, O Saviour, know my thoughts, I pray
See if there be some wicked way in me
Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free
Lord take my Life, and make it wholly thine,
Fill my poor heart with Thy great LOVE divine,
Take all my will, my passion, self and pride,
I now surrender Lord, in me abide.
Our ways must be surrendered. We know that our ways are not His ways, nor are our thoughts His thoughts. In each of us there’s a human tendency to go our own way, through our own choices. But when we surrender our ways in exchange for God’s ways, He promises to lead us in His ways and show us the right way to go in these difficult times we are all going through. Remember that all the ways of the Lord are Loving and Faithful.
Our will must be surrendered, because we’re not our own, we’ve been bought with a price – the precious blood of Christ. This helps us to grow in our true identity in Christ.
Surrender is a heart attitude, and God can do much with a surrendered heart. He replaces hardness and selfishness with His love and compassion, and because Jesus is the centre instead of self, the fruit of our obedience is security and peace in Him, even in the storms of life.
Lets pray this prayer together:
Dear Lord we pray today for grace to surrender every part of our lives to You – grace to surrender our ways, our will, our walk and our hearts to You, so that Jesus is truly shown as our Lord. Forgive us Lord for the times we have gone our own way, done our own thing, and forgotten that we are not our own, but we belong to You. Thank You Lord for Your faithfulness and abounding love. You’ve led us in the past, to this present day, and we trust You to lead us until we see You in Glory Face to Face, in Your eternal kingdom. We bring our prayer to You in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Saviour.
In the Love of the Lord Jesus,
John and Barbara.
