I Surrender All

Do I Surrender All?

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment 
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Romans 12:1 NLT

I love the way that one of my friends opens in prayer at our men’s meeting, saying, “Thank you God for another day that was never promised.” I love it because it reminds me that as I begin my day it is a gift that God has freely given. Whether I am sick or well, able to pay the bills or looking at an overdraft message from the bank, the hours that lie ahead are evidence of God’s grace. I love that prayer because it reminds me of the Hymn, “I Surrender All,”. Full surrender, or as today’s verse says, giving our bodies as a living sacrifice, is the perfect response to God’s grace. It tells us that rather than using our day however we please, an “I surrender all” attitude, is the only way to truly worship God, But to be honest, there are days when I couldn’t sing words like, “worldly pleasures all forsaken,” or, “I will ever love and TRUST Him.” because I like to reserve something for myself. Instead of trusting the hand of God, I rush around trying to do things on my own. Or I decide that there are a few worldly pleasures that I deserve and when the Holy Spirit convicts me by speaking in His still small voice, I turn down the volume and plow ahead with my own plans. But God in His great mercy and faithfulness has a way of getting our attention when we stray. Just like sheep who wander far from home and get tangled up in thorns or stuck at the bottom of a pit, we discover that our way was not so great after all and that maybe God was right. What a blessing that when we have fallen, we have a Good Shepherd. Though He has been seeking us all along, He has had to wait for us to stop our struggling, and surrender to His will, Then He begins to untangle us from the mess we made. In surrender we make the amazing discovery that once we give up our demand to be large and in charge, Jesus begins His work of restoration and healing. His plans and calling are far better than anything we could think or imagine, but He awaits our surrender to Him, as He surrendered Himself for us.

I love the fact that Billy Graham called this hymn one of his favorites, because during the time when he attended what today is called, Trinity Bible College, not far from where we live, Judson De Venter, who wrote the hymn, often preached at the school. The full surrender that God had planned for Billy Graham, continues to impact the lives of millions of people around the globe. We will probably never gain a worldwide reputation as Billy Graham did, but when we release our grip on our desires, our homes and even our finances, God will begin to use them in ways far beyond anything we could imagine, as a blessing in the lives of others and then lead us into a deeper walk with Him.

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 Savior - I surrender all
Judson Van De Venter 1896

Calm Surrender

/ pastorpete51 / 8 Comments

And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23 KJV

Last night I had one of those “aha!” moments while we were watching our favorite television show, “Better human, better dog” with Cesar Milan. I love watching Cesar walk into a home where people have uncontrollable dogs, who are barking, biting and lunging, and in just a few moments, slip a leash around their neck and get them to sit down quietly next to him. Cesar calls this transformation “Calm surrender” and it reminds me of today’s verse. Just like those uncontrollable dogs, I sometimes struggle with what the master expects of me and end up barking at others, hurting those closest to me and in general making a mess our of things. I know what choices I need to make, but the problem isn’t the knowing, it is the trusting God enough to surrender to it.

Now the good news for those like me is that while Cesar Milan may be the dog whisperer, Jesus is the people whisperer! He isn’t at all intimidated by our lunging at our leashes, snarling and making a ruckus. He knows what we need most of all is calm surrender. But in order for that calm surrender to happen on the inside of our hearts, there must first be an invisible transaction of faith. We must trust him enough, every morning, to allow Him to slip the leash around our neck. We do that when we believe that God’s leash, called the cross, is not put meant to strangle us, but to lead us. We can calmly surrender our lives to Him, because we know He has come to give us a better one. When we lie down quietly at His feet, God can drop the leash, because He knows that what keeps us connected to Him is not that leash, but our hearts. Then when we calmly surrender, God can open the door and lead us out to all the good things He has planned for our daily walk with Him!

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What Have I Surrendered?

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23 ESV

It is important to be careful of what we sing in church because not only God is listening but also some of our friends! For example one day after singing “I Surrender All” for our little nursing home group I launched into a short devotional about surrendering to God. Just I was just beginning to warm up one elderly lady sweetly interrupted me and asked; “What have you surrendered?” For a moment I was speechless. I had no idea what to list as to any kind of real suffering I had been through. Her question got me thinking. Sure I had surrendered plenty for the sake of my family; but what had I ever given up because of my faith? Now after many years I confess that I still don’t have a perfect answer but it helps me to remember that even people like James, Stephen and Paul who were martyred also had jobs, family relationships to deal with and bills to pay. They died for their faith in Christ but they also lived a lifetime of surrendering in small details that no one saw but Jesus.

And though most of us may never have to choose to die at the hands of our persecutors we do have a daily choice to make. Will we choose to say every day, “I Surrender All” because no matter what Jesus has surrendered all for us!