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Surrendering All To God
by Henry Miranda Luke 9:23 (NKJV) Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." Surrender is a battle term. It implies giving up all rights to the conqueror. When an opposing army surrenders, they lay down their arms, and the winners take control from then on. The world is a battleground. Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, the world God created has been in conflict with Him. Satan is called the "god of this world" and due to Adam's sin, we are born in his army. Surrendering to God works the same way. When we surrender to God, He has a plan for our lives, and surrendering to Him means we set aside our own plans and eagerly seek His plan. God's plan for us is always in our best interest. God demands that we surrender the totality of ourselves; He wants the whole, not a portion of us. "Do not offer part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourself to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness." Such a life of surrender is pleasing to God, results in the greatest human fulfillment, and will reap ultimate rewards in heaven. Surrender all to Jesus and let Him be Lord of your heart and life! Surrendering all requires us to give up anything that would hinder us from doing the will of Jesus. This does not mean that if we want something, it is necessarily wrong. It means we must take our wants and desires down from the throne and place Jesus and His will on the throne, as the ruling power in our lives. There is room in each life for only one master If a person holds his life so dear to himself that he wants to use it to please himself, do his own will, and accomplish his own purposes, rather than surrendering all and serving God, that person will in the end lose his eternal life. But anyone who surrenders his life for Jesus' sake gives his life in service and sacrifice to God by surrendering all as described above. Such a man will save his life by gaining eternal life. We must live lives of complete and total submission to the will of God. We must be on the same wave length to be able to talk and listen to God. We gave up our old life when we turned to Christ, but our mind still retains old memories. We struggle with the mind (thoughts), because that is where Satan brings the battle to us. We must face the past and not hide it in our subconscious, because if we don't get rid of it, it is still there where it might try to rear its ugly head again. The believer achieves this state of metamorphosis by the operation of the Holy Spirit's renewing his mind, making it possible for the believer "to prove" or "to test in order to find" the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. As long as things go right, as Christians, we tend to put ourselves in neutral. But as soon as things get too much for us we blame everyone except ourselves. We start to lose our faith and we want to do things our own way. We all have a dark side, because if we didn't, we would all be perfect. What does being Christ like mean? We cannot be as we were before in the world because we have surrendered all to God and we are a new creation. To be Christ like is to die to self and allow God to direct our lives no matter where it may lead. It would not be us, but Christ in us. We have to be willing to be led by the Spirit at all times. Granted that we are in this world and must do what it takes to live here. We have to follow the rules, but only if it does not interfere with our relationship with God. Would you like to get saved and be born again? You can do that by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Just pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart. Let heaven be your destiny. Evangelist Henry Miranda earned a Bachelor of Christian Ministry degree @ Christian Leadership University. Evangelist Henry Miranda is a Bible Teacher, Author, and Guest Speaker and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, has written ten books. You can reach @ //www.evangelize-for-jesus-ministries.co Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |