|
I SURRENDER ALL Isaiah 1:18-20, Deuteronomy 14:2 I surrender all. This song is about our need for Christ. It is about surrender, repentance, love, trust, obedience, sanctification, purification, blessing and praise. Forsaking all “worldly pleasures” and beginning a life of surrender to the Lord. We all must come to this place of saying, “I surrender all.” Andrew Murray said in his book, Absolute Surrender, “God is life, love, blessing, power, and infinite beauty, and God delights in communicating Himself to every child who is prepared to receive Him…this one lack of absolute surrender is just the thing that hinders God.” God wants all to know Him, but in order for Him to work in us, we must surrender all. When that happens, He gives us a new heart filled with His love. Carter Conlon describes this change—“This is the pattern of God; He begins to remove your old way of thinking, and He gives you a new mind; He takes away your old selfish heart and gives you a heart that has love in it; He removes confusion of mind and then sets a clear pathway before you; He takes the old away, and brings in the new.” He describes being filled with love, which overflows into obedience. Jesus said in John 15:10, “When you obey me you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in His love.” How merciful is Christ that we can remain in His everlasting love! Once we realize this, we will long to be His. “True surrender is not simply surrender of our external life, but surrender of our will—and once that is done—surrender is complete…And after you surrender—then what? Your entire life should be characterized by an eagerness to maintain unbroken fellowship and oneness with God!” (Oswald Chambers) After we surrender all, we will be filled with a desire to love and praise Him. Andrew Murray said, “Great love results in great faith—faith in His love to us, faith in the powerful revelation of His love in our hearts, faith that He will work all His good pleasure in us. The wings of faith and love will lift us up to heaven and we shall be filled with joy beyond words. The joy of the Christian is an indispensable witness to the world of the power of Christ to change hearts, and to fill them with love and gladness.” We will be filled with joy and long to praise the Lord. (Psalm 70:14) “Oh, the joy of full salvation! Glory, glory to His Name!” Lord, I surrender all. Let this be our prayer as we are reminded this Christmas that Christ gave all—we should give nothing less than our all. If you seek Him, He will meet you. Deuteronomy 4:29 says, “You will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” This is the reason we are here. “He gave you a mind that you might know Him, memory that you might do His deeds, a will that you might choose to love Him, imagination that you might begin to grasp His mercies, sight that you might look at the marvels of His works, and speech that you might praise Him.” —Frances de Sales ~ Jillian Krauser |