Thursday, May 24, 2012

Power in Surrender

What does it mean to surrender? When you first hear the word surrender you may think of an army on a field raising a white flag. This is the typical perception of surrender in our modern day world. Generally speaking, surrender has a negative connotation. However, in the kingdom of God surrender is not only a positive term but one of the most crucial principles in our faith! Lets examine the word surrender and how it relates to humans. The textbook definition of surrender is to yield (something) to the possession or power of another; deliver up possession of on demand or under duress. The reason why it has a such a negative meaning in the world is because you are giving somebody else or another entity the power which would insinuate that you are weak. However the question shouldn't be did you surrender, it should be what are you surrendered to? If you are submitted to something that is weaker than you then your power will be minimal. However when you submit to something more powerful than you, you are operating under the same authority and power once that entity or person possesses you. Surrendering to the Almighty God will grant you the highest level of power available because you are under The creator of Heaven and earth's authority. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is in control of your life and who better to be the CEO of your life than the one who created you! The closest words I found in the Bible to surrender is worship and submit. John 4:23 "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him". The word "worship" in the Greek means to prostrate oneself in homage. God can accomplish His Will when we surrender to Him. Even Jesus surrendered to God in order to operate in the power of God! John 6:38 "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." This gave him the ability and strength to obey the will of God and go to the cross for all of humanity while operating in the power of the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:1-13 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Yielding to God's authority enabled Jesus to overcome sin, death, and evil! Whenever you are under someone's authority you will naturally inherit their characteristics. A common example is when Britain takes over a country they adopt the same currency, customs, and political system as well. This means that when we surrender to God his love mercy grace and joy that we inherit from his presence will remain with us as long as we remain surrendered. We can also oppose the realm of darkness through surrender. James 4:7 " Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." So far we have seen two verses in the Bible that identify surrender in relation to contradicting Satan. The only way we can overcome the devil is by surrendering to the Lord Jesus Christ! When we accept Jesus into our heart and become born again through regeneration by the Holy Spirit we have actually surrendered to the will of the Father which is for everyone not to perish. The only way you don't perish in the afterlife is through giving your life or heart to the Lord! Even these two catch phrases that are representative of salvation describe surrender. When you give your heart to something you are surrendering because out of the heart come the issues of life! When you give something or somebody your heart you are surrendering your life to that person which means that you have direct access to this person (God's power!) In addition when you surrender to something it has power over you and can influence you easily. For instance peer pressure can have power over you and make you submit to it. Once it has power over you it can control your thoughts and actions. This can be very detrimental to your growth and start affecting others around you. In a book I was reading "The Scorpion within" it speaks about the kings of Israel and when they were righteous (surrendered to God) the country flourished and became prosperous. Going back to worship, when you worship (prostrate yourself before God) it is one of the most crucial forms of surrender because you're surrendering all your problems frustrations, burdens, and strongholds to Jesus! Psalms 95:6 "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker." Worshiping gives us the ability to raise our hands and exalt him but also surrender our personal desires and letting Him take control of our trials, career goals, finances, family situation, future wife etc. If we don't surrender we cant live for him! IN order to do His will for our lives we must first surrender which leads to obeying Him and this results in glorifying HIM! Surrendering to the Almighty god can only lead to one outcome, victory! Once we inherit the power of God that comes through surrender you are now operating in the anointing. Just how the Son of God came with power we too have power in us because Jesus lives in us. When we walk in obedience to His Word is where we surrender to His Will! The Kingdom of God will advance once we all surrender and come together in unity to seek His face! Once we get to the point of surrender we will prosper spiritually and bring glory to His name! Hallelluljah! Today and forevermore may we surrender so that souls can be saved and Christ may be exalted!