Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. {Matthew 16:24}
Surrendering to the Lord is the most important thing we can ever do in our lives today. But surrendering daily is not that easy. If it were, we would be all doing it. It’s easy to say, “I surrender my life to You Lord” while you’re at the altar or at a moving service, but to start living it and practicing it, it’s not that easy. However, surrendering to the Lord becomes easier the more we love Him and want Him. This happens when we respond to His nudging and calling for us to talk to Him. The process of a surrendered life is in the daily talks we have with the Lord. We could never do this on our own. We need the Lord.
The second most important thing in surrendering to the Lord after our daily talks with Him is the letting go of our own confidence. Too many of us have a hard time surrendering ourselves to the Lord because we still trust in our own selves. We still trust in our own righteousness and in our ability to save ourselves. None of us can save ourselves. None of us has enough righteousness to merit God in our lives that He should save us. The scripture states:
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. {Titus 3:5-6}
Jesus Christ does all the saving, not ever us. So in order for us to be successful in being surrendered to Jesus Christ, we have to let go of our confidence in our ability to be holy, righteous and good. You know again and again our ability to do good and to do right, especially when we proclaim we’re going to do it, has failed us. How many times have I seen myself gung-ho to follow Christ, and the next thing I know I’m down flat on my face on the ground knocked out by Satan because I relied too much on myself. That’s why the most important thing to surrendering is in talking to Jesus everyday and all the time. This is the key to overcoming in this life. If we want to belong to Christ, if we want to overcome and know who Jesus is, we need to be talking to the Lord all the time. We need to be looking to Him for His direction and seeking after His truth. We must everyday talk to the Lord and ask Him to direct our steps, guide our thoughts and place in our hearts His desires, that we may find ourselves doing His will and not our own. As apostle Paul had beautifully penned his reliance on the Lord, he said in Philippians 3:9-11,
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
A surrendered life is faith in Jesus Christ, not upon our own selves. We must give up our trust in our own selves and solely depend on Jesus to carry us through. That is the righteousness that apostle Paul talks about. We must everyday, deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him. We need to have a mindset that says first thing in the morning before we get out of bed, “I need You, Jesus, please help me and save me. I cannot live without You.” We must depend on Jesus always and all the time. We must look to Him for our strength and not on our own.
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. {Hebrews 12:2}
A surrendered life to Jesus Christ is the greatest thing we could ever do for ourselves here and now and in the life to follow. As I had mentioned in my blog post: How To Have Perfect Peace, surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ everyday will give us the perfect peace of God that passes man’s understanding. It is the only way to live in this troubled world we live in – a surrendered life. Nothing can compare to His presence and the peace that He gives once we have learned to surrender our lives to the Lord. It may feel at first like we are losing our lives completely and it may seem really scary. But once you learn to give yourself up and find yourself daily surrendering to Him, you will also find the beautiful process of gaining your life back. It’s a new life with Him that you would never find in this world. It’s a life that is directed by Him, guided with loving kindness and tender mercies, full of truth and grace and very satisfying to the soul. He fills the longings of our soul. That’s why those who have truly taken that straight and narrow way with the Lord and have tasted and seen that the Lord is good {Psalm 34:8}, have never looked back. When they realize that surrendering and giving their lives up means having an eternal fellowship with the God of Life Himself, they can never go back. The world they have left behind is now empty and shallow, superficial and passing: filled with sorrow and sadness, filthiness and unclean things. They realize they want nothing to do with it anymore. When you want something more you will never go back. Those who go back do it because they have not completely surrendered their lives up to the Lord, and have not experienced the satisfying touch of the living God that fills the soul through and through. Living for Jesus is the best life of all, serving and following Him, because He leads us and directs us. He never leaves us on our own nor forsakes us.
You will never regret that you surrendered your life to the One who gives life: Jesus Christ. He will turn around and fill you through and through.
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. {John 4:14}
For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. {Jeremiah 31:25}
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. {Matthew 5:6}
For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. {Psalm 107:9}
Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting. {Luke 18:28-30}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You Father God, with all of my heart for Your grace and Your love for us today, Your people. I thank You that You are truly a rewarder of those who diligently seek You and wait on You. You know how to fill us, You know how to satisfy us. There is not a need in our lives or in our hearts that You will not meet. All things we need we can find in You. I thank You with all of my heart for Your truth. I love You, Jesus.
Savior, I pray for Your people today and for Your church today to be reawakened in our love for You. Your coming is very soon. A quick work You said You will do on this earth and You will come. Please Savior, so many of us are asleep today. So many of us need to re-surrender our lives to You. So many of us don’t even know we haven’t fully surrendered our lives at all. We say we love You, we say we want You, but in truth our hearts are very much far away from You. Please Lord Jesus, save us. Save us Lord God and bring us back to You. Help us to recognize where we are with You and stir our hearts back up again into falling in love with You. I pray all these things Father God, in Your most wonderful and precious name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
