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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING
THE TITLE FOR TODAY’S EPISODE: FINDING SURRENDER
We often think about total surrender to the will of God as an amazing place. But our flesh wants to fight against that perfect place. In the surrender is everything we will ever need, God’s peace, joy, strength, salvation, hope and love. The struggle is not a new one but is as old as Adam and Eve. They lost their surrender to God when they ate of the tree that God told them to not eat. Their disobedience led to our struggles today.
Even Jesus prayed, let this cup pass from me. The man part of Jesus didn’t want to endure the pain and suffering. Then he did what we all need to learn to do more easily, he surrendered his will to the Father. He said not my will but yours be done.
Surrender to God and his will is not a one-time thing. Many feels like when they repent and ask Jesus to be Lord of their life that they have surrendered. That is just the beginning of our surrender. It is an everyday, several times a day thing. We have to strengthen our inner man. While our freshly one is kicking and screaming, wanting control.
Surrender is extremely hard for type A personalities, ones that are used to being in control. Intellectually we understand that God is good and only has our best interests at heart. We know we can trust him to take care of us and give us a good outcome. We understand he can give us a better outcome than we can get on our own. We know he is loving and will not do anything to be cruel. Yet we find ourselves pulling back out of fear.
Reading the Psalms you will see David struggled with surrender at times. He fell down; he committed sin. Yet he was a man after God’s heart, because he worshiped and surrendered a large portion of the time to God and his will.
The closer we get to God the less people are going to understand us. But by following a little closer and surrendering more, we will be better equipped to do the work of the Lord, thus being a help to those around us.
How do we get to that surrender? How do we stay there? These questions are hard to answer.
Surrender means recognizing we need to humble ourselves before God and yield to his authority. Give up our control and deny our person ambitions.
Luke 9:23 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.
It comes down to a made-up mind to follow Christ, no matter the cost. It means that we will say I trust you Lord to know what to do, even when I am unsure.
Matt 16:24 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. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
It takes daily struggling to put God first by denying our fleshly will. It is a conscious decision to surrender our will. Praying daily asking God to guide our day and learning and knowing his word are ways of submitting to God.
This is why Paul said I die daily. He understood taking up the cross daily and living a life of surrender to God’s will and not his desires.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
By daily doing what we believe is the right thing and God’s will we are living sacrifices unto God. It takes commitment every day to say, God I want your will today and not my will. I submit myself to you today to do your will above my own. Surrender is not a one-time act of repentance, it goes beyond that one time. Although that is a good start, we must learn how to walk in the spirit.
Gal. 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Walking in the Spirit, by faith is the key to finding total surrender. It is an everyday choice to take up our cross and follow Jesus.
Until next time,
BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS
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