Surrender

​In his classic devotional, My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes these words of insightful wisdom.
“Surrender is not the surrender of the external life, but of the will: when that is done all is done. There are very few crises in life; the great crisis is surrender of the will. God never crushes a man’s will into surrender; He never beseeches him. He waits until the man yields up his will to Him. That battle never needs to be refought.”
Chambers hit the proverbial nail on the head regarding surrender: surrender for Christians is yielding our will to God.
You and I wrestle and struggle to surrender our personal life, family, career, dreams, material possessions, relationships and ministry to God.
News bulletin: the Lord does not want that stuff. HE WANTS US. ALL OF US. When He has us, when we yield to His will, everything else falls into place.
Surrender sets you and me free from ourselves. Surrender is about deliverance, devotion and death. Deliverance from selfishness, the flesh, the devil and the world. Devotion and obedience to the Lordship of Christ. Death to me and abundant, eternal life in Him.
Surrendering my will to God’s will means doing His will His way.
Why wouldn’t you and I desire to yield and surrender our will to God? Romans 12:2 states that “the will of God is good, acceptable and perfect.” I know at times Steve’s will is not good, is unacceptable, and far from perfect. Why in the world would I want to hold on to my will when God’s will is everything I desire and need? Worth thinking about, huh?
Biblical surrender is a complete, unconditional surrender of our will to God’s will.
Matthew 26:36-46 records Jesus monumental spiritual battle in the Garden of Gethsemane. Facing the imminent, foreboding prospect of death on a cruel Roman cross, God’s only Son yielded His will to the Father’s will. Under intense, unrelenting pressure, sweating drops of blood, He said three times “Not My will, but Your will be done.”  
Jesus fully surrendered His life to fulfill the will of the Father that He would be the Savior of the world. He settled it that His death was not about His will but God’s will.
I have often tried during my five decades as a Christian to understand what Jesus did in the Garden. In order to withstand and overcome the tortuous death awaiting Him on Mount Calvary, Jesus died to self in the Garden before He died on the Cross.
Jesus’ mission in coming to earth was to do the will of the Father (John 17:1-5).
“Not My will, but Your will be done” was not about Jesus. It was about the Father. It was about salvation for you and me through Christ’s voluntary, sacrificial death for the forgiveness of our sins. He loved you and me enough to give up His rights to Himself.
So, what does Jesus’ surrender of His will have to do with you and me? Everything.
The Apostle Paul reminds us “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.” I Corinthians 6:19-20.
The “price” Jesus paid for you and me was His priceless, precious life blood. Once again Jesus’ sacrifice was not about Him. It was about providing salvation for you and me. Jesus surrendered Himself to the Father and a cross so you and I could be saved from sin.
I believe God’s will for me is to surrender myself to Him and His will so I can work out the salvation that God has worked in me.
“So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only; but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13).
Chambers is right. The great crisis of life is surrender of our will. God waits until we yield our will to Him. When we do, everything else falls into place!
You and I have everything to gain when we surrender to God’s will and everything to lose when we choose not to.
Your will or God’s will? The choice is up to you.
Christian Hymn “I Surrender All.”
“All to Jesus, I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee.
Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessing fall on me.
I surrender all, I surrender all. All to Thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all.”
“I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20
A Word For Your Week: Surrender to God’s will sets us free!