I SURRENDER ALL
The words of an old hymn started singing in my heart, today. I will add the lyrics here and hope they bless you as they blessed me.
All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live. I surrender all, I surrender all. All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.
All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow, Worldly pleasures all forsaken; Take me, Jesus, take me now.
All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Savior, wholly Thine. Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit, truly know that Thou art mine.
All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee; Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessing fall on me.
Our pastor was preaching and said that in today’s world it seems that the Electronics not only serve us but actually hinder us and control our lives. He is right about that. There is no time to Pray and Seek the Lord and Worship Him, if all our time is spent on Electronics. They easily take over. How many times have you visited someone and the whole time they kept looking at their phone screen ? You wonder if their whole world falls apart -if they don’t stare at the screen all the time?
There is a sense that God is calling us to come closer and spend time with Him. Often people want miracles and answers to their prayers. They might forget that sometimes God wants something ,too.
He wants our whole heart. Without reservations, that means our time and our dreams and desires and hopes and dreams. He might well ask us to hide our Electronics for a few hours each day- so we can create time for Him. Our Pastor also explained the requirements for God to Bless us. God said to His People.
Tomorrow, I will do wonders, but you must purify yourself first and put away sins that hinder
Joshua 3:13 Hebr.12:1
Our focus as believers is to walk close to God and Hear His Voice Clearly. God is always at work, but we are not always listening. We are too busy with things that really do not matter. Or we are distracted with so many things there is no space left for even hearing one more voice.
Our Pastor also said:
BLESSING COMES ONLY BE REVELATION
That in plain English means; Hearing God – Hearing from Him. As a Children of God, we can hear from Him. God reveals His Will and His wisdom to us.
John 10:27-28 Jesus said…My Sheep Hear my Voice. He will talk to us. But we need to take time to Listen.
Some people need to remove earphones and turn off the music. Seriously. Turn off the music. We need to Let God speak to us. Turn off the noise. Turn off the constant information input and constant entertainment. People need to learn to be silent. In today’s world we are surrounded by so much noise and information we need to find places where it is simply quiet.
When I am feeling anxious by the problems of our daily lives – I go out to the Nature. To me that is one of the best ways to calm down and then I can hear clearly what God says to me. We need to find quiet places and remove ourselves from the busyness of our lives and make room for God. Give time for God. Take time to Pray. Take time to Read His Word. Listen to the Voice of the Lord.
Can we surrender our time to God ?? Can we surrender our wishes and plans ? And only seek to Obey the Lord and do His Will ?
All the Miracles in the Bible were based on someone hearing from God. Hearing very clearly. And doing what God told them. Faith comes by Hearing and Hearing from the Word of God. (Read Hebrews 11 Chapter)
One man was told to march around the wall of Jericho for 7 days. For any other human that would sound totally insane. He received the Word of the Lord by faith and obeyed, and God did a Miracle. The Walls of Jericho came down.
Another man was told to build an Ark – and the Flood came, and his family was saved. The rest of the world was destroyed because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
One man left his country -not knowing- where he was going. Who would move to another country and not even know where he was going ? He did and he became a Father of Faith to us all.
One man praised the Lord in Prison, and an angel of the Lord came and walked him out of that Prison. God can do miracles, but He wants us to listen to him and trust Him. The believers did not even believe it was truly him when he knocked on the door. God did a miracle!! (Acts 12: 5-17)
One man ran from God’s Will and ended up in the belly of a Fish. He repented and the fish vomited him out. I think it is best to do what you are told and obey rather than end up in the belly of a fish. Blessings come when we Obey. Blessings come when we listen to God and do as we are told. Many believers end up in a belly of a fish because they want their own way and judge the world by their own thoughts. But God wanted Nineveh to come to Repentance, and he did not want anyone to perish…so that man learned his lesson. His opinions were not that important, after all. (Jonah 1: 1-17)
I Surrender all. ……I Surrender all…… I Surrender all….
That means Surrender all. People who were called to the Full time Ministry had to surrender all their plans and wishes and go and follow the Lord’s Leading .Go where God told them to go and Do what God told them to do.
All of us – need to Surrender our lives to the Lord. All our plans and wishes. No matter what our life’s situation is. Our whole life is a ministry and our life matters, but to see Miracles and be a blessing to others we must surrender all to the Lord.
Surrender sounds very serious and maybe negative to some people but for the ones who obey- they find it becomes a life of Adventure and Joy. Walking with God is full of surprises and joys and rewards.
Yes, many struggles, too. We all have times of suffering and sadness. But we do know that God does not leave us alone. His Love always shines through to the ones who listen to Him. He walks right beside us -guiding us. Loving us and encouraging us.
So…in the end, we have not given anything up. We have simply entered into a close walk with God and learned to hear from Him and share His thoughts with others. We have learned how much He loves and how wonderful He is. He is our Great Reward. The greatest Gift we can ever have.
Amen.
