Here’s something I recently learned about life that kind of blew my mind. You can say you surrender, and then say – “well, I’m just gonna’ hedge my bets.” You can wake up every morning with surrender on your mind, write “surrender” on the inside of your wrist, listen to Yolanda Adams sing “I Surrender All” on repeat and then go about your day striving, grinding, pushing, scheming, worrying, stressing, raging.
The thing is though, that that isn’t really surrendering, is it? You’re not submitting to the path that God has laid out for you if you’re the one laying the stones, right? God’s standing at your destiny waiting for you like – “where did she go? That’s not the path! Hey! I thought you were following me!”
Because the thing that I’m really learning is that true surrender is really hard. Waking up this morning and asking, “God, what would you have me do?” and, “God what where would you have me go?” and, “God, what would you have me say?” and then actually doing it? Well, that’s not easy.
Because sometimes the answers you get don’t make sense to you. Or they’re leading you in a direction you think is different from your destiny. Or you’re asking God the question and not hearing anything and you’re looking around like – Man, this surrender stuff does not work. But really it’s because while you were supposed to be listening to the answers you were busy writing a list of things you want to do today. This is where I have been. —blog post, Maxi Greene
Genesis 22:1-2
Sometime after these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham replied.God said, “Take your son—your only son, whom you love, Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah! Offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will indicate to you.”
Genesis 22:3-4
Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out for the place God had spoken to him about. On the third day, Abraham caught sight of the place in the distance.
Genesis 22:5-6
So he said to his servants, “You two stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go up there. We will worship and then return to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then he took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them walked on together.
Genesis 22:7-8
Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father?” “What is it, my son?” he replied. “Here is the fire and the wood,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” “God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together.
Genesis 22:9-10
When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood on it.Next he tied up his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand, took the knife, and prepared to slaughter his son.
Genesis 22:11-12
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered. “Do not harm the boy!” the angel said. “Do not do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”
Genesis 22:13-14
Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord provides.” It is said to this day, “In the mountain of the Lord provision will be made.”
Genesis 22:15-18
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “I solemnly swear by my own name, decrees the Lord,that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the strongholds of their enemies. Because you have obeyed me, all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.”
Turning Point #3 | SURRENDER
There remains only one thing left for a man to do: He must somehow choose not only to die to all that he has been, but he must also agree to stand there and be the witness to his own crucifixion. —Guy Finley
The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven’t yet come to the end of themselves. We’re still trying to give orders, and interfering with God’s work within us. —A.W. Tozer
Two things to remember about Abraham and Isaac
If Abraham had not been willing to surrender what was most precious to him:
1. He would not have witnessed this powerful, affirming, God moment
2. His Son would not have witnessed his father being a surrendered follower of God
To finally surrender ourselves to healing, we have to have three spaces opened up within us - and all at the same time: our opinionated head, our closed-down heart, and our defensive and defended body. That is the work of spirituality - and it is indeed work. It is also the work of “a Power greater than ourselves,” and it will lead to a great luminosity and depth of seeing…Mere mental belief systems split people apart, whereas actual faith puts all our parts (body, heart, and head) on notice and on call. Honestly, it takes major surgery and much of one’s life to get head, heart, and body to put down their defenses, their false programs for happiness, and their many forms of resistance to what is right in front of them. This is the meat and muscle of the whole conversion process. —Richard Rohr
I am growing in the awareness that God wants my whole life, not just part of it. It is not enough to give just so much time and attention to God and keep the rest for myself. It is not enough to pray often and deeply and then move from there to my own projects ….
To return to God means to return to God with all that I am and all that I have. I cannot return to God with just half of my being…God wants not just a part of me, but all of me. Only when I surrender myself completely to God’s love can I expect to be free from endless distractions, ready to hear the voice of love, and able to recognize my own unique call. —Henri Nouwen
MY RESPONSE
Pastor Brad said that you know when you’re struggling with surrender “when you can’t fully obey god because of someone or something in your life, that you’re not willing to let go of.”
What is God asking you to surrender to Him today? Imagine what would happen if you were fully surrendered to God. What might happen if you aren’t?
PRAYER
God, I know what you are asking of me today, and I surrender