Time to Surrender

Give yourselves to God, as people who have been raised from death to life. (Romans 6:13, CEV)

Remember the old western and police movies where you hear, "OK, stick'em up. You're under arrest!"? And so it is here, also, in the kingdom of God. You see, you can get pretty excited when we read of God's great promises, plans and future for your life. Some of God's promises are just incredible. But, oh, we need to cover one small detail first. What is it? Full surrender to Him. Our verse today says, "Give yourselves to God." This means a full yielding, surrender, obedience, and giving yourself to Him.

It's like you come to a fork in the road and you have two decisions regarding daily living. To the left you can choose God's will, and to the right is the road that is contrary to God's truth. How do you know which road to "surrender" to? It starts by you saying, "Lord, I yield my thoughts, motives, desires, wishes, and dreams to Your Word. Please show me which road to take."

Now, some areas to surrender are quite obvious and others, well, take time to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. But relax, the good news is that the Lord Jesus will walk you down this road of full surrender. He has gone before you to the cross and understands how difficult life can be with all of your choices for a job, relationships, temptations, habits and so on. This is why He sent His Holy Spirit to come alongside and partner with us and work His will in us (John 16:13).

Full Surrender? Sounds threatening, doesn't it? But keep this in mind, God never asks you to surrender your life but that He already has a better one waiting for you. So today, as you come to the fork in the road, is there an area that needs to be surrendered? If so, surrender and take a left on the road...you'll be glad you did.

From the issue of Jubilee Journey, Living in Faith Everyday. 175 Nortech Parkway, San Jose CA 95134. www.jubilee.org