Romans 6:13 – 13and do not go on (A)presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but (B)present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Luke 23And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Thought to Ponder on: The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become-because he made us. When we turn to Christ and give up ourselves to His personality, this is when we begin to have a real personality of our own.
The Heart of worship is SURRENDER. Surrender is an unpopular word, disliked almost as much as the word submission. It means to lose, and no one wants to be a loser. In today’s competitive culture, we are taught to never give up, and never give in—so we do not hear much about surrendering. If winning is everything, surrendering is unthinkable. We would rather talk about winning, succeeding, overcoming, and conquering than yielding, submitting, obeying, and surrendering. We need to understand that surrendering to God is the heart of worship. It is the natural response to God’s amazing love and mercy. We should give ourselves to him, not out of fear or duty, but in love, because he first loved us.
1 John 4:9-10,19 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten son into the world, that we might love through him. 10 – Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation (sacrifice) for our sins. 19 – We love him because he first loved us.
Have you Fully surrendered Yourself to God?
Romans 12:1- I beseech you therefore, brethren by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service.
True worship happens only when we give ourselves completely to God. There are three barriers that block our total surrender to God: Fear, Pride and Confusion. Fear can keep us from surrendering our lives to God, because we are not completely trusting him.
Can I trust God and does he really love me?
If we have no trust in God it will be very difficult to trust him. And if we do not know Him how can we trust him? The more that we know how much God loves us, the easier surrender becomes.
How do we know that God really loves us?
Psalms 145:9 –The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.
Psalms 139:3 – Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
Matthew 10:30- The very hairs of your head are all numbered.
1 Tim 6:17-Trust in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
Jeremiah 29:11- For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Psalm 86:5 - For thou Lord art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy, unto all them that call upon thee.
Psalm 124:8 – Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Romans 5:8 –But God commandeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
God has proven how much he loves us: We are never out of his sight, he cares about every detail of our lives, he gives us the capacity to enjoy all kinds of pleasures, he has good plans for our lives, he forgives us and he is lovingly patient toward us.
The greatest expression of the love of God towards us was the sacrifice of his Son Jesus. If we want to know
how much we matter to God, look at Christ with his arms outstretched on the cross, saying, I love you this much, I would rather die than live without you.
The lord is not a cruel slave driver forcing us to submit. He is not a bully using brutal means to get us to surrender. He does not try to break our will. God woos us to himself so that we might offer ourselves freely to him,, God is a lover and a liberator, and surrendering to him bring freedom, not bondage. God is not a tyrant, but a savior, not a boss, but a brother, not a dictator but a friend.
Admitting our limitations
A second barrier to our total surrender is PRIDE. We do not always like to admit that we are just creatures, and not in charge of everything. The reason why it is so hard to completely surrender is because we as humans haven’t yet come to the end of ourselves!
Genesis 3:5- For God doth know that in the day that you eat there of then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods knowing good and evil.
To be like God is one of the oldest temptations placed upon man. To be like God is to strongly desire to HAVE COMPLETE CONTROL IN OUR LIVES. Why do you think people are always seeking to BE OVER THE NEXT PERSON. PEOPLE SEEK HIGH POSITIONS, RECOGNITION, PRAISES OF OTHERS, CAN’T STAND A U T H O R I TY. WHY? BECAUSE MAN WANTS TO BE LIKE GOD! WHEN WE TRY TO BE LIKE GOD WE END UP LIKE SATAN – FULL OF EVIL PRIDE.
WHAT IT MEANS TO SURRENDER
Luke 5:4-5 – Now when he had left speaking he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets, for a draught. 5 Simon answered and said unto him,. Master, we have toiled all the night and have not taken nothing, nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
After a night of “failed fishing” Simon did not question the Lord, he surrendered his will to the will or the Lord.
Surrendered people obey God’s word, even if it doesn’t make sense.
Instead of trying Harder-Just Trust Harder
1. Abraham followed God’s leading without knowing where it would take him.
2. Hannah waited for God’s perfect timing without knowing when.
3. Mary expected a miracle without knowing how.
4. Joseph trusted God’s purpose without knowing why circumstances happened the way that they did.
These people were fully surrendered to God. You can tell that you are surrendered to God when you rely on God to work things out instead of trying to manipulate others, force your agenda, and control the situation. You let go and let God work. You do not have to always be in charge.
Psalm 37:7 Be still in the presence of the LORD,
and wait patiently for him to act.
The supreme example of Self-Surrender
St. Mark - And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."
Genuine Surrender against the intense warfare
The Lord was saying, Father if it is in your best interest to remove this suffering, please do so, but if it fulfills your purposed, that is what I want too.
Genuine surrender says, Father if this problem, pain, sickness, or circumstance is needed to fulfill your purpose and glory in my life or in another’s please do not take it away. This level of maturity does not come easy. In Jesus case he agonized so much over God’s plan that he sweat drops of blood.
Surrender is hard work. It is intense warfare against our self centered nature.
The blessing of surrender:
Romans 6:17- But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed
Joshua -15- The Commander of the LORD's Army
13When Joshua was by , he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?" 14And he said, "No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, "What does my lord say to his servant?" 15And the commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.
Luke 38And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant[a] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
James 4:7- Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Pastor Sharon Therese Spencer
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