August 4, 2009
I Surrender!
Gwen Smith
Today’s Truth
1 Peter 3:10-11 “Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, here’s what you do: say nothing evil or hurtful; snub evil and cultivate good; run after peace for all you’re worth” (MSG).
Friend To Friend
“I’m done with it! This battle just isn’t worth fighting! I’m tired. It’s hopeless.” As I listened to my girlfriend verbally bleed from her wounded heart, I silently lifted up a prayer and asked God for wisdom. Her pain was real. Her troubles were not imaginary. She was desperate. She wanted a way out of the maze of disappointment and betrayal she had gotten lost in. Out of the strong undertow of angst that had swept away her hope. Out of the darkness that had covered her life and taken her captive.
No easy answers flooded my mind. I had no slick, three-point “sermonette” to offer her. I’m not a therapist. I don’t even play one on TV. I’m just a Christian girl who tries to be there for her friends. So, I didn’t feel wise or brilliant that day as I gently, but confidently said: “I think the only way to win this battle is to surrender.”
Not to the problem, but to the solution. Not to the conflict, but to the resolution. Both the solution and the resolution are found in the same nail scarred hands. In order to win in any earthly struggle or relationship battle, we must put away the weapons of our wounding words, and set aside the arsenal of our angry actions. Then with knees to the earth, we must raise a white flag in surrender…to the King.
What do we need to surrender? Our pride and expectations…our gripes and lamentations…our calculated manipulations…our righteous indignation…everything.
In order to live victoriously and win the battles we face in life, we’ve just got to surrender our flesh to the Spirit.
“Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing”
(1 Peter 3: 8-9) MSG.
On the battlefield of war, when we raise the white flag of surrender, we lose. But on the battlefield of life, when we surrender, we win – if, and only if we surrender to God and not to our circumstances. We cannot control the variables beyond our own responses, but God will surely bless the woman that walks in obedience to Him.
In a public address titled “Absolute Surrender,” Andrew Murray said: “God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him. The condition for obtaining God's full blessing is absolute surrender to Him.”
Are you ready to wave that white flag? Blessings await you, friend.
Let’s Pray
Lord, This is such a tough one! My life is complicated. It is very hard for me to relinquish control, yet I know that You are calling me to do just that. Help me to surrender my life into Your hands. Please dissolve my resentment, anger, fears and frustrations. Help me to choose Your ways, so that I can obtain the full blessings of absolute surrender.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
Now It’s Your Turn
Take a moment to thoughtfully consider what barriers exist in your heart that keep you from being willing to surrender.
Pray that God would crush those barriers for His purposes.
Meditate on the lyric of this famous classic hymn as you lift your heart in surrendered worship:
I SURRENDER ALL
Words by: J.W. Van Deventer and Music by: W.S. Weeden
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 the 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
All to Jesus I surrender
Now I feel the sacred flame
O the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His Name!
More From The Girlfriends
Friend, God can work miracles in any and every situation! No matter what you face, you can choose how you respond to your circumstances. The more I dive into His Word, the more I understand that God’s power is made strong through our weakness. Surrender your weakness to Him today and find God’s strength.
God delights to transform lives…including your own. In her book, Broken Into Beautiful, Gwen Smith invites you to experience how the unconditional love of Jesus can change your life and to then stand back and watch the wonder of grace at work. He is willing to eternally forgive and forget and to transform your life into something beautiful.
Into FaceBook? Check out Gwen’s MUSIC PAGE on FaceBook - leave a message on her wall – listen to a few songs – share the page with your FB friends! (Listen to her song, “Take My Heart Captive” while you are there. It relates to today’s devotion!)
Gwen Smith is a worship artist, songwriter, speaker, and author. For more information, visit her website at: www.gwensmith.net.
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Originally published Tuesday, 04 August 2009.
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