Surrender All
When the Chaldeans conquered Jerusalem, King Nebuchadnezzar led the best of the population of Judea to Babylon. (II Kings 25:21) When I was meditating over this scenario, a thought came to me. You cannot be led if you don’t first surrender. When someone commits a crime and is apprehended by the police, he raises his hands, as an act of surrender and then is led off to jail. Surrender is relinquishing your will. It is giving up your rights and autonomy. Years ago, Judson W. Van DeVenter wrote a hymn that has become a favorite in many churches. It is entitled “I Surrender All”. The refrain goes like this: “I surrender all, I surrender all; all to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all”.
Surrendering yourself to God’s will is essential to being led by the Spirit. It is like a young child who holds on to her father’s hand. As long as she is trusting her father to lead, there is no resistance and she easily follows. But when she pulls her hand free from her father’s hand and runs off in another direction, she is no longer being led. She resists her father and rebels against his care for her. Paul wrote this to the Roman church: “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God,” (8:14). Surrender is necessary for there to be sonship. The first verse of this song says: “All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.”
I wonder, if in presenting the Gospel, we have not talked enough about surrender. Have we talked more about belief than about repentance, or faith than surrender? Belief alone is mental assent. It is agreeing with everything the Bible says about Jesus. This is an essential first step, but it is not all there is to experiencing a transformed life. Jesus’ first sermon started this way: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”, (Matthew 4:17) To demand repentance is like saying: “raise your hands!”; “surrender your rebellious ways”; “give up!”. By repenting we are set free from slavery to sin and then can be led out of bondage and into the Kingdom of God.
A few months after I had received Jesus into my life, I had been struggling to make a full-out commitment to Him. I wanted the best of both worlds. I wanted my old friends and the parties, but I also wanted Jesus. I was frustrated living in this “no-man’s-land”. One day I received a vision. I was standing at the edge of a cliff and looking down into this canyon. It was so deep, I couldn’t see the bottom. I heard the Lord telling me to jump. I knew He was not telling me to commit suicide, but rather to trust Him with my present life and my future. It was a struggle, but I knew I had to surrender. As I jumped, peace flooded my soul. I knew the Lord would lead me into the best life one could ever dream of having.
Surrender is essential for conversion. Conversion can only take place when God is in control of our lives 100%. Conversion is transformation. I had believed, but I was not converted. But the night I surrendered all, my life was radically transformed. The Holy Spirit filled me with His power. My friends saw the change and several accepted Jesus into their lives as well. Jesus said that unless we renounce, (surrender), all, we cannot be His disciples. (Luke14:33) The last verse of this song goes like this: “All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee; Fill me with Thy love and power, let Thy blessing fall on me.” Don’t stand on the edge of the cliff any longer. Surrender all.
Scriptures to meditate on:
Psalms 106:9-10; Isaiah 55:12; Ezekiel 39:27-29; Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18