Surrendered
Are you surrendered to the Lord’s will?
When you pray “Lord, your will be done,” is it because you have surrendered all and you are no longer insisting on your own will being done?
So often we make plans that do not end up being God’s plan for us.
“A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” —Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)
When God’s plans are put into effect …
the un-surrendered person will react with bitterness and anger against God for ‘ruining’ plans.
the surrendered person will rest at peace knowing that God’s plans are better.
“The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.” —Proverbs 16:1 (ESV)
When your plans are thwarted, do you acknowledge that it is the Lord’s prerogative, and do you trust that in his eternal purpose for you he has something better for you?
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” —Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV)
We can surrender with wholehearted trust because we are not our own. We have been bought with the price of precious blood (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Christ’s full surrender on the cross as a final sacrifice for sin has secured his ownership of us.
“LORD, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.” —Jeremiah 10:23 (NIV)
The only right response to his self-sacrifice on the cross is to lay down our own lives as a living sacrifice of surrendered worship and service.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” —Romans 12:1
In the surrendered life, there is a daily battle of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice.
The flesh cries out, “What’s in it for me?” Yet the Spirit desires that we ask, “What’s in it for Christ?”
Moment by moment we have a choice:
1. Will we surrender to the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God?
OR
2. Will we carry out the desires of the body and the mind?
You can walk by the Spirit in the preceptive will of God (his revealed Word) and be enabled by the Spirit to surrender to the decretive will of God (his providential plan).
Is there any area in your life where you are not surrendered to the LORD’s sovereign will?
Check your heart.
Where are you not surrendered fully to the Lord’s will?
Surrendered is when you can say, “Here I am, send me.”
Surrendered.