Today's "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers is another very good message!
After Surrender – What?
I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. — John 17:4
Surrender
is not the surrender of the external life, but of the will; when that is done,
all is done. There are very few crises in life; the great crisis is the
surrender of the will. God never crushes a man’s will into surrender, He never
beseeches him, He waits until the man yields up his will to Him. That battle never
needs to be re-fought.
Surrender for Deliverance. “Come unto Me,…and
I will give you rest.” It is after we have begun to experience what salvation
means that we surrender our wills to Jesus for rest. Whatever is perplexing
heart or mind is a call to the will — “Come unto Me.” It is a voluntary coming.
Surrender for Devotion. “If any man will
come after Me, let him deny himself.” The surrender here is of my self to
Jesus, my self with His rest at the heart of it. “If you would be My disciple,
give up your right to yourself to Me.” Then the remainder of the life is
nothing but the manifestation of this surrender. When once the surrender has
taken place we never need “suppose” anything. We do not need to care what our
circumstances are, Jesus is amply sufficient.
Surrender for Death (John 21:18-19). “…another
shall gird thee.” Have you learned what it means to be bound for death? Beware
of a surrender which you make to God in an ecstasy; you are apt to take it back
again. It is a question of being united with Jesus in His death until nothing
ever appeals to you that did not appeal to Him.
After
surrender — what? The whole of the life after surrender is an aspiration for
unbroken communion with God.
I love that the definition of true humility is 'accepting something you don't deserve'. On our own, we do NOT deserve anything good, but JESUS has paid the ultimate prices so that we can receive all that His Word promises! Who couldn't CHOOSE to 'surrender' to a God like this? AS you meditate on THAT thought, here is Hillsong with "I Surrender".
Shalom in Him!
