Surrender your heart to God,
turn to him in prayer,
and give up your sins—
even those you do in secret.
turn to him in prayer,
and give up your sins—
even those you do in secret.
Then you won’t be ashamed;
you will be confident
and fearless.
-job 11:13-15
How does surrender make us confident and fearless? It seems counter-intuitive. The reason we do not surrender is because we are desperately trying to maintain our confidence our control and our courage. Surrender is admission of defeat, succumbing to opposition. How then, is surrender a source of confidence and fearlessness?
There many forms of surrender, and they can produce very different results.
Defeated foes surrender to their victors. Addicts surrender their will and self control to their vices. Captives surrender their freedom to oppressors. None of these produce confidence and fearlessness.
What then, is the surrender that takes away our shame and gives us confidence and fearlessness? Surrender can be brought about by the strong hand of opposition or it can be induced through absolute trust in an unconditional love. Your enemy tries to force you to surrender your rights and your freedom through brute force and tyranny. God invites us to surrender by demonstrating His love for us by surrendering His son to us.
It is only through knowing that God has not held anything back from us (Romans 8:32), that He is for us and not against us (Romans 8:31) that we can willingly and joyfully surrender to God in a manner that produces confidence, fearlessness, and love.
God does not want us to live in surrender because he wants to take away our stability or our authority. On the contrary, God calls us to surrender to Him so that He can be our stability.
He will be the stability of your times,
A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge- Isaiah 33:6
For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.- Isaiah 26:4
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.-Psalm 62:2
The degree to which we are willing to surrender to God flows out of whether we understand how much He was willing to surrender for our sake. And the degree to which we understand that determines how much we are willing to ask of Him and how much we are able to receive His blessings.
For most people, it is hard to receive. Gifts, especially extravagant gifts, often produce a sense of guilt and obligation to pay back the favor. So when we are given something that we cannot repay we typically have no idea how to receive it.
A gift from a stranger confuses us and makes us question their motives and the conditions of the gift. A gift from an acquaintance makes us feel guilty and obligated to repay. But what about a gift from someone that is more than an acquaintance, someone that we know loves us and is not trying to manipulate us? It is much easier to receive from a parent than it is to receive from someone else. We receive essentially everything we have from our parents all through our youth, why is it that we dont typically feel the same feelings of guilt and obligation to repay? We dont ever question our parents' motives in giving us gifts or hesitate to receive things because we are wary of the strings attached.
We freely receive from our parents because we know that it is their delight and joy to give good gifts to us. We can see the sacrifices that they make for us--that they are surrendered to loving us and caring for us. Surrender on their end gives us confidence in their love for us, confidence to stand on their support without guilt or hesitation.
However, we can respond to this kind of love in a number of ways. If we misunderstand, or misinterpret love and a surrendered heart we will not love and surrender in return. This is demonstrated in the parable of the prodigal son, the selfless and unconditional love of the father produced resentment and obligation in one son and recklessness and selfish indulgence in the other (luke 15). Surrender extended to us allows us to receive gifts without guilt. but if we receive without surrendering ourselves we will fool ourselves into thinking we are entitled to the things we receive.
How does our surrender change the way we receive gifts? and Why is surrender so essential to walking in the fullness of our identity as SONS and not as slaves? When we are not willing to give everything to someone, we CANNOT fully receive from them without guilt or obligation. When we are not wiling to give everything to someone we will not freely go to them with requests and petitions.
There are few people in my life that I would joyfully and willingly give everything for, and I know would give everything for me. I have no problem receiving gifts from them, because behind every exchange is an understanding and connection that is much more than paying for a meal, a favor, or a gift. I can turn to them and ask them for something without being afraid that they will refuse or give to me begrudgingly. I can have confidence that it will bring them joy to give to me becuase I know that it would be my joy and delight to give to them. I am fully surrendered to them because I love them, I trust them, and they have demonstrated their love and trust towards me.
There is no greater demonstration of absolute surrender and selfless love than Jesus Christ crucified. God asks everything of us because He gave everything for us. It is His joy and delight to give to us, if we do not believe that we will not and cannot joyfully give to him. The godly path of obedience is not then obtained through ascetism or willful self control but by looking to calvary-where Jesus bore all for us and held nothing back from us. How can we respond to the cross except by repeating what He has already said to us: "Everything I have is yours" (Luke 15:31)
you will be confident
and fearless.
-job 11:13-15
How does surrender make us confident and fearless? It seems counter-intuitive. The reason we do not surrender is because we are desperately trying to maintain our confidence our control and our courage. Surrender is admission of defeat, succumbing to opposition. How then, is surrender a source of confidence and fearlessness?
There many forms of surrender, and they can produce very different results.
Defeated foes surrender to their victors. Addicts surrender their will and self control to their vices. Captives surrender their freedom to oppressors. None of these produce confidence and fearlessness.
What then, is the surrender that takes away our shame and gives us confidence and fearlessness? Surrender can be brought about by the strong hand of opposition or it can be induced through absolute trust in an unconditional love. Your enemy tries to force you to surrender your rights and your freedom through brute force and tyranny. God invites us to surrender by demonstrating His love for us by surrendering His son to us.
It is only through knowing that God has not held anything back from us (Romans 8:32), that He is for us and not against us (Romans 8:31) that we can willingly and joyfully surrender to God in a manner that produces confidence, fearlessness, and love.
God does not want us to live in surrender because he wants to take away our stability or our authority. On the contrary, God calls us to surrender to Him so that He can be our stability.
He will be the stability of your times,
A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge- Isaiah 33:6
For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.- Isaiah 26:4
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.-Psalm 62:2
The degree to which we are willing to surrender to God flows out of whether we understand how much He was willing to surrender for our sake. And the degree to which we understand that determines how much we are willing to ask of Him and how much we are able to receive His blessings.
For most people, it is hard to receive. Gifts, especially extravagant gifts, often produce a sense of guilt and obligation to pay back the favor. So when we are given something that we cannot repay we typically have no idea how to receive it.
A gift from a stranger confuses us and makes us question their motives and the conditions of the gift. A gift from an acquaintance makes us feel guilty and obligated to repay. But what about a gift from someone that is more than an acquaintance, someone that we know loves us and is not trying to manipulate us? It is much easier to receive from a parent than it is to receive from someone else. We receive essentially everything we have from our parents all through our youth, why is it that we dont typically feel the same feelings of guilt and obligation to repay? We dont ever question our parents' motives in giving us gifts or hesitate to receive things because we are wary of the strings attached.
We freely receive from our parents because we know that it is their delight and joy to give good gifts to us. We can see the sacrifices that they make for us--that they are surrendered to loving us and caring for us. Surrender on their end gives us confidence in their love for us, confidence to stand on their support without guilt or hesitation.
However, we can respond to this kind of love in a number of ways. If we misunderstand, or misinterpret love and a surrendered heart we will not love and surrender in return. This is demonstrated in the parable of the prodigal son, the selfless and unconditional love of the father produced resentment and obligation in one son and recklessness and selfish indulgence in the other (luke 15). Surrender extended to us allows us to receive gifts without guilt. but if we receive without surrendering ourselves we will fool ourselves into thinking we are entitled to the things we receive.
How does our surrender change the way we receive gifts? and Why is surrender so essential to walking in the fullness of our identity as SONS and not as slaves? When we are not willing to give everything to someone, we CANNOT fully receive from them without guilt or obligation. When we are not wiling to give everything to someone we will not freely go to them with requests and petitions.
There are few people in my life that I would joyfully and willingly give everything for, and I know would give everything for me. I have no problem receiving gifts from them, because behind every exchange is an understanding and connection that is much more than paying for a meal, a favor, or a gift. I can turn to them and ask them for something without being afraid that they will refuse or give to me begrudgingly. I can have confidence that it will bring them joy to give to me becuase I know that it would be my joy and delight to give to them. I am fully surrendered to them because I love them, I trust them, and they have demonstrated their love and trust towards me.
There is no greater demonstration of absolute surrender and selfless love than Jesus Christ crucified. God asks everything of us because He gave everything for us. It is His joy and delight to give to us, if we do not believe that we will not and cannot joyfully give to him. The godly path of obedience is not then obtained through ascetism or willful self control but by looking to calvary-where Jesus bore all for us and held nothing back from us. How can we respond to the cross except by repeating what He has already said to us: "Everything I have is yours" (Luke 15:31)
can i be one of them???
ReplyDelete- anonymous bffl