Victory in Surrenderby Dan Peek So much of the comfort available to believers comes from the Holy Spirit inspired words of those people of God who suffered trials and tribulations yet remained faithful to their Heavenly Father and shared the joy of their abiding trust in Him with us who also must travel the rough and uncertain road of life. Faith is like a muscle that can only grow through being subjected to stresses and strains. True joy is found in surrendering from the struggle in our flesh to do or not do the things that can only be done or not done by the power of God's Spirit as we rely completely on Him. "God helps those who help themselves" is a favorite verse of unbelievers and believers ignorant of God's word. It is found in Hezekiah 14: 3 between "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" and "Spare the rod, spoil the child.", two other favorite verses of that same group. In fact, God doesn't help those who help themselves; He helps the helpless. "My strength is made perfect in weakness." II Cor. 2:9 God almost exclusively chooses the least likely, most ill-equipped, weak, foolish people to accomplish His will. In so doing the truth of His might and power and glory are made crystal clear. Surrender is the one constant characteristic common to men and women of God whom He uses. A surrendered heart, a surrendered life, a surrendered mind, a surrendered will and a surrendered body made available to Him exclusively comprise a vessel which He can fill with His Spirit to accomplish His will. Hands lifted up in surrender are hands that offer praise to the Father God who we long to touch and with whom we long to have intimate fellowship. Hands folded quietly in prayer and knees bent in submission, heads bowed in an attitude of surrender are the most powerful weapons we have as believers. The enemy of God and His children trembles at the power of such submission. God's word, the sword of the Spirit, is guided with pinpoint accuracy and applied with the force of a thousand strong men when uttered by the trembling lips of a man or woman who are totally submitted to our Lord God. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." II Cor. 10:4 Beloved, if your heart is broken, the lines to Him are open. "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." Psalms 34:18. This is a position that draws us closer to our Heavenly Father. Don't believe for a minute that building yourself up is in line with God's best for you. That is the way of the world. The world overflows with self-help programs, designed to make humans better-looking, stronger, healthier, longer-lived and happier. If one of them worked, all the others would be out of business. None of them work. The Bible is God's owners manual and how-to book given us to guide us as we pass through this veil. Study the men and women of God, how they relied not on their own devices, but threw themselves upon the everlasting arms of God, trusted in His eternal mercy. In the end the most powerful prayer of all time was this prayer of total surrender, "Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done," Luke 22:42 Time after time, those people used by God in a mighty way just didn't fit the bill that we as humans would have written up. For instance, Hollywood's portrayal of Samson is usually a Mr. Universe, beef-cake strongman who could crush grapes with his eyelids. It is more likely he had a physique like Woody Allen. Otherwise the Philistines would not have been obsessed with learning the secret to his strength; it would have been obvious. Muscles, huge muscles and plenty of them. Instead, the unprepossessing figure of Samson bewildered God's enemies and ultimately, though a slave to his own passions, wrought massive destruction on Israel's enemies while blind and in chains of bondage. Moses was called the meekest man on the face of the earth, possibly with a severe stutter and yet he faced Pharaoh, a ruler with god-like status and demanded that the Israelites be allowed to decamp. Gideon came from a family that would have been considered "the wrong sort" to have a son doing the Lord's work. His name is today synonomous with men willing to be used of God. David was so young and unimpressive his own earthly father never even considered he was the man that Samuel had come to find and make King of Israel. Joseph was hated and despised by his brothers and sold as a slave. Daniel was a teenaged slave who God used so mightily that though the nation he came to in captivity changed hands several times, he himself was promoted continously and gained tremendous favor with each successive ruling empire. Esther was used of God to not only save the Jewish race from extinction but to do severe damage to their enemies. Basically a slave girl, a concubine with no rights, when empowered by God at just the right moment she took a step of faith and changed history. Paul was such a terror to the early church that it took years for the fear he had instilled to abate to the point where he could be presented to the congregation at Jerusalem. A man who had forcefully participated in the persecution of the church was ultimately used by God to pen a great portion of the New Testament. In the final analysis, the secret to their success was their surrender to God. Sometimes, as with Samson, the surrender comes only with a harsh sentence. In any event, God can only really use us when we are yielded to Him; Victory in Surrender. THE END |
