CHAPTER 4 S.W.A.P.— SURRENDER TO HIS WILL AND WORD
As we start the Spirit Walk, we must understand what God
says about how to be filled the Spirit. It is easy to let our own perceptions
sway the path forward. Too often, stories and anecdotes build our theology of
the Spirit rather than the clear teaching of the Bible. Many practical
frameworks detailing “how to walk in the Spirit” are built only on the stories
of the Bible and not the clear teachings of the Bible; they are built upon
experiences and testimonies rather than biblical principles.
S.W.A.P. attempts
to start with the clear teachings of the Bible and then to allow the examples
and stories from the Bible to illustrate what those mean. S.W.A.P. is a
framework, or skeletal structure, to support the teaching of the Bible. Just
like your skeleton is the foundation for building muscles, enclosing vital
organs and supporting the part of you we see on the outside, S.W.A.P. is meant
to provide the foundation and support for your Spirit Walk. It simply acts as
the biblical skeletal structure upon which you build your relationship with the
Holy Spirit. The part of you we see on the outside—the fruit of the Spirit in
your life, the gifts of the Spirit in your life, the fruit of your ministry—are
all built upon these foundational principles.
Surrender to His will and His every word
Wait on God in prayer
Avoid sin and let God root out
all unrighteousness
Pursue the promptings of the
Spirit
This chapter and
the ones that follow will explain this biblical framework in depth. Let’s start
with the first: SURRENDER.
Building a Proper Framework
A biblical
framework for any area of life or theology is built upon the commands of
Scripture first, general principles second, and illustrations of the lives of
people third.
For example, our
relationships with people are not always simple. And sometimes, we will cross
paths with people who disappoint us, betray us or even harm us. But the
biblical framework for loving our enemies is right in front of our eyes, and
it’s built this way:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
— (MATT. 5:43–48)
In trying to
understand how to respond to enemies, a
framework should start with commands. The clear commands from Jesus are in (Matthew.5:44), “Love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you.” In (Luke.6:27–28),
He adds, “Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you.” The
framework starts with these key takeaways: love, pray for, do good to, and
bless your enemies.
Second, we look for principles to further expand our
understanding and framework. Here is one example:
Beloved, never avenge
yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is
mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry,
feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you
will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome
evil with good. —(Rom.12:19–21)
Now add to our
framework the principle of the sovereignty of a good God. It is God’s job to
avenge, not ours. He is our Protector. We must trust Him. That is why we bless
rather than take revenge. In the very act of doing good to our enemies, we heap
burning coals on their heads. It shames their actions and allows room for God
to demonstrate His power in us. In loving our enemies, we then overcome evil
with good. Now we have a clear principle: God is the avenger and will take care
of us; loving enemies demonstrates God’s power in us; victory comes through
doing good, not evil, when we are mistreated.
Finally, we look for
examples in the Bible to show us how to do this. Here are two:
1. Jesus, on
trial, refused to curse back when cursed by the guards. On the cross, He asked
His Father to forgive His persecutors rather than strike them down. The
declaration of the centurion was, “Surely this was the Son of God!”
2. Stephen, the
first martyr, followed the example of Jesus and asked God not to hold his
persecutors’ sins against them. A young man named Saul saw this demonstration
of God’s power. It would later impact his life.
This is how
biblical frameworks are built.
Four Commands in the S.W.A.P. Framework
Abide in me, and I in you. … If you abide in
me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done
for you.… As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep
my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s
commandments and abide in his love. — (JOHN. 15:4, 7, 9–10), EMPHASIS ADDED.
And do not get drunk
with wine, for that is debauchery, but be
filled with the Spirit. — (EPH.5:18), EMPHASIS ADDED.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and
admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. — (COL.3:16), EMPHASIS ADDED.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not
gratify the desires of the flesh. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. — (GAL.5:16, 25), EMPHASIS ADDED.
Among the clear
commands and descriptions about walking in the Spirit, it is helpful to
highlight the four above, which we have already referred to:
1. Be rooted completely in the vine so that the sap of His Word flows through you.
2. Let the wineskin of your mind be filled and influenced only by the
Spirit.
3. Let Jesus and
His word have unhindered access to every
room of your life.
4. Keep in step with the heavenly Guide.
These four
commands describe the same process. Each shouts one word, which describes the
first activity in our framework: CONTROL! The essential question is whether you
are letting God control and fill you in each moment. To be filled is to be
controlled. If you are filled with alcohol, you are controlled by its
influence. If you drive your car that way, you will get arrested. That is how
powerful the influence of a substance can be. Are you so filled with the Spirit
that you could be recognized as “under His influence”?
The way God fills
us is through the third person of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit. God the Father
is on His throne in heaven. Jesus, the Son, intercedes for us at His right
hand. But both become present with us through the person of the Spirit. This is
His role.
The images
associated with each command above contribute their own nuances to the process
of being filled with the Spirit.
1. A branch only
has life as it stays connected to the vine. The vine controls it.
2. A wineskin’s
function is to let the wine (and no other substance) fill it to the brim.
3. The home of a
heart is only owned by the landlord if he has the key to every room.
4. Your path
through the wilderness only works if the guide has complete authority on where
and how you will trek.
It all comes back
to control. Being controlled by the Spirit leads to the first posture of the
S.W.A.P. framework: Surrender.
Surrender, Not Commitment
The essence of
control is surrender. And surrender is not the same as commitment.
The late pastor
Dr. Adrian Rogers told of a conversation with a Romanian pastor, Josef Tson,
who suffered during the Communist reign in his country. Dr. Rogers asked Josef
of his impression of American Christianity. With some reluctance, Josef shared
his impressions:
“The key word in American Christianity is
commitment…. The word commitment did
not come into great usage in the English language until about the 1960s. In
Romania we do not even have a word to translate the English word commitment. If you were to use
commitment in your message tonight, I would not have a proper word to translate
it with.” Josef continued, “When a new word comes into usage, it generally
pushes an old word out. I began to study and found the old word that commitment replaced. Adrian, the old
word that is no longer in vogue in America is the word surrender.”
“Josef,” I asked, “what is the difference between
commitment and surrender?”
He said, “When you make a commitment, you are
still in control, no matter how noble the thing you commit to. One can commit
to pray, to study the Bible, to give money, or to commit to automobile
payments, or to lose weight. Whatever he chooses to do, he commits to it. But surrender
is different. If someone holds a gun and asks you to lift your hands in the air
as a token of surrender, you don’t tell that person what you are committed to.
You simply surrender and do as you are told.”
He said, “Americans love commitment because they
are still in control. But the key word is surrender.
We are to be slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ.”1
Commitment can be
self-centered and cause-centered. Commitment is fundamentally about “me.” How
strongly am I devoted to someone or something? Surrender is all about the other person. I
relinquish my rights and give up control to someone or something else.
Our churches are
filled with nominally committed churchgoers who have “prayed the prayer” and
show up at services occasionally. Scattered among them are a few committed
Christians who show up regularly, are earnest in their faith, and do most of
the work.
But how many
surrendered disciples do we have—disciples completely sold out to Jesus and His
agenda for their lives?
Commitment is not a bad thing, except when it gets in the way of surrender.
“Committed to Me or to a Task?”
When my wife and
I were church planters in Los Angeles in the early days of our marriage, the
Lord clearly told us to move to the inner city to start a church. We landed in
a gang-infested, crime-ridden neighborhood. The first evening, my car
windshield was shattered. The first week, a person was gunned down in the
apartment building next door in a drive-by shooting. It took a lot of work to
keep us in the place of surrender.
Part of that
surrender was a twenty-year commitment to start and shepherd that church. After
eight years, God began stirring my heart that it was time for us to move from
church planting in the States to multiplying churches in unreached nations.
For months, in my
daily quiet times, my soul was restless. Was this the voice of God or a
distraction?
For a long time, I blocked out this voice. It couldn’t be God, could it? We had a
twenty-year agreement and, with gritted teeth, I was committed to the task.
One day, God’s
voice broke through my thoughts, piercing my soul. “Steve, are you committed to
Me or to a task?”
In that moment, I realized that I was no longer surrendered—only committed. I
was living in a past word of God, not the latest word of God.
God acted in a
similar way with Abraham, the man of faith (Heb.11:17–19). He told Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. As hard as it
was, Abraham listened (Gen.22:2) and
obeyed. Undoubtedly, this was a test of Abraham’s faith, surrender, and
commitment. As Abraham climbed the mountain with Isaac and the stack of wood on
his son’s back, he kept listening to the voice of God. As he laid his son on
the altar and bound him, he kept listening. He stayed committed to each fresh
word because of the surrender of his heart. As he raised his knife to slay his
only son, he kept listening (Gen.22:11).
God cried out and
His servant obeyed. The knife dropped from his hand and he unbound his son.
Surrender.
How tragic if
Abraham had acted on the first word of God only but stopped listening!
Surrender.
And God changed
the sacrifice from Abraham’s son to a ram (Gen.22:13). How like God! How good He is!
Commitment is a
good thing when it marches us from the point of surrender, with gritted teeth
and hearts full of faith, toward God’s plan. For it to be surrendered
commitment, however, our ears must continually listen for His voice to guide,
turn, and direct us along the journey.
How easy for us
to live committed to a word God spoke years earlier. It is a noble thing to
stay committed to that….until God gives a fresh word.
Who among you fears the
LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no
light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. Behold, all you who
kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of
your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my
hand: you shall lie down in torment. — (ISA.50:10–11)
God warns us to
keep walking forward in times of darkness. We must be careful not to kindle our
own fires and come up with human thoughts that allow us to escape what God has
clearly spoken. Commitment to the words God speaks is a stabilizing force.
On the other
hand, when God does speak afresh, we must be ready to say “yes” just as quickly
as Abraham did. Otherwise, our lives dissolve into agendas and plans shaped by
what we think God wants us to do, which we later ask God to bless. That is not
surrender.
The Blank Paper of Surrender
Surrender is like
this: In your morning quiet time, God prompts you to take out a blank sheet of
paper. With anticipation, you pull it out and grasp your pen. You are ready to
write, for God is speaking. Next, He says, “My child, this is the contract for
the day. Sign the contract at the bottom of the page.” You look at the blank
sheet. Nervously you respond, “Okay, Father, I will sign it. But what are the
terms of the contract?
The page is blank. Fill it out so I can sign it.” Your Father pauses, and then
His gentle voice says, “My child, I will not tell you ahead of time. Just sign
it, and then I will fill in the details.”
Total surrender
does not include negotiations. If you sign that blank paper, you are
surrendering to God. But if you wait for God to write the terms of the
contract, adjust it with your negotiations, and then sign it conditionally, the
focus is still on yourself. By making even subtle changes, you are moving
closer to commitment and further from surrender.
Only commanders
surrendering on the battlefield sign blank sheets of paper. The terms are
unconditional. Their surrender is total.
God wants you to
sign the blank paper of surrender daily. You cannot be filled with the Spirit
until you are emptied of yourself—your will, primarily. To fill a wineskin or a
bottle with wine, you must empty the current contents. You must pour everything
onto the ground and let the container be filled afresh.
Are you willing
to let God empty you of your own control?
The trailhead of
walking in the Spirit is marked with a sign: “Surrender.” It is the hardest
place to start. But it is the only place to start.
Can You Trust God?
Why is it so hard? Because of the
nature of surrender. We are giving up our will for God’s will. We are reluctant
to surrender to God’s will because, at the core of our being, we do not trust
that God is good.
Perhaps we
believe that He is good in the sense of good (righteous) versus evil. But do we
trust that He is good in terms of being a loving, benevolent Father to us?
For eleven years
as a Christian I struggled with the goodness of God. For eleven years, I did
not know the joy of the fullness of the Spirit. I was still in control. I had
not completely surrendered. The underlying reason? I believed I knew what was best for
my life. I had plans for my happiness and fulfillment. I mistrusted God. I
sensed that if I said “yes” to God, He would call me to do things that brought
misery to my life.
After a period of
fasting, praying, and poring over my Bible, I came to the realization that this
Father, this loving Creator, knew me. He had fashioned every cell in my body.
For you formed my inward
parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very
well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately
woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your
book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as
yet there was none of them. — (PS.139:13–16)
If He created me
and were a benevolent Father, couldn’t He design the days and plans for my life
that would fill me with pleasure while bringing the greatest glory to Himself? When I settled
God’s goodness in my heart, knowing that His plans would bring the greatest
fulfillment, I ran to His arms. I surrendered myself completely to Him. For the
first time in my life I was conscious of being completely filled with the
Spirit. In my surrender, I was finally free and full of joy.
In your presence there
is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. — (PS.16:11)
God is good. It
is a loving goodness. He fashioned every cell in your body. Surrendering to Him
is not only for His glory, but is for your joy, pleasure, and fulfillment. Only
God, your Creator, knows how to blaze a path for your life that brings both Him
and you the greatest pleasure.
Prior to settling
in to the Spirit Walk, you must settle the theology of God’s goodness.
You can trust
your Father. He is good. Until you believe that, you will not surrender. Even
when you do believe, it is easy to forget God’s goodness as life goes on. At
key junctures in life, you pull back from surrender because you again assume
you know best. You must continually remember that God always knows best. And
His will, no matter how painful, will bring the greatest fulfillment and fruit
in the end.
He [Jesus] said to them,
“I have food to eat that you do not know about.… My food is to do the will of
him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” — (JOHN.4:32, 34)
Surrender to
God’s will and to His work is true, nourishing food.
Surrender to His Will
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery,
but be filled with the Spirit. — (EPH.5:18)
Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,
singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts
to God. — (COL.3:16)
Surrender
demonstrates itself in two areas—the will of God and the words of God. The
Ephesians passage above describes absolute surrender to the will of the Spirit
wherever He takes us. Like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, we pray:
“Nevertheless, not my
will, but yours, be done.” — (LUKE. 22:42)
The Colossians
passage above describes not only being committed to the will of God, but
letting each daily—even hourly—word that Christ speaks to us reign. We are
surrendered to each word that we encounter.
The fullness of
the Spirit starts at this trailhead: “Surrender to His will.”
The filling of
the wineskin begins with this act: emptying yourself of your control.
The occupying of
the house commences with this greeting: “Lord, here are all of the keys.”
Abiding in Christ
is initiated with your signature on a blank sheet of paper.
Unconditional
surrender is a joyful enterprise when you trust that God has your welfare at
heart.
The Great Commission Promise
One reason the
church lacks the visible presence of God and why revival eludes us is our
refusal to surrender to the absolute will of God. Our church agenda and
prosperity too often trump surrender to the King and His reign in this earth.
We fail to get church right because we fail to get the kingdom right first. At
the center of the kingdom of God is the King. Yet, too often, our churches have
at their center a half-hearted surrender to the King. What is best for our
church nearly always overrides what is best for the King’s reign.
For example, we
may think our church is mission minded. But too often giving financially to
support the Great Commission pales in comparison to dedicating funds to church
socials, building and renovation projects, equipment for the Sunday morning
main event, and so on.
Surrendering our
church agenda to the King might look more like this: The church I
attend—WoodsEdge Community Church, quite a large church—dedicates at least
fifty percent of its offerings to ministries and missions outside the walls.
Even in contemplating doing some building in the future, they are committed to
maintaining this ratio—spending more on missions than their facility and
salaries.
Is your church
surrendered to the kingship of God or is it more guided by what will best grow
and prosper your church?
One barometer of
this is surrender to the greatest mission Jesus gave His church.
And Jesus came and said
to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that
I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” — (MATT.28:18–20)
Most of us know
the Great Commission. We quote it from memory, especially the promise, “I am
with you always, to the end of the age.” But do you realize that the promise of
Jesus’s presence is conditional? This is not referring to the indwelling presence of the
Holy Spirit that never leaves us.
The presence
Jesus is describing in the Great Commission is His special presence for the
mission. Jesus is sending his disciples upon the core mission on His heart—to
take the message of the good news to every people group and place on Earth. He
knows it will be difficult, and He promises to accompany His disciples in
power. When churches surrender to that mission above their own agendas, they
will begin to encounter the presence of Jesus like they never have before.
When the early
church was tempted to pull back from the mission when persecution arose, they
surrendered afresh to the mission. They did not ask for protection but for
God’s presence. God honored that request in power because it honored the
mission on His heart:
“And now, Lord, look
upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word
with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and
wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when
they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of
God with boldness. — (ACTS
4:29–31)
This was a group
of disciples who had already been filled with the Spirit in (Acts 2.) (on the Day of Pentecost). As they
surrendered again to the mission of God, the Spirit filled them anew.
We fail to
experience the powerful presence of the Spirit of Jesus because we fail to live
according to His will. His will is that His name and His kingdom would become
great in every unreached place on earth. When we prioritize what is best for
ourselves and for the welfare of our churches rather than the salvation of the
world, is it surprising that revival eludes us?
Make no mistake:
living for the mission of God is the most challenging and faith-stretching
venture you will ever embark on. Making God’s Name great among the nations is
costly. Even our Lord was troubled in His spirit as he contemplated the cost of
making the Father’s name great around the world.
“Now is my soul
troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to
this hour. Father, glorify your name.”
Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it
again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered.
Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come
for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler
of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw
all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going
to die. — (JOHN.12:27–33) EMPHASIS ADDED.
As Jesus
surrendered Himself to the mission—the glory of God in all places—God’s voice
thundered from heaven. The presence was palpable.
The cost of the
mission for Jesus was the cross. But only in death would He bear much fruit.
Jesus illustrated this in the verses leading up to this episode:
Truly, truly, I say to
you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone;
but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and
whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves
me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone
serves me, the Father will honor him. — (JOHN.12:24–26)
To truly bear
fruit in your life, like Jesus, you must become a grain of wheat that falls to
the ground and dies. When you lose your life, you gain it. When you serve
Christ, you must be where He is. Where is Christ? His special presence leads His
disciples to the edge of darkness to proclaim the Light of the World.
When you serve
Christ in this way, the Father welcomes that posture. He comes and makes His
home with you (John.14:21, 23). His
presence becomes palpable and visible.
This is why I
think God is blessing the great church I attend. Their heartbeat is the mission
of God—His kingdom coming to America and every unreached place on earth.
O, disciple of
Christ, accept the mission and the privilege of counting the cost. In accepting
the mission, you will receive the presence of God in power.
O, church,
embrace the mandate of His kingdom coming to every nation. Offer up the
sacrifices of your best seeds—people, funds, prayer, efforts—and you will be
rewarded with the fullness of the Spirit.
Revival only
awaits your surrender to the King and His mission.
This is His will.
Surrender to His Every Word
As you surrender
to the will of God, each day He will explain to you the implications of that
surrender. While (Ephesians 5:18) speaks
strongly about surrendering to His will, completely filled with the Spirit, (Colossians 3:16) makes it clear that this is a
day-by-day process. It is the way Jesus defined His response when tempted by
the devil not to surrender to the Father:
But he answered, “It is
written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” — (MATT.4:4), EMPHASIS ADDED.
Here, the picture
of marriage aids our understanding. It is one thing for a man to surrender his
will to his wife’s welfare. In a decorated chapel, flanked by faithful
groomsmen, looking at his wife in all her glory, the man steels himself and
says, “I do.”
But what happens
the next morning when the couple awakens and the bride says, “Honey, will you…?” Reality sinks in:
a harmonious marriage takes work. The husband was not expecting that request,
nor the one later in the day. With each “honey-will-you,” the spouse has an
opportunity to surrender to every word— every request. Surrendering to every
word clarifies what surrendering to her will is. This is where marriages break
apart—lack of surrender to each “honey-will-you.” Sustained surrender to the
Spirit is saying yes to every “honey-will-you” that comes your way.
At that 11-year
mark in my Christian life, I experienced the filling of the Spirit afresh by
surrendering to God’s will. But then, day by day, each Bible reading confronted
me with a fresh word to surrender to. Each was a challenge of my ability to
surrender; a “honey-will-you” as it were.
Have you ever had
that experience?
Perhaps at a pivotal juncture of your life, you said “yes” to Jesus. But then
one day as you were reading your Bible, you found a command that you did not
like—one not comfortable to obey.
To go back to the
original framework of how to treat your enemies, perhaps you discovered you
were supposed to love them. But pray for them? Really, God? Bless them? Really, God? Can’t I just tolerate them? Will you stay
surrendered?
Each new word you discover in the Bible is a challenge to stay surrendered to
the Master.
Walking in the
Spirit is not simply the result of a one-time experience in which you surrender
to the will of God. Such experiences can be dramatic and emotional.
However, such
experiences are just the trailheads. Staying on the path means listening to
every whisper of your guide. Walking in the Spirit is staying full of the
Spirit—continuing to listen to His whispers. To stay full of the Spirit, you
must keep saying “yes” to each new word of Jesus that he speaks to your life.
The Spirit Walk
is about becoming more and more surrendered, and thus more Christlike.
To grow into all
the fullness of God, you must keep saying “yes” to every word of Christ. You
will find these as you dig deep into the Bible and ponder how to lovingly obey
each one. Jesus will speak to you in these moments.
Saying yes to
each “honey-will-you” leads to lasting abiding in God’s presence.
Saying yes to
each “honey-will-you” fosters increasing life transformation.
Saying yes to
each “honey-will-you” guides you toward completeness in Christ.
Saying yes to
each “honey-will-you” results in lasting fruitfulness in you and around you.
A balanced Spirit
Walk incorporates both surrender to God’s will and to God’s words: (1)
transforming experiences of surrender such as in (Acts
2) (Pentecost) and (Acts 4:31)
(post-persecution) and (2) daily working out the implications of your salvation
through each honey-will-you in God’s Word:
Therefore, my beloved,
as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in
my absence, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and
to work for his good pleasure. — (PHIL.2:12–13), EMPHASIS ADDED.
The effects of
transforming, bondage-breaking experiences will not last without the daily work
of our surrender to each word.
The daily work of
surrender will only find its power through the breakthroughs of transforming
experiences of surrender.
Embrace both:
surrender to His will and His every word. Fear not either one, for your Creator
is good.
Welcome to the Becoming-Complete Process
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and
supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from
death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he
learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation
to all who obey him. — (HEB.5:7–9), EMPHASIS ADDED.
Jesus modeled for
us how to walk through this process of surrender. In the wilderness temptations
at the beginning of His ministry and in his prayer in the garden of Gethsemane
on the last night of His ministry, Jesus demonstrated complete surrender to the
Father’s will.
But do you
realize He had to consciously surrender to every word of the Father? Though Jesus was
sinless during His earthly ministry, He was not yet perfect in His humanity.
Perfection comes when we pass each test successfully and come through on the
other side having passed the test—complete in every way.
The word perfect (teleioo, τελειόω) in (Hebrews 5:9)
carries the idea of coming to fulfillment or becoming complete or mature. It
means that something has finally achieved its complete design, not just that it
is sin-free or error-free. It has passed every test perfectly.
Abraham had
faith, but his faith became completed, proven, and perfect by his works (James 2:22). In the same way, Jesus became
perfect, living up to His intended design, as He surrendered to every word the
Father spoke.
(Hebrews
5:8) says Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered.
His life was not easy, but as He said “yes” to each word of His Father, He
became complete—teleioo. He passed
every test and surrendered to every command: the mark of perfection.
In the same way,
we must not only surrender in the beginning of our lives, but we only become
mature and complete by saying “yes” to each word that God speaks to our hearts.
If Jesus had to learn obedience, how much more must we?
Starting this
journey means coming to the altar and saying “yes.” You must sign the blank
sheet of paper and surrender to the will of your Husband.
Staying on the
path means saying “yes” to every daily “honey-will-you” of your Lord Jesus.
In this process
of surrender, the harmony of the relationship thrives.
Questions to Ponder
1. How is
surrender different from commitment? Are you willing to sign the blank paper of
surrender?
2. Trusting in
the goodness and lovingkindness of God is foundational for surrendering to Him.
What needs to change in your perspective of God’s goodness and your willingness
to surrender to Him?
3. How well are
you surrendered to the will and mission of God? Have you ever unconditionally surrendered
yourself to Him—no matter what He says?
4. What
challenges do you face in surrendering to every fresh word of Christ—every
“honey-will-you”?
5. Take time now to pull out a fresh, blank paper. If it expresses your
heart, sign your name at the bottom and tell God, “Father, You love me
unconditionally. I trust You to guide my life. I surrender to Your control.
Write on here any directions for this week, this month, this year, this life. I
am Yours!”[1]
Adrian Rogers, The Incredible
Power of Kingdom Authority (Nashville:
B&H, 2002), 60–61.
1 Pentecost is fifty days after Passover. Jesus was
crucified on the Friday before Passover (Friday night and Saturday day). He
rose from the dead on Sunday and then appeared to His disciples over a period
of forty days (Acts 1:3). After this time He ascended into heaven and His
disciples waited in the upper room until Pentecost. Pentecost therefore came
around ten days after Jesus’s ascension.
1 Adrian
Rogers, The Incredible Power of Kingdom
Authority (Nashville: B&H, 2002), 60–61.
1 Pentecost is fifty days after Passover. Jesus was
crucified on the Friday before Passover (Friday night and Saturday day). He
rose from the dead on Sunday and then appeared to His disciples over a period
of forty days (Acts 1:3). After this time He ascended into heaven and His
disciples waited in the upper room until Pentecost. Pentecost therefore came
around ten days after Jesus’s ascension.
[1] Smith, Steve. 2020. Spirit Walk
(Special Edition): The Extraordinary Power of Acts for Ordinary People.
Pasadena, CA: William Carey Publishing.
