Ours is a constant struggle to suppress our desire for sovereignty. We want to determine what’s best for our lives. But God calls us to submit to His Word and surrender our lives to His rule, and this is what it means to be a Christian. Today’s excerpt from The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart is found on pages 169 and 170:
“Surrendering to God and His Word is a conscious, specific, and repeated act, not just a general frame of mind. It’s something we must be ready to do every time we’re meeting with the Lord in His Word. First, of course, we need to surrender the various components of our soul to the teaching of God’s Word. We must affirm and confess with our mind the truth that God has shown us. We must give our heart to delight in that truth, so that we love it and long for it to be our truth. And we must resolve in our conscience or will to carry out whatever is required of us.
“Such surrender is accomplished first in prayer, as we respond to God and what He has spoken clearly to us, committing our very soul to Him for obedience to His Word. Unless we set our soul on obedience, inclining not only our heart but our mind and conscience as well, to perform the Word of God, nothing of transforming significance is going to occur.
“Next, we need to surrender our time to the Lord. Whatever He is requiring of us is going to work itself out in the time of our lives. Today. Right away, maybe even as soon as you have finished your time with the Lord. Look ahead to the day and consider where, in the time before you, you will carry out whatever the Lord has shown you in the light of His Word. Commit that time, that anticipated situation, to the Lord. Think about how you’ll fulfill the requirements of His Word, and then plead with the Lord to make you willing and able to do what He is showing you.
“Finally, as you head out into your day, surrender your attention to the Lord, so that you go into all your activities in communion with the Lord, praying without ceasing, walking circumspectly, and listening for the prompting of His Spirit. Thus you will be ready to act in faith and obedience on the Word He has taught you for today.”
For reflection or discussion
1. Why must surrendering our lives to the Lord be a conscious and continuous effort?
2. What benefits should we hope to derive from surrendering to the Lord?
It will do us no good to be good students of the Word if we’re not living it out in our lives. That requires submission to the Word and surrendering to the will of God. Share today’s podcast with a friend, then get together to talk about surrendering to the Lord. Your copy of The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart is waiting for you at The Ailbe Bookstore, either in book form or a free PDF download.
T. M. Moore
