I Surrender

"The more time we give to Him, becoming sensitive to Him, the more amazing things we will hear."

I LAID DOWN my camera. I laid down my fiction pen. I laid down my mental strategy. All I know, all I am, all that I’ve been taught, have learned, or assumed, I have placed under His feet and cannot and will not go back. This doesn’t mean He won’t use them, but they are not at my instigation anymore.

I hear the defeat of the devil taught from an ongoing standpoint, and my mind always turns to James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” We focus on the “resist” part and images of him fleeing and skip over the “submit.” But that part is first. And frankly, God gave me no choice in the matter. I wanted to retreat and go back to how I do things but discovered He is inflexible on this.

Surrender I am actually pretty good at, as I hate arguing. I will hush and let you talk and will adapt myself to your wishes to avoid one. It honestly doesn’t bother me 99.9% of the time. But that .1% is what God asked for, and I had to let go.

To write in the Spirit is one example. I have a method of writing, how words flow in my head, but He’s asked for that, too. Often, I don’t understand where He’s going with the topic He’s chosen. The easy part of my surrender doesn’t care what the topic is. The hard part is having no ability to think ahead. He has flowed with me, writing the way I’m used to, and still does often, but at other times, it is all Him and none of me. But “me” wants to speak up.

I mention this part of my life so you can see these posts are not mine at all. Anytime He leaves it to me to do, nowadays, I have nothing. It goes to speaking, and in an interesting way – to listening. I don’t hear like I used to. By this, I mean I hear what He needs me to hear. We all have hearing processes. We listen to what’s being said, and some hear the positive and some hear the negative. For instance, in discussions with my mother, what she gets from a sermon is usually nothing I heard at all. This is neither right nor wrong except when it comes to not hearing the Spirit speak. Many, many in the body of Christ don’t hear Him and think they are. We hear compromise between His Voice and Truth and what’s in our heads.

I have said this before, but a man can preach a sermon and it be scripturally correct but not what God wanted to say. Or he can say what God wants to say but speak for too long or for not long enough. We can only follow the Spirit implicitly by spending time with Him and including Him in everything we do. The more time we give to Him, becoming sensitive to Him, the more amazing things we will hear. And we will move from 99.9% surrender to 100%. Or whatever fraction you are at. We are all at different levels of spiritual maturity.

Here’s the thing, though. There is no condemnation from Him over it. If I’m less than someone or greater than someone else, He takes us from where we are to a higher place. BECAUSE OF our dedication to it. But ALSO, when we aren’t willing to go forward, yet it is REQUIRED. Don’t misunderstand me. I can refuse and deliberately sit down and give up. He will let go of the issue if I’m determined enough. But I will know what I have done. It takes a great deal of selfishness to get into such a position. Judas is our example of rebellion and betrayal. What the Spirit will do is steer us far away from that. He will continue to tug and turn and pull us into His Presence.

There is much GOODNESS there. So much peace and confidence and tiny moments of learning, balanced with His heart of love and forgiveness, and then, when we’re ready, a leap forward into full surrender. That place where HE IS ALL, in far more than just our words but also our mood and our reactions, even when they aren’t as upbeat as they ought to be. I have discovered He will work it all out. He is the power that cleanses the mind, and it is our mind we struggle with the most.

So this I surrender. “All of Him and none of me,” is my heart’s desire, though it is harder to become than the oft-quoted saying tells us at first glance. The freedom it brings is worth it, and the reward of knowing Him in a way we never expected.

“Jesus, with his human mind filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was led by the Spirit into the desert.” (Luke 4:1, Remedy)

“(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds)” (2 Corinthians 10:4)

“On the contrary, our weapons are from God and have divine power to free the mind, heal the heart, and demolish Satan’s stronghold of fear, lies, and selfishness.” (2 Corinthians 10:4, Remedy)

Image by BICH LE from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com