(singing....) ALL to Jesus, I surrender; ALL to Him, I freely give. I will ever, love and trust Him, in His presence, daily live;
I surrender ALL! I surrender ALL! ....ALL to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender ALL!
I can't tell you how many times I have both heard and sung this song! But, it's only when you have reached a certain level of maturity in Christ, that you will begin to ask yourself, "have I really given Him my ALL?" ....Many of us would say yes without even thinking about it, because, after all, we do go to church every single Sunday, we pay our tithes most of the time, and even throw an extra dollar or two in the plate as our offering; we teach, we sing, we go to bible study, we usher, we play instruments, and we do our best to "tolerate" people (we'll discuss that later!)....Well, that pretty much sums it up! We have definitely given Him our all right?....RIGHT?
I really had to be honest with myself one day, and I came to the conclusion that I had only given God a portion of what I didn't mind parting with! I mean, there were some things that; well, they were just my own personal downfalls and it was understood (by me!) that God knew my heart, and knew my reasons for doing whatever I was doing that wasn't exactly HIS will for my life! (just a cute way of saying that I was "outside" of His will and backslidden!!).... I mean have I really given him my "mind" if my mind is always full of foolishness? Have I really given Him my Heart, if I will betray my God, in order to please the heart of another? Have I given Him my mouth, if my mouth utters praises on Sunday, but filth on Monday? Have I given him my feet, if I am constantly running to places that I have no business running to? Have I surrendered ALL? Have I surrendered my body, if I allow it to show intimate affections outside of God's plan of marriage? Have I surrendered my tongue, if I constantly use it to gossip and put others down? Ask yourself this question!! I did! .....and it changed my walk! I did! and it changed my talk! I did! and I realized that there were a lot of things that needed to be brought under the authority of Christ Jesus!
We may go to church, but is it really to praise and worship the God of our Strength? and we may pay our tithes, but is it with gladness of heart in obedience to Christ or did we hear the preacher say that, if you give God $50, he will give you $100?(kind of like a glorified slot machine on a "lucky" day?)...and how about how we "tolerate" one another? Do we really think we are giving Him our ALL by "tolerating" one another? We must "Forgive" one another....completely forgive! with a sincere heart in order to please the Lord! Ask yourself! Have I surrendered ALL? and after that! Ask the Lord; Lord, have I surrendered my ALL to you? I can assure you, that you will never sing that song, the same way again! We will never be perfect, as long as we are on this side of Heaven, but if we truly trust the God of our Salvation with our Souls! Can't we trust Him, with our ALL?
One of my favorite games as a child was Hide-N-Go-Seek! I remember playing this game every single day, whether there were 2 kids or 10! Unfortunately, though, due to my inability to find good hiding spots, I was usually the "seeker" because the others always knew where my hiding place was. Every now and then, I would become frustrated because I couldn't find anyone and I would yell out, "I don't want to play anymore!!" Suddenly, the other kids would one by one emerge from their hiding spots!
Wouldn't it be cool, if God would do that? When we get tired of life, not giving in to us, we can just yell, " I don't want to play anymore" and all of a sudden, all of our blessings would just start emerging in answer to our frustration and lack of patience! I hear you saying, "keep dreaming!"
Sometimes, I feel like my life is in "hide-n-seek mode, where I am always the "seeker" and never the "finder". I'm seeking blessings, seeking answers, seeking prayer, seeking peace, seeking joy, seeking understanding, and still seeking employment!! :) and the list goes on! Have you ever asked yourself, "am I going to ever find all that I seek after?" Will this game called "life" end up defeating me? should I just throw up my hands and yell, "I don't want to play anymore?" .....What do you think? Do you ever feel like your life is one big game and you're not sure if you're winning? Feel a little "defeated" at times? Well, we are going to break free from the "life is just a game" mode and grab a hold of God's promises and assurances! God has assured us that, He "knows the thoughts that He has for us, thoughts to prosper us and not do us harm" .....God never promised us an easy life and we can pretty much count on life being hard and seemingly unbearable at times; always having to "seek" after that which is profitable to us. But, God has let us know that if we FIRST, "seek after His Kingdom, and His Righteousness, those things that we seek will begin to "emerge" or be "added unto us!" (Matt 6:33). Today, we are going to be confident in knowing that we are NOT defeated and that God is absolutely moving us towards our destiny! We must remember that we are not the only ones who spend a lot of time "seeking", because, the Word tells us that Satan also spends his days "roaming to and fro, seeking whom he can devour" and hoping that he finds us seeking everything, but God!! so that he might turn our destiny's into defeat!......Oh, but God! He hides us in the shadows of his mercy!! and he has surrounded our destiny's with his glory!! and as long as we keep our eyes on him....we win!!!! Choose ye this day, who you will seek after! Seeking after the World, will lead us to defeat, but let us continue to seek after the goodness of Jesus and watch our destiny's come out of hiding!!
In this life, we are bombarded with all kinds of problems. Some of them big, and some of them small...and there's one thing that I have figured out as I've traveled this road....Problems are here to stay and I had better learn how to co-exist or I will find myself stuck in a world of defeat. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to just go and hide, and just hope that my problems would just vanish while I was out! ....You know, put an "out for lunch" sign on the door of my life....I know you know the feeling! That feeling of, "If I could, I would just find myself a rock and crawl far beneath it, until my end comes!" .... Have you ever felt like this? When your mind wonders if life would be better, if God would just call you home {quietly}while you slept. When it's just too much and there seems to be no refuge!
I mean, I know that the Bible says to faint not, but sometimes fainting doesn't sound half bad, if it will rid me of all of these troubles! Ever felt that way? You don't have to tell me, but I know that if you could, you would faint right now, and pray that those problems would be gone when you came to! Well, maybe that's just me!
Seriously, there are times when fainting is NOT an option, and we must face whatever challenges may come our way. Some may come as a result of disobedience, while others may be ordered by God to take you to a place of trusting. Fainting is nothing more than "giving up"...throwing in the towel! washing our hands of a situation! But what happens when God refuses to allow you to opt out? Remember Jonah? When God gave him something to do, he decided to "opt out" and do something different. Well, opting out wasn't an option for him because God had something for him to do. And what about Elijah? Who ran up under a tree and literally asked God to take his life so that he wouldn't have to face adversity. God sent an Angel to tell him, "boy, get up from here, go wash your face, eat this food to strengthen yourself, and come on here! God was just letting him know that, there won't be no dying here today, I got plans for you. So I'm here to let you know, that your request to "opt out"...to "faint".....to "die and leave your troubles behind" ...has been denied! So get up, strengthen yourself, and let's get it!
Now, it would be unfair of me, if I allowed you to think that this is an easy place to be and that I have figured out how to keep troubles away, HOWEVER, what I can tell you is this! There is only one place that you can run for shelter and it is to the Rock that is higher than both you and I! If you need to climb up under something, climb up under that rock! Jesus is that rock, and he wants you to know that joy really does come at daybreak! Satan may abide in your mid- nights, but he has no dwelling place at your break of day! Hallelujah!
So go ahead and climb under a rock, but make sure that rock is Jesus! Psalms 61:2 says, "lead me to a rock, that is higher than I" meaning that HE can lead you to a place of refuge! a place of stability! You are holding on to Jesus with every ounce of strength that you have, but what I want to let you know is this! Even when YOUR strength fails you and the pain seems to overtake you! Dying in the midst of your storm is NOT an option for you! But YOU CAN run to the rock!...See, He knows about pain that refuses to let go! He knows what it's like to have your request to "opt out" be denied, and have to bear that cup anyway!! Oh, but at daybreak....if you just hold on! You will hear from the "joy giver!" The one who endured pain that would not "let go" until He had paid the ultimate price with his life!!! Don't believe me? Ask Him! Go ahead! Ask him about the joy that comes at daybreak!!! and then begin to thank him that He never "opted out" on you!! You are on your way to victory!! Lift your hands in praise to the "ROCK" of your salvation!!!!
