The Final Surrender

July 14, 2014

Back in the mid 1990s, God spoke to me in a vision as He so often does. This time I saw myself standing a few feet from the edge of a cliff. A speed bump was about a foot from the edge. Had I not known it was there, I could have tripped over it and fallen headlong over the precipice. I heard Him say to my heart, “I have taken you as far as you can go until you surrender everything to Me.”

Whoa! Hadn’t I given up plenty to follow Him? Didn’t I try to surrender my own will? Apparently not. At least not enough.

The whole idea of complete surrender freaked me out. I had no idea how to go about it. And I knew that even if I did tell Him I gave everything to Him, soon I would take it back. And then how would He feel about me? Disappointed, sad, angry? That’s how I would feel in His place.

Would He reject me as a miserable failure?

I pondered this whole thing for several weeks, even speaking to a counselor about it. Finally, God showed me something new. The Bible tells the story of when Abram cut a covenant with God (Genesis 15:12). Actually, God cut the covenant while Abram slept. God reassured me that (just like with Abram), He knew my weaknesses. And (like He did with Abram) God would keep all parts of the covenant since He was the initiator and He had the power to carry it out. Paul says it this way: Jesus (God incarnate) is the author and finisher of our faith.

Since God started the covenant, and since He knew that I would fail in trying to fulfill that covenant in my own strength, He would uphold both it and me. He would be the author and finisher. I would go along for the ride, doing only what He told me to do and doing it through Him.

What a relief! I made up my mind to surrender and actually followed through. I knew I would fail eventually, but it didn’t matter anymore. God was in charge.

One more vision ensued. This time I was again at the cliff, but standing at the edge beyond the speed bump. I looked over and saw Jesus standing there. He held out his hand to help me down. The cliff was actually only about eighteen inches high. My fear had made it seem insurmountable and dangerous, but when God shows us the truth about a situation or about ourselves, our fears are overcome and we can do what He has called us to do.

We can bring heaven to earth. We can fight the good fight. Referring back to Dennis Jernigan’s song Surrender, “I’ll keep fighting the fight and running the race, all while fixing my eyes upon You and Your grace.” (©2001, Here to Him Music)

Ephesians 6:12 tells us that we don’t make war against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of darkness, against spiritual wickedness. We do it with appropriate and varied weapons.

We fight only the battles He tells us to take on. And we do it only under the authority of God, our Commander-in-Chief.

this is part 22 of a series on warfare

Part 1| This Means War!