Daily Surrender – the Choice is Yours!

 

 

… “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from Me.
Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine.”
Mat 26:39

 Jesus prayed this prayer of total submission to the Father in the garden of Gethsemane before His arrest and crucifixion: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).

Jesus did not want to drink from the cup that was placed before Him. He prayed that the crucifixion (the Cross) would pass from Him. Anticipating the suffering, humiliation, the nails, the crown of thorns, and the rejection, Jesus nevertheless ended His prayer with, “…not as I will, but as you will.”

You can follow along God’s path with the right intent in your heart. But it is important that you surrender your will to God every day, for your path may lead you to a place that you don’t want to go.

Last week I experienced a somewhat painful experience. The Lord had been dealing with me to break away from a certain thing, which was tremendously difficult for me to do. So, I kept wondering if I were really hearing from the Lord. I didn’t understand what He was asking of me.

Sometimes we can’t make sense of what the Lord is asking us to do, and we must do it anyway. I know that. I believe it. I have written about it. Yet, I continued to postpone taking action until the Lord acted on my behalf and changed the whole situation, making sure that this thing was broken away from me.

Oh my. The moment it happened, I could see what He was doing, and that I had been disobedient. As a consequence, I suffered. Had I obeyed when led, it would have been much less painful.

I was ashamed that I hadn’t listened. This was my choice: run to God, or run from Him. Realizing this, I ran to God, and by surrendering the whole situation to Him, I came out okay.

You may be in a situation right now that, in your heart, you know what God wants you to do. But your mind is fighting you. Make a choice to surrender to God and do whatever He says. Choose to do the Lord’s will every day. Listen to God’s voice though His Spirit and His Word, and then obey Him. God’s blessing will overtake you as you do as He leads. 

This is what I pray in the morning:
Lord, I give You all of me. I give You my heart.  I give You my mind, I give You my feet, I give You my hands, I give You my feet and my hands and I give You my mouth. I surrender my whole self to You!

 

Today’s Bible Reading:

Deut 23-26; Luke 11