A Call to Surrender

     What if. What if I left everything I knew and loved, all that was familiar, to follow a God who isn't real or powerful or good? What if I packed up my house, moved all my belongings into storage, got on a plane and traveled across the world following a call that wasn’t real or a God who does not exist? What if twenty five years ago the God I surrendered to was only a god of my imagination and all these years I’ve been creating my own sense of spirituality? What if nothing I live for is true; what if nothing I’ve been willing to die for is real? What if I can actually make and shape my own future by pursuing my needs and desires without regard for a sovereign God?
    Surrendering to Christ's Lordship involves allowing him to restructure our entire belief system upon the truth of his word, rather than the lies of the world and our own flesh. This entails coming face to face with the greatest fears lurking inside -- the what if's that bind us and hold us back from giving ourselves fully to God. Surrender isn't a minor step of trust but a giant leap of faith, not only when we first put our hope in him but each time he calls us to the impossible. We, like the apostle Paul, ought to be so invested in following Christ that if, in fact, God doesn't exist we're to be pitied above all people (1 Cor 15:19). Counting the cost means realizing that we "walk by faith and not by sight", and we trust in a God we cannot see.
     He calls out to us daily to release the things we deem valuable in order to pursue the plans he has for us. The cross he requires that we carry is indeed a cross. Otherwise, he may have told us to take up our hobby or our desires or our love or our dreams and follow him. Instead he gave one of the most shocking alter calls known to evangelicals. He stood at the front of the sanctuary of life and basically said, “Today is the day of salvation. If you want to live, you’re going to have to die. If you follow me, you'll daily have to take up this cross be willing to suffer the loss of dreams and desires of your flesh. You’ll have to be willing to go through intense persecution at times, to leave your family and friends for my sake and go where ever I ask you to go."

     Jesus’ alter call in no way resembled the “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” version that we’re all too familiar with. He knew nothing of a self-indulgent gospel whereby God's purpose is to serve our needs and add to our already swelling treasure store of possessions and goals. No, Jesus’ gospel is one that costs a man everything. No holes barred. Nothing held back. Wait, you say. This is too much; it can’t be true. No one would require of me to give up everything, to forsake even my deepest dreams? Jesus says yes, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple....So, likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple" Lk 14:26-27, 33.
     The watered down, luke-warm gospel of many American churches doesn't resemble the real gospel at all. Instead it's the call to "believe what you want to believe and live like you want to live."  It's taken root in my heart at times so that when suffering, persecution or sacrifice comes I often feel cheated and angry. As a result, my mind clings to these lies that God exists to make me happy and give me everything I want.

    I don't know about you, but I want to know and live by the truth, to follow the one who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, to lose my life daily so that I find it in him.  The cost is great, no doubt, but the reward of knowing him far surpasses anything we'll ever be called to surrender.

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." Lk 9:23-24

Who We Are In Christ

     As I wake up each day and remind myself who I am in Christ, God is giving me great joy and much needed grace to get through a difficult season of being separated by a vast ocean from our daughters. He’s encouraging me to find my life in him and who he says I am rather than in my circumstances. 

     The foundation of God's redeeming love guarantees that we won't drown in sorrows and reminds us that we’re loved with an everlasting love, even when we can't see it, sense it or feel it (Jer 31:3). We’re not alone. Christ is in us, with us, he’s gone before us and he’s endured every temptation so that he's able to sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb 4:15). We can go to him in our pain, ask him for help, and cry our eyes out if we need to. He knows what it feels like to be abandoned and lonely on this earth and he understands. He hears all our cries and sees our tears (2 Kgs 20:5).

     If we’re Christians, we are children of the King (2 Cor 6:18) – we’re valuable, cherished, deeply loved, significant, gifted, created with a purpose. We’re completely forgiven of our past, present and future sins; we’re declared righteous (Col 2:14). He’s given us a new heart (Eze 36:26) and a new purpose and has established plans for our life that no one can destroy (Jer 29:11). We can’t be removed from his presence by any situation or circumstance (Rom 8:38-39). Our future with him is secure. NO ONE can snatch us out of his hands (Jn 10:28). We’re forever loved, forever forgiven, forever saved. We can rejoice in these wonderful truths in the midst of our sorrows (2 Cor 6:10). We're in a fallen world that's bound to disappoint. But we belong to a faithful God who will never fail us or forsake us (Heb 13:5). And to that we can shout hallelujah!

Your Will Be Done: Not Just a Generic Prayer

    “Just pray that God’s will be done,” someone once advised me as I was struggling about how to voice my prayers to God over a pressing issue. Though I'd read through the Lord’s Prayer many times and memorized it as a child, the thought struck me afresh that day. It was a wonderful relief to put away all of my concerns, hang them under the banner of this new prayer and move on to something less stressful.

   But, as I traveled through the weeks ahead I sensed a build up of frustration over uncommunicated thoughts and ideas.  I went before the Lord, brought up this issue and without much thought just said, “And may your will be done,” like it was of no real concern to me. The problem was that internally I had my own ideas of how I hoped things would turn out.  I also had an equal set of fears over what might happen if God didn’t answer like I thought he should. Instead of dealing with these nagging concerns, I determined that God was calling me to be more spiritual about my struggles, quit talking about them and move on. That is when the Lord began to show me that I needed to continue communicating my heart with him, along with praying that his will be done.

    I began to wonder: Why does God want us to ask him for specific needs and desires? Since he already knows everything, he certainly doesn’t need us to inform him. And, if his will is going to prevail anyway what is the point of stretching my brain over prayers that may indeed run contrary to what he has determined. As I wrestled with these questions, God began to show me that he delights in his children talking with him, asking him questions and even missing the mark in their prayers if it means they are seeking his face in the process.

   God often waits until we ask him for specific needs before he answers. Remember the Canaanite woman who asked for healing for her demonized daughter? Jesus tested her rather doggedly to see if she would boldly persist in looking to him for help.  In fact, most of Jesus’ healings were in response to specific requests. Of course he didn’t need them to ask in order to heal them – he already knew their heart’s cry.  He allowed them to ask, even plead, so that in their desperation they would recognize him as the source of not only physical healing but of true salvation.

    The same is true for us. If our prayer only consists of the plea --your will be done -- we are not sharing the deepest dreams and longings of our hearts. Certainly it is good and right to desire God’s will be done. But, God is interested in the condition of our hearts. If deep inside we feel resentful, fearful or angry about how he might handle our situation and we try to hide that by reciting a generic prayer, he is certainly not pleased. He doesn’t need our sacrifices; he wants our hearts (2 Cor. 8:5). If the very Son of God felt the pull of his own heart from the path of suffering, though sanctioned by his own Father, how much more will we struggle. It is sin to pretend that we don’t have conflicting desires and to appear resolute before others to accept whatever God issues in life if we haven’t first wrestled in prayer and yielded our hearts to him.

   We do desire God’s will in our innermost being if we have his Holy Spirit indwelling us (Phil. 2:12). Scripture says that if we have the Spirit of God we are a new creation, and old things have passed away.  Paul reminds us in Colossians that we have died and our life is now hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). But our flesh, which has been crucified with him, still tries to rule our hearts. Unless we walk in the Spirit, we will yield to its desires (Gal. 5:16). Additionally, we are but dust. In our humanity we are prone to weakness and fear which often keeps us from fully trusting in God’s unseen promises for the future.

   Wrestling in prayer with God is not just normal, it’s essential to having a healthy relationship with him. I’m not talking about the kind of wrestling Jacob did, though at times I have done that too. No, I’m talking about the kind of praying where we put aside all pretensions and pour our hearts out like water before him, holding nothing back. It’s the gut-wrenching, emotion-gripping prayer that enables us to come to a place of release before God so that we can with a yielded, trusting heart cry, “Your will be done.”

    David prayed this way in the Psalms when he was worn down from being pursued by his enemies and needed God’s help desperately. Abraham pleaded with God on behalf of the people of Sodom Gomorrah and especially for his nephew Lot. Job poured out his heart to God when his life was torn apart and God seemed to have disappeared. Hannah went into the temple to plead for an open womb and was so overcome with emotion the priest mistook her for a drunken fool. Elijah held nothing back when he communicated with God his despair over Jezebel’s pursuit of him. Jonah didn’t try to gloss over the ugliness of his heart condition when fully admitting to God in prayer that he simply didn’t like the Ninevites and was angry that God intended to save them. Jehosaphat went unreservedly before God when told of the advancing armies coming to destroy them. He pleaded with God for deliverance, reminded him of their obedience to him in the past and of God’s promise to take care of them.

    We see each of these men and women (not super saints, just regular people like you and me) responding to the trials and crises of life with passionate, heart-rending prayer. They loved God and were called by him in service. And it was precisely because of this love that they were able to pour their hearts out to the Father.

    To pray the prayer “your will be done” is certainly the right prayer to offer up to God. It’s just not complete without the giving of the heart. As we share our hearts, we go to God’s Word asking for him to shine light on our situation.  His Spirit then penetrates our hearts enabling us to take our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, giving us grace and strength to walk by faith and to submit to his perfect will.

    The apostle Paul pleaded with the Lord three times for the thorn in his flesh to be removed. We don’t know over what period of time these petitions evolved. We only know that after the third request he received an answer from the Lord and was able to embrace his will for him. Jesus, when in the Garden of Gethsemanie, offered up three sets of petitions to the Father praying each time, “…if it is possible may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

   Habakkuk was perplexed over God’s seeming injustice in allowing wickedness to prevail among the Israelites, and he told him so. The Lord graciously answered him, but Habakkuk was still in a stupor over God’s providence and uttered a second complaint. Again, the Lord replied with more details of how he planned to deal with the rebellious people. Upon hearing God’s wisdom, Habakkuk was humbled and came to a place of acceptance and full submission to God’s plan. He said, “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones and my legs trembled (he was terrified over God’s impending justice). Yet, I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nations invading us. …yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior.” This amazing response came from the same man who three chapters earlier was complaining against God’s seemingly skewed providence. Though he was horrified of what God had said would take place, a major change has occurred in his heart.

     David struggled in prayer to accept God’s will for his life. He received news from the prophet Nathan that because of his adultery his son would die. Yet when his son became ill, “David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground…and he would not eat any food.” This went on for six days. David could have responded with vain resignation upon hearing of his impending discipline, but his heart was filled with sorrow and longing that he had to communicate with God. When he learned from his servants that the boy had died, he was able to submit to God’s will. This acceptance was demonstrated by his actions as he got up from mourning, washed and changed his clothes and went to the temple to worship God.

    I don’t know about you, but I am challenged by his boldness and trust in God. And I’m convinced that whatever hurt or disappointment or loss we are holding on to that God is calling us to freedom as we take our burdens to him. There is no quick, easy formula for releasing those burdens to him. But, the joy that awaits us on the other side as we yield our hearts to his perfect will far outweighs the struggle.