A Surrendered Life

Christian Meranda Life Devotions

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.Galatians 2:20 ESV

The surrendered life. That word can be paralyzing to us especially as American Christians. We live in a country that prides itself on freedom being our flagship and anything that would oppose or threaten that is just not acceptable. Having said that, as Christians, we are believers in Christ 1st and Americans 2nd. Never should our patriotism be greater than our salvation and identity in Christ.
Recently, the Lord has been calling the church to a deeper and more surrendered walk with Him. You can see the Lord orchestrating a deeper calling to Him. Evangelist Joe Oden recently challenged us to desire to walk in the gifts, as well as earnestly desire the gift of Prophecy.
You can read throughout the Gospels, Acts, and the entirety of the New Testament and see that surrender wasn’t an option; surrender was the foundation of their relationship with Christ.

Surrender is the foundation of our relationship with Christ.

 

Instead of becoming discouraged when we hear messages like this, let that be the spark that will light the fire to cause you to take an inventory and determine in your heart that you will choose to be relentless in pursuit of God and the people He loves.
One of the biggest obstacles we must overcome is OURSELVES. We get in our own way more than anyone else gets in our way. “The problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar.  Having said that, we believe that “alterations” happen at the altar. We believe in lives being changed and those lives start with us; it starts with the daily decision of following Christ. Luke 9:23 says,” Then He said to them all, if anybody would come after Me, he must deny Himself, take up His cross daily and follow me.”
A Pastor friend of mine once said, “If we don’t get it daily, we just don’t get it.” A surrendered life starts with us surrendering every day. To follow the direction our Lord Jesus took by saying to our Father, “Not My Will, but Yours be done.”

The great late Evangelist, Dwight L. Moody said, “Let God have your life. He can do more with it than you can.”

 

We have to be willing to make the conscious decision to allow the Lord to not be the co-pilot, but the pilot. We can’t just allow Him to have “weekend custody” of His children, but full time. We have to have the faith to believe that He will do what He said He will do. He says in Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always”. He will never leave nor forsake us. When we choose to surrender our life to the Lord, He steps in and begins to put us in step with Him. It says in Psalms 37:23, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” There was a story about a Rabbi and his students and it was said that the students would follow and study the Rabbi so close, so they could be “covered in the dust” of their Rabbi. Everywhere the Rabbi went they followed; if he went to the temple, they were right behind him in sync with his steps, if he went home or to the market they followed as well. Wherever he went, they wanted to be so close, so that others knew they had been with their Rabbi.
How much closer should we be to our great Teacher, Savior, Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ? May we be so close, that we may be seen as “covered in His dust.” I believe nothing says a life that follows Him closer than a life that is completely surrendered to Him. To be surrendered, means we are yielding control and we do that willingly. I can’t think of a better way than willingly; after all, that is the greatest example that was left to us when Jesus gave His all.

Pray This…

Lord Jesus, today I ask You to help me live a life completely surrendered to You. That I would take up my cross daily and follow You. That we as Your children, would seek Your heart above all else. That You would silence all of the distractions that try to stop me from hearing Your voice; that I would have a resolution in my heart that cannot be stopped.
That I would surrender all to You because You surrendered all to me. Thank you for giving me the strength and for Your Holy Spirit leading us every step of the way.
IN JESUS NAME! AMEN!

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