Our community group is doing "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. A few of us have read this book before, but it had been a few years. We selected this book because we all felt like we needed something that would not be highly involved and would be "easy" to do going into the holidays. Let me just say that God has a sense of humor. This "easy" book has turned out to be exactly what we wall needed, no matter what season of life we are in. I see things igniting in some of these women, and in myself, that I had not previously seen. I think that God probably sat "upstairs" and looked down on me and said "You think your getting easy....I am going to rock your world..one easy word, and one simple book at a time!" I can just imagine the all-knowing smirk on his face!
A topic that really stood out for me in this weeks reading was Surrender. The book talked about what it means to surrender. "Surrender" and "Submit" have negative connotations in our society. Life today is built on the principle that you have to win big, climb higher, get first place, etc. To the average person, surrender means giving up, losing, accepting the status quo. It means the exact opposite. Surrendering is not hiding your personality. God wants us to use our unique personality...that is why He created us as he did. Surrendering actually enhances who you are. The more we let God take over us, the more we become ourselves-because He made us after HIS own image. C.S. Lewis said "It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a really personality of my own".
How do I surrender? Surrendering is best demonstrated by obedience. Saying "yes, LORD". Surrendered people obey God's word, even if it doesn't make sense. Sometimes this means sacrificing your life or suffering in order to change what needs to be changed. God often calls surrendered people to do battle. It is often making a choice that we really don't want to make or doing something we don't want to do.
What area in your life do you feel God asking for surrender? Money....lifestyle....job....relationship...? Ask God to reveal his commands and desires to you.... and then be willing to be obedient. Not partially obedient, but FULLY obedient.
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