Total Surrender

As we look in Scripture, we cannot help but be staggered with the reality that God is calling us to live a life that we could never live. I have seen that striving to be like Christ in my own strength simply leads to more failure. So what is the answer?

When we understand the heart of the matter, the Sabbath Day is not a burden but a blessing! We can willingly lay aside our own ways when we are seeking God’s ways. As we learn to take pleasure in fellowship with God, we can more easily lay aside the lesser pleasures of this world. Filled with God’s Word, our own words no longer seem as important.

The story of Eric’s victory in Paris has been told many times in different ways, with varying degrees of accuracy. The story that is told less often is the story of Eric’s subsequent victories. After his Olympic victory, Eric Liddell spoke all over Scotland at various evangelistic meetings. Crowds flocked to hear the humble man who was bashful about his trophies but bold about his Savior.

Jesus described eight attributes that receive the blessing of God. These eight qualities—or beatitudes—embody attitudes that are essential for anger resolution. Without these qualities, obtained by God’s grace and the believer’s humility, keeping the spirit of the Law would be impossible.

The year is regulated by the earth’s orbit around the sun. The month is regulated by the moon’s orbit around the earth. The day is regulated by the earth’s rotation on its axis. But the week is regulated only by the pattern set by God Himself.

On a cold, miserable day, a French warship steadily made its way along the Scottish coastline. The warship was powered by human labor — the steady pull of many chained galley slaves. Aboard the ship, performing backbreaking work at the oars, was a feeble man who was very near the point of death. It had been many months since the Scotsman had seen his native land.

Throughout Israel’s history, Jehovah warned the Israelites against trying to repurpose pagan images and holy places. When Moses destroyed the golden calf, he did not melt it down to repurpose the gold for the altar of incense, the golden menorah, or the golden mercy seat that God had commanded him to make.

From the moment he entered the world, Jacob was a man of intense ambition. Jacob had obtained outward prosperity but at tremendous cost. Broken relationships, strained marriages, immorality, and divided affections resulted due to the path that Jacob had chosen: divided loyalty between the Lord God and his own choices.

A bold prophet from the village of Tishbi had not bowed the knee to the modern ideologies of the age. Elijah’s name means “My God is Jehovah.” One day, as the prophet of Jehovah, Elijah had emerged from his homeland of Gilead. He walked into the palace of Ahab and Jezebel with the startling declaration: “As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word” (I Kings 17:1). With that ominous weather forecast, Elijah walked out of the palace and vanished into the wilderness. For three and a half long years, King Ahab scoured the country to find him but failed in every attempt.

In order to fulfill the direction of God the Father, Jesus yielded His right to wealth, to a good reputation, to be served, to enjoy physical comforts, and to make His own decisions. As we surrender ourselves to the Father, He will form these characteristics of His Son in us as well.

A crowded testimony meeting was part of the revival held by Dwight L. Moody in Brockton, Massachusetts. Suddenly, a young man stood up. Earnestly he confessed, “I am not quite sure, but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey!” The simple words of faith struck the soul of songleader Pastor Daniel Towner. Quickly he jotted down the sentence. Afterward, Pastor Towner wrote a letter to his friend, Pastor John H. Sammis, giving a quick report of the young man’s testimony and the stirring words he had said. As soon as Pastor Sammis read his friend’s letter, he realized the testimony was perfect for a hymn. First came the refrain: Trust and obey for there’s no other wayTo be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Following the refrain, the verses quickly came. Pastor Sammis’s hymn expounded on trust and obedience: Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;What He says we will do, where He sends we will goNever fear, only trust and obey. Completed, Pastor Sammis mailed the song to Pastor Towner. Pastor Towner soon composed the melody, and “Trust and Obey” became a hymn […]

More than 100 years ago, northern India was a very superstitious region. Following a great revival in Wales, Welsh missionaries journeyed to the Assam area in northeast India to bring the Gospel to tribes of idol-worshipping headhunters. In one village, one of those fierce headhunters listened to a missionary, and his heart grasped the Good News of Christ. Not only did he believe, but his wife and two sons also became Christians. As the redeemed man eagerly shared his newfound faith with other villagers, they, too, became believers!  The changes among his people infuriated the village chief. Summoning all the villagers, the chief angrily addressed the first convert among the tribe: “Renounce your faith, or be killed!” Moved by the Holy Spirit, the man replied: “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back.” The incensed chief next ordered his archers to kill the man’s young sons. Then he harshly demanded, “Will you deny your faith? You have lost both your children. You will lose your wife, too.” The man solemnly spoke: “Though no one joins me, still I will follow.No turning back.” Furious, the chief then ordered the man’s wife be killed. Within minutes, she joined her two sons […]

The gentleman held the letter, pondering the request. Thomas O. Chisholm wrote poetry primarily for his own personal enjoyment, although many of his works had been published. The letter he had received was from C. Harold Lowden, a pastor in New Jersey. Two years earlier Pastor Lowden had written a children’s song for a special service. The melody was a “light and summery tune.” Now the pastor was preparing a book of hymns. He felt the original words did not quite fit the lilting melody. Would Mr. Chisholm please write new words to accompany his original tune?  Shaking his head, Mr. Chisholm wrote back, regretting that he did not know how to write lyrics for music. However, Pastor Lowden refused to take “no” for an answer. He responded, urging Mr. Chisholm to try. Pastor Lowden believed Mr. Chisholm was the man for the task. With his daughter assisting by repeatedly humming the melody, Mr. Chisholm penned the words that we know now as “Living for Jesus.” The writer’s early years began with his birth in a log cabin in 1866. Mr. Chisholm was educated in a one-room schoolhouse in which, at sixteen, he became the classroom teacher! Several years later […]

Every Christian should be aware of the danger of leaving his first love for the Lord. Long ago, the church in Ephesus was busy doing many things for God, yet Jesus told them, “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” Let’s consider some indications that you may be wandering from your first love for Christ.

In the early 1700s, a young German nobleman named Nikolaus Zinzendorf visited the Dusseldorf Museum. One particular painting captivated his attention. The painting depicted Jesus with a crown of thorns on His head just before His crucifixion. The caption below read: “I have done this for you; what have you done for Me?” The painting moved young Zinzendorf to a wholehearted commitment to serve God. Count Zinzendorf became one of the most influential leaders in the history of Christian missions. More than one hundred years later, another young Christian visited that same museum. A tired, seventeen-year-old Frances Havergal sat opposite that same painting. Quietly she gazed at the dramatic painting along with its inscription. Deeply moved, she began jotting down phrases. Miss Havergal’s sister later wrote: “On January 10, 1858, [Frances] read the motto, and the lines of her hymn flashed upon her. She wrote them in pencil on a scrap of paper. Reading them over [once she returned home] she thought them so poor that she tossed them on the fire, but they fell out [of the fire] untouched.” The story continues that her father grasped the papers that weren’t burned and encouraged his daughter to keep them. Her […]

I surrender all;I surrender all;All to Thee, my blessed Savior,I surrender all. These simple words of wholehearted commitment to Christ have been sung by believers around the world. Who wrote these compelling lines and why? Judson Van DeVenter was born in Michigan in 1855. From an early age, he had a deep appreciation for art and music. When he was seventeen, he became a Christian. He later attended Hillsdale College. After college, art was very important in Mr. Van DeVenter’s life. He eventually became supervisor of art in various public high schools in Pennsylvania. During this same time, Mr. Van DeVenter was very active in his church, often singing in the choir andparticipating in evangelistic rallies. Observing his enthusiasm and ability in evangelism and counseling, his friends urged him to pursue full-time ministry. However, Mr. Van DeVenter enjoyed art and was unwilling to set it aside to be more involved in Christian ministry. For five years, he struggled inwardly between his two desires: to become a recognized artist and to serve the Lord in full-time ministry. Finally, the struggle climaxed. Mr. Van DeVenter described the moment: At last the pivotal hour of my life came, and I surrendered all. A […]

The fierce, stormy sea violently rocked the ship. White-knuckled sailors clung to wooden spars and ropes. The young captain, John Newton, despaired. Surely they were all about to die! Recently he had been reading The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. In response to the book’s influence and the realization that his life might end during the tempest, John Newton fervently prayed: “O God, if Thou wilt get me safely ashore, I will serve Thee forever.” John Newton was a hardened man. He had worked on ships as a young boy. He had been kidnapped by a British press gang and forced into naval service when he was eighteen years old. After leaving the navy, he worked for a slave trader who treated him brutally. Now, five years later and helpless in a terrifying storm at sea, the young man totally surrendered his life to God. John Newton later recorded in his journal:  That tenth of March is a day much remembered by me; and I have never suffered it to pass unnoticed since the year 1748—the Lord came from on high and delivered me out of deep waters. John Newton’s conversion was genuine. His new life reflected humility. […]

We have a tendency to do work as thoroughly as is necessary to pass the inspection of those who assign us the job. However, true thoroughness is motivated by the awareness that each job we do will be personally inspected by the Lord.

Availability is simplifying our daily needs so we are ready and able to serve those whom God brings to us. Jesus called His disciples to a life of availability. The whole concept of discipleship is rooted in being available for training and serving.

You were not designed to live with the weight of unconfessed sin. If you try to hide your sin and refuse to confess it and repent, you will eventually come to ruin and to shame. . . . As soon as you are aware of your sin, repent. The load of sin will disappear and you can prosper again.