Surrender...the Ultimate Choice!

I Surrender, # 354 in the Methodist Hymnal...is a hymn that is not partial to the Methodist Church.  You can probably find this hymn in just about every denominational hymnbook published since this song was written in 1896.  As with most hymns we sing, many of us never really grasp the words or for that matter the meaning behind the words.  We sang this song this morning in our worship and it triggered in me the question...Am I truly surrendered to Jesus?

This hymn is not Holy Scripture, nor is is a restatement of any particular scripture.  This hymn is based on the longing of the human soul for Jesus to be the center of the human experience.  Let's take a look at the words of the first verse:

1. All to Jesus I surrender, all to him I freely give; I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live!

All - what is all?  What does all mean to you?  All implied here means every part of your existence you surrender to Jesus...freely...without holding back...never looking back...loving him, trusting him with every aspect of your life and living every day as though he is present in our human existence.

How hard it is for us to surrender.  Oswald Chambers entire devotional "My Utmost for His Highest" intimates in every page the need for total surrender to Jesus Christ.  We sing this song, but do we believe we can do it? Verse two shows us the first step necessary to do this.

    2.  All to Jesus I surrender, humbly at his feet I bow, worldly pleasures all forsaken take me Jesus, take  me now.

When we approach the Savior of the world we must bow before Him.  By bowing we authenticate His station, His power, His Glory, His dominion over all that He created and we acknowledge our position as humble, weak vessels ready to live His way.  We give up all the worldly pleasures for the pleasure of worshiping HIM and Him only. He is the center of our lives...nothing in the world is more important than Him.

Proving that we are indeed weak vessels we see a need in the 3rd verse to be totally sure we are in His care.  We want to know this without any doubt, live this without looking back and be securely held in His ultimate care beyond our finite ability to comprehend. 

   3. All to Jesus I surrender; make me Savior wholly thine; let me feel the Holy Spirit, truly know that thou art mine.

There are two more verses that although they seem relevant to the song they are really saying the same thing as the verses above.  Verse 4 talks about being filled with "thy love and power, let thy blessing fall on me".  If we are truly surrendered to Him, then this is a natural by-product of that faithfulness.  Verse 5 states that we "feel the sacred flame" and the "joy of full salvation" which again is produced in us by us being in humble surrender to our Savior. 

The Apostle Paul stated several times that he was a "bond servant" of Christ. He was set apart for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  A servant surrenders to the master.  Paul who wrote half of the New Testament was surrendered to Jesus.  His teaching is held together by his humble attachment to the Savior.  His world revolved around and was totally saturated with surrender to Jesus Christ.  

Oh that we humble, weak, misguided, entangled, struggling, vessels might be totally surrendered to Jesus in ALL areas of our existence.  I pray for this in my daily life and I hope with a fervor that you too will do the same. It will change your world!  It is the Ultimate Choice!  Surrender your life to Jesus...do it NOW...you will never regret it.

A NEW Year...NEW Beginnings!

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."




Today is the first day of 2012. It is a Sunday. It is the first day of a brand new year...and an opportunity for each of us to begin our new year with some brand new thinking. When God created the earth it was brand new. When He created each of us we were brand new. There had never been anything like us before. There will never be anything like us. Each of us are totally different than anyone else. We have our own DNA. DNA is Deoxyribonucleic acid. Everyone of our cells in our bodies contains our DNA. Our DNA is exclusive only to us. It is the map if you will that determined our exact design. It is a miracle that a small egg was fertilized...two different DNA representations came together and somehow became one...YOU. The amazing thing is that no one in the world now or ever has had the same DNA as YOU! YOU are the only YOU that will ever be or that has ever been. WOW!

Here are some interesting facts about your DNA:

• If you unwrap all the DNA you have in your cells...you could reach the moon 6000 times!
• If all the DNA in your body was put end to end, it would reach to the sun and back over 600 times. (thats 92 million miles one way)
• You have approximately 100 trillion strands of DNA in your body
• If unwound and tied together, the strands of DNA in one cell would stretch almost six feet but would be only 50 trillionths of an inch wide.
• 99.9% of your DNA is the same as everyone else...ONLY .1% makes YOU who YOU are and NO-ONE else has that .1% but YOU!

God created YOU with something special in mind. It is up to you to seek out His will for you and His direction for your life. YOU can't guess this...you must speak to HIM...read HIS Word...pray to HIM...surrender all to HIM. Then you will see His good and perfect will for your life.

One of my favorite verses to help me with this is: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

May you have a wonderful 2012...directed by the Creator every step of the way! God Bless YOU!