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Absolute SurrenderYou know in daily life what absolute surrender is. You know that
everything has to be given up to its special, definite object and
service. I have a pen in my pocket, and that pen is absolutely
surrendered to the one work of writing, and that pen must be absolutely
surrendered to my hand if I am to write properly with it. If another
holds it partly, I cannot write properly. This coat is absolutely given
up to me to, cover my body. This building is entirely given up to
religious services. And now, do you expect that in your immortal being,
in the divine nature that you have received by regeneration, God can
work His work, every day and every hour, unless you are entirely given
up to Him? God cannot. The Temple of Solomon was absolutely surrendered
to God when it was dedicated to Him. And every one of us is a temple of
God, in which God will dwell and work mightily on one condition —
absolute surrender to Him. God claims it, God is worthy of it, and
without it God cannot work His blessed work in us.. God Accomplishes Your Surrender Alas! alas! that God’s children have such thoughts of Him, such cruel thoughts. Oh, I come to you with a message, fearful and anxious one. God does not ask you to give the perfect surrender in your strength, or by the power of your will; God is willing to work it in you. Do we not read: "It is God that worketh in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure"? And that is what we should seek for — to go on our faces before God, until our hearts learn to believe that the everlasting God Himself will come in to turn out what is wrong, to conquer what is evil, and to work what is well-pleasing in His blessed sight. God Himself will work it in you. Look at the men in the Old Testament, like Abraham. Do you think it
was by accident that God found that man, the father of the faithful and
the Friend of God, and that it was Abraham himself, apart from God, who
had such faith and such obedience and such devotion? You know it is not
so. God raised him up and prepared him as an instrument for His glory. Oh, I want to encourage you, and I want you to cast away every fear. Come with that feeble desire; and if there is the fear which says: "Oh, my desire is not strong enough, I am not willing for everything that may come, I do not feel bold enough to say I can conquer everything" — I pray you, learn to know and trust your God now. Say: "My God, I am willing that Thou shouldst make me willing." If there is anything holding you back, or any sacrifice you are afraid of making, come to God now, and prove how gracious your God is, and be not afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow. God comes and offers to work this absolute surrender in you. All these searchings and hungerings and longings that are in your heart, I tell you they are the drawings of the divine magnet, Christ Jesus. He lived a life of absolute surrender, He has possession of you; He is living in your heart by His Holy Spirit. You have hindered and hindered Him terribly, but He desires to help you to get hold of Him entirely. And He comes and draws you now by His message and words. Will you not come and trust God to work in you that absolute surrender to Himself? Yes, blessed be God, He can do it, and He will do it. (Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library
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Absolute SurrenderNext article is excerpted from Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray. The whole book can be read here. |
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Verily, verily, I say unto You, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also and greater works shall he do; because I go unto the Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, that will I do.’—John 14:12-14.
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By David Smithers
Soon after coming to Christ, I was given two small paperbacks written by Andrew Murray, "The Prayer Life" and "Waiting on God". It seemed with each new chapter came fresh insights and new experiences in prayer. As a young believer, these writings greatly helped me to define and establish my personal prayer life. The principles conveyed in those little dog-eared books still continue to have a significant influence upon my prayer life and ministry. Almost twenty years later, I am only now beginning to feel that I truly understand the depth of what Andrew Murray was writing about! Most works on prayer direct you to a process of prayer, but Mr. Murray’s writings direct you to the person of prayer - JESUS CHRIST.
How is the church to be lifted up to the abundant life in Christ, which will fit her for the work that God is putting before Her? Nothing will help but a revival, nothing less than a tremendous spiritual revival. Great tides of spiritual energy must be put into motion if this work is to be accomplished. Now there may be great differences in what we understand by revival. Many will think of the work of evangelists like Moody and Torrey. We need a different and mightier revival than those were. In them the chief object was the conversion of sinners, and incidentally, the quickening of believers. But the revival that we need calls for a deeper and more entire upheaval of the Church. The great defect of those revivals was that the converts were received into a Church that was not living on the high level of consecration and holiness, and speedily sank down to the average standard of ordinary religious life. Even the believers who had been roused by it, also gradually returned to their former life of clouded fellowship and lack of power to testify for Christ.
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