Find Power on the Road Called Surrender

My best ideas can fail miserably.  My snap judgments don’t always help. Words escape my mouth that should never have a voice.  However, when I work, relate, or speak by God’s prompts, empowered by His will; I’ve never come away saying, Well, that didn’t work. No.  God’s ways always work in surrendered lives.

You will receive power, Jesus said. (Acts 1:8)  It was a promise, signed, sealed, and to be delivered.  So why do we ignore a guaranteed resource?

The truth is that we shouldn’t have to.  However, the sad truth is that God’s storehouse is overflowing with power nobody claimed. 

Remember Saul, the persecutor of Christians?  Saul was 100% certain he was doing God’s will and saving the Jewish faith, only to be brought to his knees, blinded, and made utterly dependent on other people.  The only way he got his sight back was through surrender.  God made him face the error of his “savior” mentality.  When he got his sight back, he saw the world differently.  God had given him a new vision and power to go with it.  From that moment until the day he died in Rome, he was surrendered to God’s will and way.

We talk about Saul becoming Paul and his power, but it wasn’t really his.  It was God’s power.  Surrender cleaned out what didn’t belong so that God’s power had space to grow.

That’s what surrender really is:   a space-maker for God’s will and His power to accomplish it.  Without surrender, we are left to our best thoughts and misguided perspectives.

Surrender isn’t a weak word.  It isn’t the white flag of the defeated.  It is the banner of the weak made strong, of a mind transformed, of a will given fully over to God’s management.

Jesus is our best example.  He surrendered his right to Heaven for 30 years on earth.  He never pushed to the front of anyone’s line, but think of all the people who pushed to the front to see him.  He did not mistreat those who mistreated him.  He humbled himself, never acting as some big shot come to fix the world.  He was the epitome of surrender and our best example of a power-filled life.

Don’t throw away this rich example of Jesus because of his divinity.  He came to show us how God’s power fits perfectly in human flesh. We are so slow to learn this lesson.  But it is never too late. God has power for your cancer journey, power for your grief, power to parent, befriend, work, do his will, change the atmosphere in your home, and so much more.  God has an unlimited supply, and he hates stockpiling it.

Pentecost Sunday is less than two weeks away. (Sunday, May 24)  It is our reminder that we are not done when we confess our sins and become a part of his family.  We have work to do that only God’s power can accomplish. 

Where is the road of surrender for you?  Giving up a question God never answered? Turning over your will about some life pursuit? Reorienting your worldview to God’s? 

Power to live God’s will and find His joy in doing it is what waits.  And you will never run out of the power you need when you surrender.

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 "How to Live a God- Empowered Life,"  May 13-24

This is the last series of scriptures for these Pentecost blogs. I hope you are learning that living an empowered life is the accepted norm for the Christian according to scripture. We live underpowered at our own risk. I pray that you will celebrate Pentecost Sunday this year with new excitement and eternal gratitude for the assured gift of all the power you need to live an abundant life.

As always, if you have trouble downloading the document, write me at debmgoodwin@gmail.com, and I will happily send the list to your email.

Get your copy of "Find Power on the Road Called Surrender" here!