During last night’s Bible study we wrapped up the study on the Book of Acts with an extra lesson that repeatedly took us to the word ‘surrender,’ then today I read this from Henry & Melvin Blackaby’s book, Experiencing the Spirit. “There comes a time in your life when the Lord opens your eyes to understand what the Christian life is meant to be. It isn’t just going to heaven when you die; it’s dying to self on earth and allowing Him to live through you. Once that is clear in your heart, once you’ve chosen to release everything to Him, then you’ll know freedom like never before. The burden of service dissipates, and the Spirit will carry you into the Father’s perfect will. In that place you’ll experience the mighty power of God. There are no more excuses for inactivity; there is no more justification for shallow character. There is only the Lord and our willingness to trust Him and respond to the Holy Spirit. So the question comes to each of us: Who is the Holy Spirit to me? What have I done with Him? Or perhaps better expressed, What has He done with me?
Well put, but I must struggle with one point he made and affirm another. To say ‘there comes a time in your life when the Lord opens your eyes to understand’ conveys to me that I have no control over the matter. Not so! God longs that every eye is opened, but, as hard as God tries there are some who refuse to see. Said another way, if our eyes are not opened it is not that God hasn’t tried, it’s that we haven’t complied…and God has given us the free will to choose not to see. However, Blackaby hit the nail on the head when he stated ‘once you’ve chosen to release everything to Him, you’ll know freedom like never before.’ I would go a step further and say that our minds cannot even conceive the freedom God has in store for us in Christ…but the only way to receive this freedom is to surrender what we have. For some this is scarry, but trust me, it’s a win-win situation for us!
Well put, but I must struggle with one point he made and affirm another. To say ‘there comes a time in your life when the Lord opens your eyes to understand’ conveys to me that I have no control over the matter. Not so! God longs that every eye is opened, but, as hard as God tries there are some who refuse to see. Said another way, if our eyes are not opened it is not that God hasn’t tried, it’s that we haven’t complied…and God has given us the free will to choose not to see. However, Blackaby hit the nail on the head when he stated ‘once you’ve chosen to release everything to Him, you’ll know freedom like never before.’ I would go a step further and say that our minds cannot even conceive the freedom God has in store for us in Christ…but the only way to receive this freedom is to surrender what we have. For some this is scarry, but trust me, it’s a win-win situation for us!
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