THERE ARE TWO WAYS OF SURRENDER

Surrender. It’s a buzz word among Believers; rightfully so because unless we surrender our will, and give up the right to ourselves, we can’t have any part of the inheritance given to us by Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:24-25). Most of us have grown up in our faith being taught that the degree, to which we surrender our old self, is the degree to which the Father can and will bless us.

I won’t argue the error of that way of thinking in this post, except to say, a) we can’t compartmentalize and say this area of mine is surrendered, but this other area isn’t surrendered. We are or we aren’t, there’s not middle ground; b) the Lord blesses us, regardless of what is surrendered or not because when He sees us, He sees the perfection through Christ (Hebrews 10:14) because through Christ we are the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Surrender is Part of the Christian Life

The majority of Christians understand the need for surrender, but we usually stop at the lesser form of surrender. The first form of surrender is best represented by the white flag of surrender. (White Shimmer angel wing praise & worship flags from Catch the Fire Worship Flags represent this form of surrender, but they also represent Holy Spirit, dove (peace), purity, Ancient of Days, and more.) It doesn’t matter which culture you are from, when someone waves a white flag, everyone knows exactly what it means. The practice is first recorded as early as 69A.D. It’s a signal of defeat and it means you are giving up your position and conceding to the other stronger party.

I did a quick quote search for the word ‘surrender’ there are two polar opposite positions most of the quotes take. The first is, ‘we will never surrender’, meaning we won’t give up, or be defeated, because defeat is the worst possible outcome. The second position is the Christian practice of surrendering ourselves to God.

Waving our spiritual white flag of surrender and allowing God to “have His way” with us is necessary but I want to propose to you it’s not what He actually wants from us. There is a higher (and better) form of Surrender.

What God Doesn't Want

When we wave our proverbial white flag of surrender, as if we are doing God a favour by admitting defeat, I’m pretty sure He isn’t super excited about it. God has never wanted to beat us down and wear us out before we surrender to him because that’s not his modus operandum, that’s the enemy’s M.O. Daniel 7:25 tells us plainly the enemy’s plan is to wear out the saints, so that surrender is the only option.

What God Does Want

I propose that God wants us to Surrender to Him as lovers surrender to each other in a physical, and intimate embrace. We can serve God as a slave serves a master and surrenders his will to the master. Or we can prepare ourselves as a bride readies herself for the groom, and willingly, gives herself to him. It’s not done out of coercion, or as a “last resort”.

Surrender praise and worship dance flags is our Featured Flag for March. As Holy Spirit taught me about the greater form of Surrender, I “saw” the representation of Surrender in the prophetic meanings for color.

While Peter was still speaking, a radiant cloud of glory formed above them and overshadowed them. As the glory cloud enveloped them, they were struck with fear. Then the voice of God thundered from within the cloud, “This is my Son, my Beloved One. Listen carefully to all he has to say.” When the thunderous voice faced away and the cloud disappeared, Jesus was standing there alone. Peter, Jacob and John were speechless and awestruck. But they didn’t say a word to anyone about what they had seen. - Luke 9:34-36 (tPt)

Surrender is Easy in Intimacy

First off, I absolutely adore Peter, because of one similarity we share. We both speak before we think 😉 In this scripture passage, Peter, James (Jacob) and John are with Jesus on the mountain. Already we observe the closeness of their relationship with Jesus.

Then, rather than just be in that glorious moment with Jesus and his other disciples. Peter decides to fill the silence, wanting to build three tents for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. I’ve been there, many times (face palm, head shake) but what comes next is what I want to highlight as the foundation for the Featured Flag, Surrender.

The scripture says a glory cloud enveloped them, and they were afraid; other translations say, “they were afraid as they entered.” Can you pause for a moment with me and appreciate their honest reaction. They were afraid, unsure, not certain, but even despite what they were afraid of, there was no hesitation to enter the cloud. It wasn’t even a question in their minds. Even thru fear they surrendered to the enveloping cloud because that’s where Jesus was.

The colors in Surrender praise and worship dance flags are cloud, gold, and lilac mauve. Together they are a declaration of our heart to offer Jesus our highest Surrender. Even if we’re unsure about the future, we’re not holding anything back. We are not surrendering because we are defeated if we don’t. We are surrendering because it’s the greatest desire of our hearts.

Your Turn

Dear one, you have an invitation to Surrender. Will you accept, even if you are still afraid? I promise you (because Scripture already makes the promise), when you Surrender, then you will find the greatest intimacy with God you’ve ever known.

If you have a testimony of Surrender, leave a comment below. We’d love to hear it, and be encouraged by your great courage.

p.s., Surrender is available now until March 31.