Full Surrender

FULL SURRENDER

By Rodney W. Francis

“I beseech (“urge”) you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable (“rational”) service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith” (Romans 12:1-3, NKJV).

One of the results of full surrender will be the difference in our minds ~ we will have a renewed mind (Ephesians 4:20-24). I liken the mind of Christ to the Salvation of Christ. Jesus died for the whole world, but only those who come to Him are saved. In the same way, Jesus Christ has given the Christian His mind, but only those who accept, or enter into and apply it, receive Christ’s mind.

Beloved, let us all have the mind of Christ in us.
The mind of Christ will not lead us in the way of the flesh.
The mind of Christ will not take us into the things of the world.
The mind of Christ points us to Jesus and glorifies God.
“Be renewed in the spirit of your mind”(Ephesians 4:23).

SOME RESULTS OF PRESENTING OUR BODIES TO GOD

The first result of presenting our bodies unto God is that we have a transformation of mind and take on the mind of Christ. It is important that we live by the mind of Christ. When we do that we will walk in holiness. We can never live a life of holiness until we have laid our all upon the altar. When we, from the depths of our hearts, “present our bodies a living sacrifice,” then God will make us holy because His temple is holy, which is you and me. He wants Holy Temples for His Holy Spirit to live in. How can we be holy? By drawing near to God; by presenting our bodies unto the Lord . . . “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

GOD REVEALS HIS WILL TO A SURRENDERED LIFE

The main result of full surrender is that we find GOD WILL REVEAL HIS WILL FOR OUR LIVES UNTO US. How? As we wait before Him in prayer, which we must do ~ as we read and study God’s Word ~ and we are open for the Prophetic Word to come to us through other Christian believers. Allow the Holy Spirit to quicken/make alive the Living Word of God to your heart: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

Yes, Praise the Lord, we can know the plan of God for our life. The Scripture says that if we will “present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but to be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of our minds,” then not only will we know the will of God, but we will PROVE WHAT IS THAT GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE AND PERFECT WILL OF GOD!

That’s the place I want to live in, don’t you? Day by day living according to God’s good and acceptable and perfect will. We can do it, but we must present our bodies; we must give ourselves completely over to God. They did it in the early Church . . . “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4). It will mean more time in prayer and in the Word. But, oh, God will be able to take us, make us, and use us for His praise, honour and glory. We will experience the Lord meeting the needs in other people’s lives through us, and we will be able to give Him ALL the praise and glory because we have presented our bodies unto Him as “our reasonable service.”

JESUS DID NOT CALL HALF-HEARTED BELIEVERS

What I have shared above was the expectation of Biblical requirements for a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not call half-hearted believers. He called for those who would “lay down their own lives for Him and His cause”. This is what He said: “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:34-38).

Yes, there is a price to pay to follow Jesus ~ the Jesus of the Bible that is. There are so many counterfeits out in the world today who claim to be proclaimers of Jesus, but the true followers of Jesus are those who hear His voice and follow what He teaches us. With Him it is FULL SURRENDER! It is not simply going to church or being part of one. It is a commitment of everything we are and have to Him.

When God knows He has our full surrender, He will take us, make us and use us for His glory in a way that is beyond anything that we can accomplish in our own strength and efforts.

That has how it has been for Jean and me in our lives. As a result of listening to His voice and obeying ~ even when it seemed illogical to the natural mind ~ God has given us a life of ministering to multiplied thousands of lives (mostly Christian Leaders) around the world. It is very satisfying to be used of God to impact other lives in a positive way. To keep The GFM Ministry going and growing it has taken a total commitment and full surrender to God. And we have no regrets for that. We have been able to accomplish things that we could not have accomplished any other way. It has nothing to do with how much education or theological training one has (I was a school drop-out and have never been to Bible School, except to teach)! Rather, it is all about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Who still speaks today and guides us in the way of truth and what He has called us to do for Him. Over 15 years ago He called us to live totally by faith, and it has been amazing at how He has provided for us and The GFM Ministry since that time ~ totally mortgage and debt-free! Hallelujah! Over and above the daily running expenses of the Ministry ~ and our own personal needs ~ we have been able to print and give away freely over 130,000 books in the past two years alone. This is over and above the several thousand students we have currently going through our free Bible Correspondence Courses. This Ministry is a testimony of what can happen when we are fully surrendered to God and His purposes. We look to Him as our Source of supply, not man. I share this testimony as so many Christians struggle to know God’s will, seem to have little faith to trust a Big God to supply the need for that which He has called them to do, and so restrict themselves to accomplishing things according to logical reasoning. When we are fully surrendered to God and have to trust Him to supply the need to enable us to fully obey His will, then we will see what our Big and Good God can do.

God is longing to be GOD to the Christians today!
Do not limit your walk with God to that which other people tell you what you can or cannot do.
What God has called you to do, YOU CAN DO!
He is the Expert!
He is successful every time!
Do not doubt His ability!
Throw yourself totally onto Him and see what He will do for you.

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