After Surrender – What?

After Surrender – What?

“I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.” John 17:4

Surrender is not the surrender of the external life, but of the will; when that is done, all is done. There are very few crises in life; the great crisis is the surrender of the will. God never crushes a man’s will into surrender, He never beseeched him, and He waits until the man yields up his will to Him. That battle never needs to be re-fought.

Surrender for Deliverance. “Come unto Me and I will give you rest.” It is after we have begun to experience what salvation means that we surrender our will to Jesus for rest. Whatever is perplexing heart or mind is called to the will -“Come unto Me.” It is a voluntary coming.

Surrender for Devotion. “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself.” The surrender here is of myself to Jesus, myself with His rest at the heart of it. “If you would be My disciple, give up your right to yourself to Me.” Then the remainder of life is nothing but the manifestation of this surrender. When once the surrender has taken place we never need “suppose” anything. We do not need to care what our circumstances are, Jesus is amply sufficient.

Surrender for Death. John 21:18-19. “..another shall gird thee.” Have you learned what it means to be bound for death? Beware of a surrender that you make to God in ecstasy; you are apt to take it back again. It is a question of being united with Jesus in His death until nothing ever appeals to you that did not appeal to Him.

After surrender – what? The whole of life after surrender is an aspiration for unbroken communion with God.

Culled from Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chamber