I Surrender
“Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? To surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.
Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.” Romans 12:1-2
This week we have talked about exclusivity to Jesus. Meaning we only have one lover and it’s Him. In order to get to this place where our love is not splintered and scattered in multiple directions we must keep showing up and surrendering our lives to Him as a living sacrifice. Our proper response to Jesus’ mercy upon our lives is complete surrender of every area. We can have areas that are good or seemingly good. You like what is happening, you’re happy with the job, relationship, activity but it isn’t actually what Jesus had in His plans for you. When we speak of surrender it does not only apply to the areas of struggle. This applies to it all. It isn’t surrender until you give up something you love or enjoy. We are called to live in holiness. Holiness is not about behaviors or your outward appearance. To be holy means you are pure in heart, you have chosen to be set apart for Him and only Him. We must stop coming into agreement with old theology that says we are human and can’t be perfect in our purity. Jesus never sets a standard He doesn’t give us the grace to achieve. His standard is holiness- set apart for Him only. When we truly surrender and choose holiness, we delight the heart of the Father and give Him a genuine expression of worship.
We can’t stop imitating the culture of the world without complete surrender to Jesus. Exclusivity. This doesn’t happen overnight. This becomes a reality by showing up in your walk with Him daily. You must keep showing up. By showing up you will begin to see an inward transformation the Holy Spirit is doing in you because you will begin to think differently about things. When you think different, you act different. When you act different, you talk different. When you talk different, you see change. The Kingdom demands change. Your actions always speak louder than your words.
So, what does it look like to show up? Eyes open in the morning your first thought is good morning, Lord. What do you want me to know about today? What wisdom would you like me to have? When we start our day with asking Him questions about what He wants it is training our hearts to listen for His voice. It is surrendering what we want to His desire. This tells your heart you are going to be listening for His direction and guidance that day. He knows the baggage you bring along; the other lovers you still have in tow but when you’re honest with Him about it He says let’s walk together until they disappear. Let’s talk as we walk. There is no shame with Jesus.
Other ways we show up is by gathering together with our Kingdom family. He sees honor in your heart when you set your life up to be faithful to the family he has planted you in. Being faithful to the gatherings is essential to building infrastructure in the Kingdom. When you show up on Sunday and Tuesday or special family gatherings with honor in your heart for Jesus and your family you are setting another stone in the wall. I sought for a man or woman who would stand in the gap. This is bigger than us as individuals. When we miss coming together on Sunday with honor in our hearts, we miss out on partnering with the King to see transformation. For example, this past Sunday four ladies in the family came together to pray and declare His promises of healing and peace over a situation of a family member outside the church. On Monday there was a testimony of peace in the situation. Had those four ladies not shown up to honor and partner with Jesus what would have happened in that person’s life? We MUST see this with Kingdom eyes and Kingdom thinking.
When we show up with honor in our hearts for Jesus we will see transformation. Remember the Kingdom does not operate on casualness. Come with expectations of seeing His glory fall. Come ready to partner with Him on behalf of others. The next generation is watching and they’re ready to experience the Kingdom and all it contains.
“Kings don’t show up where people don’t honor Kings” Pastor Tim
We will be people of honor because we have one passion and that is to host King Jesus.
