When you hear the word, Surrender, what picture comes to your mind? Maybe a man afraid for his life with his hands held high. Or how about a boxer throwing a white towel into the ring because he can no longer fight the battle.
We have a battle raging inside of each one of us. It is the battle between the Spirit and our flesh. Galatians 5:16 says “Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” That is the answer to the battle we fight everyday! Just live by the Spirit. The problem is that we cannot do this on our own. We have to Surrender to Jesus in order to live by the Spirit. In the battle between my flesh and the Spirit the winner will be the one I feed! We must feed the Spirit of God in us and starve our sinful nature. If we try to do it on our own we will experience what Paul experienced in Romans 7:14-21. After describing the frustration of this battle Paul comes to a conclusion. He says in verses 24 and 25, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

This Sunday we will sing I Surrender All along with Here I Am to Worship. And since it is Father’s Day we will sing the great hymn, Rise Up O Men of God!

Men, and everyone else, let me say one important thing to you, The rising up cannot be done until the Surrender is complete!

Watch this video clip titled “The Stool” on my church website to see another picture of surrender. Cut and paste this link.         http://www.crossroadsturlock.com/media/mini_movies