a Surrendered Life

When I think of the word surrender more often than not I envision an army surrendering to another army who just gives up. Sometimes I think of a person surrendering to the will of someone else. But instead of thinking of the word "surrender" as a verb--as an action--I want to challenge you to think of surrender as an adjective.

I know that this goes against every rule in the English language, but hear me out.

God wants us to move past this action of surrendering into a surrendered life. In other words, God desires us to move past the process of surrendering every problem as it arises in our life. He wants us to move into a new realm of trust. He deeply desires us to always live in this complete trust state.

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Trusting completely without reservation is difficult, but when we recognize who God truly is and when we step into a realization of His sovereignty, trust does come much easier. Nonetheless, this comprehension can only be achieved when we leave our understanding of God on an intellectual level and cultivate heart knowledge of who God is. I love what J. I. Packer says in his book Knowing God. He writes, "A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about Him."

I feel so deeply that God is calling His church, the very Love He died for, back to Him and back to a knowledge of Him. Not who He is or what He did or what He's like or even what He can do. He is calling us back to Him.

In Revelations 2, Jesus is speaking to the church at Ephesus. Jesus commends the church for their love of good deeds and for their perseverance but Jesus says this, "I hold this against you. You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first" (Revelations 2: 4, 5).

I hear the voice of the Holy Spirit saying the same to us today. "I love how you love the broken and hurt. I love how you show my compassion. I love how value the poor and the needy. You're doing a wonderful job at showing my compassion. You're doing a great job at not giving up. But you've forgotten to love for Me."

The Holy Spirit has put a hunger in my heart to know God again...to return to my first love. I find myself missing Him and His presence. I know who God is and I know what He's done. I've seen Him work miracles and I've experienced His power. But all of these signs of God are pointless without an understand in my heart. I what to know Him.

Tonight I'm finding myself praying as the psalmist of Psalm 42 prayed, "As the deep pants for streams of water so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God."

It's here, in this place of a surrendered life, that we can truly know God not for what He is, but for who He is. And for that, my soul lives.