Surrender

The Lord is so faithful! When I ask Him to teach me He sends a flood of loving truth. My job is to listen, trust and obey.

I continue to go to the Lord for help and understanding about my greed and gluttony. Every day there is something, many things, new!

Yesterday, there were three (at least) very blatant ways in which the Lord was teaching me (make me teachable, Lord!).

First, in the service we sang a song that was new to me. It's called "Surrender" by Marc James. The lyrics are below.

I'm giving You my heart

All that is within

I lay it all down

For the sake of You my King

I'm giving You my dreams

laying down my rights

I'm giving up my pride

For the promise of new life

And I Surrender

All to You, all to You

I'm singing You this song

I'm waiting at the Cross

All the world holds dear

I count it all as loss

For the sake of knowing You

For the glory of Your name

To know the lasting joy

Even sharing in Your pain

I've often had difficulty saying "I surrender all" because I know in my heart that I'm not surrendering "all", I don't even know what "all" is. However, it is much more meaningful to me to choose one thing to work on at a time (I find I make much more progress in my spiritual growth). So, if I can choose, in that moment, to surrender my greed then I have found a tangible, workable way to honor my Lord.

Next, one of our teaching pastors, Daryl DelHouseaye, spoke on stewardship. Again, the Lord showed me that my greed does affect others and it keeps me from being a good steward of His precious gifts. Daryl is such an enjoyable speaker. If you are interested, you can go to the church's website and download the message on stewardship (part IV): http://www.gccaz.org/sermonseries.aspx.

Third, my normal Sunday school class/community group was pre-empted by an informational class on discipleship. They asked my class teacher to speak because he and his wife have spent nearly the last 50 years discipling people who desire to grow in the Lord. As I listened I felt the Lord nudging me saying that keeping all of the Lord's goodness to myself was greedy! Spending time just on my own leisure activities is greedy when I consider all of the people who don't know the Lord, or who haven't been mentored to walk in the Spirit. so, I signed-up for the 10-week course on discipleship. Sigh... back to marathon church on Sundays :)

Ok, Lord, You are teaching me and giving me many opportunities to grow. Help me to use these opportunities to their fullest. Help my unbelief and laziness so You are glorified. Amen.