I Surrender All, I Surrender All

All to Jesus I surrender

All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live

I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee
My blessed Savior
I surrender all

“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  Matt. 16:24

As I was growing up in church, I remember singing this song.  It was a song of surrender, giving up your will to follow the will of the Father – God.  You were singing this song to God and proclaiming your desire to give yourself over to God and allow Him to rule.  You were yielding to His control. 

Unfortunately, a great deal of people sang the song but really didn’t mean it.  My mother used to say that you shouldn’t sing the song if you didn’t mean it.  You could sing a lie just like you could tell a lie.  How could you surrender all if you didn’t even know all that God wanted you to surrender?  How could we possibly surrender if we didn’t know what to surrender or how to surrender?  And how can you surrender ALL, if you only know one thing that God is asking you to surrender?

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t always freely give all (or anything).  There were some things that I only let go of after being made to by God revealing the truth, being hurt, or God removing from my life.  Some things came easy and others didn’t.  Some relationships were dismissed easily and some were heart wrenching.  I didn’t want to surrender, I wanted to make it work.  Sometimes God asked me to go places, move places, leave jobs that I didn’t want to go to or move from.  He asked me to lay down my dreams, and take up His for my life.  The jobs I was seeking after were not His will for my life.

Even though at times the surrender came after many tears and much conversation with God, I have to admit (and much faster now with less resistance) that God’s love for me is so great that if He asks me to surrender, it is for my good.  It will work out for my good and for my betterment.  He has great and loving plans for my life.  If I just trust Him and surrender, it will work out for my good. 

I haven’t always wanted to surrender but God has worked miracles in my life when I have.  He has made ways, open doors, restore relationships, and removed those that were harmful to me and my family.  God has only had my best interest at heart.  I have been learning to trust His guidance and direction in all areas of my life.

Now, I can sing the song knowing that I am surrendering all that I know at the time to surrender.  I will never know all that God wants me to surrender in my life because He won’t show me all at once.  It would be too much for me to handle.  But as He reveals what I need to surrender (and I do), He will reveal to me what His plans are as I walk through the process of surrendering.  I am allowing Him to become my Savior in another area, one area at a time. 

I will always need to continually surrender to God on a daily basis.  He alone knows what I need to surrender, how I need to surrender, and why I need to surrender.  The more I trust and yield, the more blessed I become. 

The scripture says in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” The more I trust Him, the more He will make my path straight.  Surrender comes as you trust God, He will surely make your path straight and take good care of you.

Be blessed.