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POWER FILLED CHRISTIAN LIVING

INTRODUCTION

What is it that brings the power of the Word of God, the power of the blood of Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the power of prayer to its fullness in our lives?–It is a Surrendered Life!

The power filled Christian life is found in the heart and life of the Christian who is absolutely and totally surrendered to God.

To applaud the will of God, to do the will of God, even to fight for the will of God is not difficult. That is, it is not difficult until it comes at cross-purposes with our will! Then the lines are drawn!

One does not just surrender a life in an instant and it is done. That which is lifelong can only be surrendered in a lifetime one day at a time. (I die daily)

I.         ABSOLUTE SURRENDER MEANS PRESENTING OURSELVES TO GOD!

               (ROMANS 6:13, 16, 19, 22; 12:1-2; PHILIPPIANS 1:20-21)

               “Yield” -- means to present or to put at one’s disposal.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tell us that we have already been bought with a price by God!

The question is, have we surrendered what is rightfully His to Him to be used as He wants.

A. W. Tozer said “The man who surrenders to Christ exchanges a cruel slave driver fora kind and gentle Master whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

If we don't surrender to Christ, then we surrender to a life filled with chaos.

To take all that we are and all that we have and hand it over to God may not be easy; but it can be done! And when it is done, then we are one less candidate for misery!

To surrender to God is the wisest thing anyone can do for himself! In response, God, who is infinite in love, in wisdom, and in power, will do His very best with us.

Now understand that we may not immediately see that it is His best! However, sooner or later we will see.

               Isaiah presented himself to God in Isaiah 6:8.

               Paul presented himself to God in Philippians 1:20-21.

II.        ABSOLUTE SURRENDER BRINGS KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH!

            (JOHN 8:31-32; 1 JOHN 1:5)

               Surrendering to God opens our eyes to the light that He Himself is!

               But, nothing blinds our spiritual vision like our own self-will or sin!

               An unsurrendered will lies behind almost all the skepticism in the world.

Is your heart filled with doubts and questions? If we want certainty instead of doubt, then we must yield ourselves to God.

1 John 1:5–“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

 III.        ABSOLUTE SURRENDER BRINGS POWER IN PRAYER!

(1 JOHN 3:22; PSALM 37:4; JOHN 11:42; 6:38; 4:34; HEBREWS 10:7)

Psalms 37:4–“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

Not one prayer–great or small–goes unanswered for those who are surrendered! Also, there is no disappointment with the answer received to the one who is surrendered!

Many people are greatly puzzled and frustrated because their prayers never seem to reach the ears of God or they are dissatisfied with the answer they get.

That’s because they have not met the one great, fundamental condition of prevailing prayer–a surrendered will and a surrendered life.

               Why did God the Father always hear His Son Jesus? (John 11:42)

               It was because of what Jesus could say in John 6:38; and John 4:34.

               He was the obedient Son.

Hebrews 10:7–“Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.”

George Mueller was known as a man of powerful prayer. Why was that the case? Because many years ago, he set out to be and do just what God wanted him to be and do.

He pondered God’s Word daily and deeply in order to know His will! He yielded himself to God! There is not one of us who cannot become mighty in prayer if we will do the same thing.

  IV.        ABSOLUTE SURRENDER BRINGS OVERFLOWING JOY!

               (JOHN 15:10-11)

            Hermann Lange, facing execution, wrote from his prison cell in Hamburg on July 11, 1943: "Personally, I am perfectly calm, facing steadfastly what is to come. When one has really achieved complete surrender to the will of God, there is a marvelous feeling of peace and sense of absolute security. The gift we receive is so unimaginably great that all human joys pale beside it."

Jesus found joy in keeping His Father’s commandments by completely surrendering to His will. He told His disciples that if they would follow that path, His joy would remain in them, and their joy would be “full.”

There is no great joy in a half-hearted Christian life. Many Christians have just enough religion to make them miserable.

Remember the Hebrew children complaining of being deprived of the “leeks, the onions, and the garlic” of Egypt? (Numbers 11:5)

But, if they had just totally surrendered to God, they could have had the milk and honey of Canaan! (Exodus. 3:8)

The way out of that unhappy situation is simple–absolute surrender to God. Then and only then will the fullness of joy will be experienced.

V.        ABSOLUTE SURRENDER BRINGS THE MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST TO US.

            (JOHN 14:21; 2 CORINTHIANS 4:10-11)

John 14:21–“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

VI.       ABSOLUTE SURRENDER BRINGS THE FULLNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. (EPHESIANS 5:17-18)

               Corrie Ten Boom gave an illustration of this:

“ I have a glove here in my hand. The glove cannot do anything by itself, but when my hand is in it, it can do many things. True, it is not the glove, but my hand in the glove that acts. We are gloves. It is the Holy Spirit in us who is the hand, who does the job. We have to make room for the hand so that every finger is filled.”

The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they have not yet come to the end of themselves! They are still giving some of the orders, and are still interfering with God's working within them.

Watchman Nee said, “To have God do his own work through us, even once, is better than a lifetime of human striving.”

CONCLUSION

Why do so many people resist surrendering themselves to Christ? For many, the reason is that they don't really trust God to handle their lives to their suiting.

A young lady stood talking to an evangelist on the subject of consecration, of giving herself wholly to God. She said, "I dare not give myself wholly to the Lord, for fear He will send me out to China as a missionary."

The evangelist said, "If some cold, snowy morning a little bird should come, half-frozen, pecking at your window, and he would let you take it in and feed it, thereby putting itself entirely in your power, what would you do? Would you grip it in your hand and crush it? Or would you give it shelter, warmth, food, and care?"

A new light came into the girl's eyes as she exclaimed, "Oh, now I see, I see. I can trust God!"

Two years later she again met the evangelist and recalled to him the incident. She told of how she had finally abandoned herself to God–and then her face lit up with a smile and said, "And do you know where God is going to let me serve Him?" And there was now a twinkle in her eye–"In China!"

If we make a compromise with surrender, we can remain interested in the abundant life and all the riches of freedom, love, and peace it may bring, but it is the same as looking at a display in a shop window. We look through the window but do not go in and buy because we are not willing to pay the price–surrender.

Many Christians feel more comfortable with the idea that apart from Christ they can do nothing, than they do with the other side of that coin: that they can do all things through Him who strengthens them. "I can do nothing" lets me off the hook; "I can do all things" makes me wonder why I'm not doing anything. It's easier to piddle around wondering whether it's God's will that you rent this apartment or that one, than it is to face up to God's ultimate will for you–that you become conformed to the image of His Son.

“The greatness of a man's power is the measure of his surrender.” William Booth (1829-1912)

“We say we must do all we can. Jesus says we must let God do all we can.”

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)

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NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!