Devotional: Surrender

When I was about 7 years old all the kids living in my tiny cul-de-sac decided to have a huge snowball fight. This was going to be the greatest war the people of my generation had ever seen. It seems like there were millions of us, though in fact the number of kids was closer to thirty. We divided into two teams, and I had the honor to be captain of my team. Each team was given a half-hour to assemble and stock up on as many snow balls possible before the massacre begun. I can still hear the theme from “Rocky” playing in my head. When time was up the team scattered from our state of the art base made from cardboard boxes and took positions behind cars and trees to smite all those who would dare oppose us. I stayed behind to man the base with my first officer and we could hear the sounds of frozen warfare off in the distance. As time went by we could hear the battle drawing nearer to our position. I peaked out and could see the entire group of thirty kids approaching our base. I prepared myself to face the battle and grabbed the biggest snowball at my disposal. As I came out from the shelter ready to battle, everybody, including my own team, had arms at the ready and aimed at me. Turncoats! During the course of the battle everybody decided to turn on me and take me out. How could this be? I looked at my first officer and told him to get ready for the fight of his life, but he quickly turned sides to join the others and the shower of snowballs poured down on me like an avalanche. I knew I was defeated, and thus I surrendered.

How about you? Do you wait until things get the darkest before you surrender, or do you surrender to God before the battle begins? So many times we can get caught up in trying to get through life and ministry on our own strength, and that might work for a while. Eventually it will catch up to you, and that’s when burn out occurs. Instead, surrender to God daily and follow HIS instructions for your life. Psalm 32:7 says “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” As we go through this series I want to encourage you to rely more on God and less on yourself. But don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you shouldn’t work hard or put effort into things. God honors hard work! I’ve heard it said that we should work like it all depends on us and pray like it all depends on God. Talk about surrender! I pray that during this series you get excited about putting your hands up!

Much Love, Ryan.