Surrender Part 2

Last night I read an amazing testimony in an old book by Ralph Martin titled, Hungry For God. Subtitle: Practical Help in Personal Prayer. He was part of the Charismatic revival in the Catholic and Protestant churches during the 70's.

He tells of having a relationship with the Lord as a child but when he started college he went through a time of questioning God and his faith. I think a lot of us can relate to that.

It's so interesting how He had a dramatic encounter with Christ -- it was through a Cursillo. Translation: the original Walk to Emmaus, begun in the Catholic Church. The Methodist Church borrowed the concept from the Catholics and received permission to develop the Walk to Emmaus. For those of us who have been transformed by Christ in going on a Walk and working Walks, aren't we thankful for those who did all this!

At the Cursillo, the Holy Spirit brought Martinunder conviction, drawing him to Jesus. He writes:

"I had made myself the creator of my own universe, the lord of my own and others' lives, the arbiter of my own morality....By God's grace, at the end of that cursillo, I was given enough courage to admit the truth of my condition, the reality of the Lordship of Jesus, to kneel and confess my sin, renounce it, and turn over my life to Him. I experienced the release of God's power within me and came to know Him in an incredibly full way -- with a bursting heart and tears of love and joy."

Elsewhere in this chapter, Martin makes some very insightful points about the nature of our sinfulness and why people resist God's grace and love:

"All resistance to accepting Jesus as He presents Himself to us in Scripture and in other ways (preaching, testimonies, etc) is one manifestation or another of the fundamental sickness affecting our race, conscious or unconscious rebellion agasint the full reigh of God over His creation, sin."

Reminds me of what one of my professors told our class years ago: "Sin is living independently of God."

This statement of Martin's I especially pondered and prayed over as I went to sleep: "how important it is to open our heart to His light, and if there be anything not right there in our fundamental relationship with Him, ask Him to help us get it right."

And He WILL help us get it right if we ask Him. I've said it before, prayed it before...but let me say it and pray it again. It's the third step prayer of the 12 steps (the Christian version): "Lord, I turn my life over to Your care and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Am I weird, or do you also find that this self-surrender is something we need to do continually? Kind of like that new song by Mercy Me: "Good bye to Me."

My little testimony is this: whenever I consciously turn my life and heart over to Jesus and ask Him to take control, He brings that promised peace and uses me in ways that are beyond any human strength. Hallelujah.

Jim