THE DOOR OF FULL SURRENDER

"But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come
forth as gold." - Job 23:10

I was recently sitting with the leader of a workplace organization as he
described a question he poses to workplace believers. "What if there
were two doors to choose from; behind one door was the complete will of
God for your life and behind the other door was how life could be
according to your own preference. Which door would you choose?" The
struggle for most lies in the desire to follow God completely and the
fear of what might be behind the door of full surrender. Most of us
desire to follow God, but few of us will do it at any cost. We do not
really believe that God loves us to the degree that we are willing to
give Him complete permission to do as He wills in us.
If we desire to fully walk with Christ, there is a cost. We may give
intellectual assent and go along with His principles and do fine;
however, if we are fully given over to Him and His will for our life, it
will be a life that will have adversity. The Bible is clear that humans
do not achieve greatness without having their sinful will broken. This
process is designed to create a nature change in each of us, not just a
habit change. The Bible calls it circumcision. Circumcision is painful,
bloody, and personal.
If God has plans to greatly use you in the lives of others, you can
expect your trials to be even greater than those of others. Why?
Because, like Joseph who went through greater trials than most
patriarchs, your calling may have such responsibility that God cannot
afford to entrust it to you without ensuring your complete faithfulness
to the call. He has much invested in you on behalf of others. He may
want to speak through your life to a greater degree than through
another. The events of your life would become the frame for the message
He wants to speak through you.
Do not fear the path that God may lead you on. Embrace it. For God may
bring you down a path in your life to ensure the reward of your
inheritance. "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us
an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Cor. 4:17).