Full and Complete Surrender to the Lordship of Christ
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Phil. 3:8
Surrender is a yielding of the heart to the Lord, which says, “yes†to God’s guidance, leading, and direction. Full surrender releases the Holy Spirit, the Resident Boss, to do anything he wants in and through us. Without hesitation, questioning, or equivocation, we joyfully obey the Holy Spirit’s commands allowing him to have his way in us. Only in full and complete surrender can true peace and fulfillment be found in the Christian life.
I became a believer in the Lord Jesus in November, 1825, nearly seventy years ago. The first four years after my conversion were spent in spiritual weakness; but in July, 1829, now sixty-six years ago, I came to a place of entire surrender of heart. I gave myself fully to the Lord. Honors, pleasure, money, my physical powers, my mental powers, all were laid down at the feet of Jesus, and I became a great lover of God. I found my all in God, and have continued to do so, in all my temporal and spiritual trials, for these past sixty-six years. My faith does not pertain to only temporal blessings, but to everything, because I stand constantly on God’s Word. It has been my knowledge of God and His Word that has thus sustained me.
George Mueller quoted in His Victorious Indwelling, ed., Nick Harrison (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998), 192.