Surrender

What Do You Surrender To? – CS Lewis

He who surrenders himself without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation, or a party, or a class is rendering to Caesar that which, of all things, most emphatically belongs to God: himself.

– CS Lewis –


Take Our Stand at the Cross – AT Pierson

We take our stand at the cross and consent to be nailed to it, voluntarily, actually; to submit to the pain whereby the flesh dies; the hands are pierced that carnal work may no longer be done in the energy of the flesh; the feet are pierced that no longer we may walk according to the flesh; the brow is pierced with the thorn crown that our head may not any longer be held up for human diadems and fading laurel wreaths …

– AT Pierson –


The One Secret of a Holy Life – Oswald Chambers

The one marvelous secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfections of Jesus manifest themselves in my mortal flesh. Sanctification is “Christ in you.”… Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy; it is drawing from Jesus the holiness that was manifested in Him, and He manifests it in me.

– Oswald Chambers –


To Be “In the Will of God” – Oswald Chambers

To be “in the will of God” is not a matter of intellectual discernment, but a state of heart. To a sanctified soul the will of God is its implicit life, as natural as breathing. It is the sick man who knows intellectually what the will of God is; but a sanctified heart is the expression of the will of God. Its motto is: “My Father can do what he likes with me, He may bless me to death, or give me a bitter cup; I delight to do His will.”

– Oswald Chambers –

Lord Make Me Weak – Jim Elliot

Sufficiency in myself is a persistent thought, though I try to judge it. Lord Jesus, Tender Lover of this brute soul, wilt Thou make me weak? I long to understand Thy sufficiency and my inadequacy, and how can I sense this except in experience? So, Lord, Thou knowest what I am able to bear. Send trouble that I might know peace; send anxiety that I might know rest in Thee. Send hard things that I may learn to rely on Thy dissolving them. Strange askings, and I do not know what I speak, but “my desire is toward Thee”—anything that will intensify and make me tender, Savior. O desire to be like Thee, Thou knowest.

– Jim Elliot –
From his journal, October 27, 1948

Do Not Strive In Your Own Strength – Andrew Murray

Do not strive in your own strength; cast yourself at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and wait upon Him in the sure confidence that He is with you, and works in you. Strive in prayer; let faith fill your heart—so will you be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.

– Andrew Murray –

The Purity of Gold – Amy Carmichael

The goldsmith never leaves his crucible once it has entered the fire. He periodically lifts out the gold, lets it cool, rubs it between his fingers, and if not satisfied puts it back … This time he blows the fire hotter than it was before, and each time he puts the gold back into the crucible, the heat of the fire is increased, “It could not bear it so hot at first, but it can bear it now; what would have destroyed it then helps it now.” “How do you know when the gold is purified?” we asked, and he answered, “When I can see my face in it, then it is pure.”

– Amy Carmichael –
from Gold Cord