And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen. Amen! while lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground. (Nehemiah 8:6 ONM)
One day as I was driving in my car and listening to this ministry, the speaker was using an analogy of how when a police officer will tell a suspect to put up their hands, and once they do, it becomes a sign of surrender.
There are also signs that reflect in our personal lives that will tell whether we are totally surrendered to the Lord. I feel the most important sign would be if we are submissive. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7 KJV). The meaning of the word submit (hupotagete) is to be align under the authority of another. If you are in any of the armed forces this could be like your commanding officer. If we are submissive to the authority of Jesus, we will obey Him and do whatever He commands. In his book The Devil’s Door, John Bevere, states, “Obedience is not obedience until you have completed all that we have been told to do.” Jesus tells us His yoke is easy and his burdens are light (Matthew 11:29-30). We don’t want to be like a mule, which is a very stubborn animal, yoked to an ox. We will begin tiring and grieving the Holy Spirit who must constantly and continually pull on the reins because we are not in spiritual submission and surrender. When we love God with every fiber of our being and love our neighbor, we show a sign of surrender to the Lord. And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27 KJV). When we develop a servant heart like Jesus and have a desire to serve others and not ourselves, we then show a sign of surrender. “The greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11 KJV). When we lift our hearts and hands toward heaven to our God in worship we show a true total surrender to Him. When we enter humbly and bow before His Holy Presence, we are saying Lord, I surrender to you only.
I remember singing the song “I Surrender All” written by Judson W. Van De Venter. He wrote this song when he was struggling between two life choices. When he made the choice to go the way of the Lord to become an evangelist full time, he made the sign of surrender. Most of the time we sing this song at alter call when people come to the Lord. As born again believers, we should be like Judson Van De Venter and make this our theme song during the whole duration of our life for every occasion; Lord I surrender all!
