Farm Yard Insights

Surrender: The Secret to Faith That Works

I am a fan of early Western movies. Sometime back Kelly, my wife, and I watched a movie entitled Conagher, starring Sam Elliot. In this movie, Conagher asks a young cowboy if he was “Riding for the Brand,” in other words was he true, and committed to the man who was paying his salary? In today’s liberal world, people have been trained to look after themselves as “number one,” and to stick it to the man who is paying their salary. Leadership is often seen as a role with flaws, as leaders are no more perfect than their followers. However, in God’s Kingdom, leaders are chosen, called, prepared, and anointed for service. They are human, remember, and come with flaws, but God chooses to use those who are surrendered as they chose not to steal His Glory amid their God-ordained exploits.

I get my practical outlook from God’s training on the farm. However, in 1977 I left my farm home in Canada to come to ORU in Tulsa, Oklahoma to study for an MBA degree. During my business training at ORU, we were learning to function like Christ, from the viewpoint of a servant. In our society, often people want to be promoted to the boss, the leader, and the one in control for a variety of reasons. At ORU we were taught to follow Christ’s example and lead from the position of a servant and learn not to lord it over those we lead, but to lead by love and humility.

Often where people strongly desire to be promoted, the “Peter Principle,” which Peter Drucker, the grandfather of management theory coined, comes into play. It states that people often get promoted to their level of incompetence, as they oversold themselves, and then become demoted due to their failures. God knows us better than we know ourselves.

To surrender our will to the will of the Father God in love and service is a sure path to success.

The scripture teaches that “True Promotion comes from the Lord.”

Ps. 75:6-7 of The Passion Translation states:

This I know: the favor that brings promotion and power, doesn’t come from anywhere on earth, for no one exalts a person but God, the true judge of all.

He alone determines where favor rests. He anoints one for greatness and brings another down to his knees.

I learned in my 45 years of being in business, that when God promotes me, it is an enduring promotion, and that he has prepared me to take on the new harness for this larger job.

So, how does this relate to faith?

Think of it this way - no surrender, then no trust, then no faith. However, where there is a genuine surrender to God, and his will, then we develop over time a genuine trust in God. As we do what He wills, then our faith in God also grows.

In a place of solitude, we become quiet and ready to hear from God. As we hear, faith begins to take root, and as we then cooperate with God, we see God do great exploits in and through us, and all around

us. Faith is not the object, it is the by-product of our relationship to God in Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us.

There is an old Pentecostal saying, “God says it, I believe it, and that settles it for me.”

Surrender to our Almighty Heavenly Father, is our yielding to the fact that our Father knows best. Surrender is not a one-time event, but a daily posture, which puts us in a position to receive from our Holy Father every moment of every day.

The early Church described the things that they did regularly, as “Practices,” yet in our drive for spontaneity especially among our Charismatic and Pentecostal groups, we have lost the benefits of embracing regular practices, which help us to give God some undivided time and attention. In our world of immense distractions, and competition for our attention, we have lost the peace of God which is supposed to rule in our hearts and provide us clarity in our life.

What are your regular practices? When do you meet with God each day for worship, for fellowship and to receive your marching orders?

To re-cap, Surrender is a choice, and daily surrender is a stance we take up, which enables us to submit to God’s will for our lives and to walk with Him. When we surrender to God who is love, we root our faith in the God kind of love, and as I Corinthians 13:8 says, Love never Fails. Therefore, if our faith is grounded in God’s Love, our faith will also never fail, as faith works by love!

Gal 5:6 in the Passion Translation says - when you’re placed into the Anointed One and joined to him, circumcision and religious obligations can benefit you nothing. All that matters now is living in the faith that is activated and brought to perfection by love.

Much has been written about the Road to Emmaus in Luke 24:13, where Jesus comes alongside the disciples as they went, and began to fellowship with them. The disciples didn’t recognize Jesus, but they sensed the Spirit of God all around him.

Brother Hagin used to say, many folks are looking for something spectacular, and by so doing they miss the supernatural. The supernatural is God with us, in us, and through us, as we journey along the road of life. There may be spectacular manifestations of miracles and healings, etc., but like Elijah in the cave, it wasn’t the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but the still small voice of God that demonstrated God’s presence and will.

Are you listening?

So, it is our obedience to the will of our Holy Father, and our willingness to quiet ourselves and listen to His voice, that reveals His will to our hearts in sweet communion, by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit who abides in us.

Surrender is not just an interesting concept but an imperative for victorious living.

Have you surrendered?

Happy Faith Adventures!!

More insights from the Farmyard for you today.

Be Blessed.

Glenn Edwards