Surrender

Matthew 10:³⁹ “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.”

We are totally grateful to God for the doors He is opening to God’s Favourite House in Latin America. It is mind-blowing what God is doing, and we are totally grateful. Do you know how they catch monkeys in Latin America? They put a banana in the bottle, like in the inserted image.

The monkey puts his hand into the jar to grab the banana. However, the monkey’s hand cannot come out of the jar if its fist is clenched. When the monkey sees the people coming to catch it, all it needs to do is to let go of the banana and escape, right? But the monkey will keep holding onto the banana until it is caught. What are you holding on to? What are you clinging on to? What are you trying to grab onto? God is saying to you today, let it go. Do not control it, let it go.

Do you know why you need to let go? And your letting go has to be complete and absolute because there is no partial surrender. You cannot claim to be ninety-five percent surrendered to Jesus. You cannot claim that you trust Jesus with some things, but you cannot trust Him with other things. It is either you trust Him, or you do not trust Him. You can trust Jesus to save your soul and not trust Him with your children. Similarly, you cannot claim that you trust Jesus to forgive your past, but you cannot trust Him to direct your future. Are you going to surrender and have the freedom and peace that God has for you? Or are you going to keep holding on to things and keep feeling confused and perplexed? It is your choice. What is it going to be?

Someone said and it is so powerful, “You do not always have the power to control, but you always have the power to surrender”. Everything around us tells us otherwise, is telling us things contrary to the gospel. Everything around us says to take charge. You control your destiny. If it is going to be it is up to you. Remember, this is one of the statements I made in my book on “Winning”. But if you read that book well, you will see how it all points to Jesus and to surrender. You make it happen, however, what Jesus is saying is to follow Him is to surrender control.

Jesus says, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” Surrender is not a one-time event. You have to daily take up your cross and follow Jesus.

  Prayer: Father, I commit to daily giving up control of my life to Jesus, taking up my cross daily and following Him, in Jesus Mighty Name. Amen!