February 9, 2006 Why Surrender?

Why Surrender?

Why do we use "Surrender?" Our website, our updates, our newsletters, & our photoshows all bare the name Surrender. Webster defines the verb surrender, "to yield to the power, control, or possession of another upon compulsion or demand." Surrender is not something we do in our own power. It is act into which we are forced. Contrast "surrender" with "commitment" which is defined as an agreement or pledge to do something in the future. Commitment is what we do (or even better, what we plan to do in the future.) Our ministry is not a commitment to the Lord. It is not something that we have decided to do. In our ministry, we have surrendered to the Lord. And while the process is far from complete, our prayer is that we will hold nothing back, but will surrender all.

What excites me about the short-term mission trips that we lead here at e3 Partners is the opportunity we provide for people to experience their own "surrender moment." For example, when I woke up in Trujillo, Peru in October of 2001 on a GMF church planting trip, I was a fish out of water. I did not speak the language, did not understand the culture, did not know what we would eat, had never written my testimony down on paper and had never knocked on a door with the intent of sharing the Gospel when the person opened the door. However, that is exactly what I had signed up to do for a week. So I called out to the Lord. "Lord, if anything cool is going to happen this week here in Trujillo, it is going to have to be you, because I have got nothing!"And I saw God work powerfully around me, through me and even in spite of me that week. It was one of my first surrender moments.

How about you? Have you ever been driven to your knees and called out to the Lord, "Help, I have got nothing!" Our God is good. Our God is faithful. Surrender and let Him show you.