God’s power comes through our surrender as we open our hearts to His Word

Coming to Charis Bible College and being saturated by the Word is one of the reasons I really appreciate Charis, because there’s only one textbook, and that’s the Word of God. So you won’t get people’s opinions about the Word,  you’ll get the Word. One of the beautiful things about the Word is that it really has provided us access into the heart of God.

The Word of God is God’s Word, but it first came from His thoughts, His heart. So the Bible gives us the ability to change our internal picture of ourselves and change the way that we see this world that’s around us. The people who have surrendered their lives and said, “It’s not about me. It’s about what the Lord wants to do through me,” are those who start bearing fruit that is acceptable to the Lord. We do things that He wants us to do, not the things that we want to, and then God’s power comes through our surrender.

Jesus’ call for us to surrender is something for us to celebrate

You know, in Matthew chapter ten, the word talks about how Jesus called all the 12 disciples to Him and He empowered them to

• go out
• heal the sick,
• raise the dead

To do all these amazing things and as you read on in this chapter you can read what Jesus says in verses 38 and 39. Most of the time when we people this, they read it with negative connotations. We read this and think, oh, this is a bad thing. I want to tell you when we read this we should be looking at this with excitement. It is truly freeing for you and I to walk after these principles. We celebrate because we have learned and now believe that God’s power comes through our surrender. This is what Jesus says,

And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Matthew 10:38-39

God’s power comes through our surrender – Jesus’ promise

I want to tell you that this is an incredible promise that if we’ll lose our lives for the sake of Christ Jesus, we will actually find something so much greater than we ever could have accomplished in ourselves. You know, I look at the power that Jesus gave the disciples, the power that Jesus gives you and I. In John 14:12-13, Jesus says,

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Jesus says that He is going away but in His name you will heal the sick, you’ll cleanse the lepers, you’ll cast out demons, you’ll overcome the circumstances in the situation of this world. Why, because we’ve surrendered and lost our lives. We are taking up our cross and are now crucified with Christ.

Through our surrender comes promise and power from God

As it says in Galatians 2:20, it’s no longer us who lives, but now it’s Christ that lives in us with an incredible promise that God has given. You and I are not bound by our own limitations or by our own skill sets. We don’t have to just trust in the things that we’re good at. We trust in the Lord, when we engage with things that were not good at in the natural.  Our trust and surrender give a path for

• God’s power
• God’s strength
• God’s wisdom
• God’s understanding

to be working through us. We are going to accomplish great things in the Lord, and the Lord is going to get all of the glory.