East Dayton Christian Church
 
Surrender is a word we don’t talk about much. The concept goes counter culture to our world. We would much rather talk about success, conquering, winning, achieving. But surrender is a very necessary aspect of the believer’s life. Surrender means you let God take control. It means you obey what God wants you to do, and you trust Him in the journey. You yield your resources, your time, your talents, and your life to accomplish his will. We resist that initially, because we think that means we are giving up so much, but what we discover is we gain so much.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:25, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Finding real life means surrendering yourself completely to Jesus Christ. When we do we will find fulfillment in every area of our life.

We find fulfillment in worship.  Authentic worship comes when we surrender. Paul says in Romans when we become a living sacrifice, which is our daily surrendering to God, we are worshipping. Daily, lifestyle worship is “his good, perfect, pleasing will.” (Romans 12:1,2)

We find fulfillment in service. One paradox of life is this: when you give, you get. And when we begin to focus on serving the needs of others, we find we gain so much in the process.

We find fulfillment in relationships. Meeting the needs of others will build genuine relationships, which are deep and meaningful. When you invest yourself in other people other people, in turn, invest in you. And deep, authentic relationships are cultivated.

Are you willing to begin the journey of surrender? God can do incredible things through a life that is surrendered to him.

 
 
This morning, in my quiet time, I was playing one of my favorite worship songs on my iPod. I love listening to great worship songs that reveal God and move me to be in His presence.


Truthfully, our daily personal worship helps us grow in three very important ways. First, it nourishes our soul on a daily basis. Just as our physical bodies need daily nourishment, our spiritual lives need to be fed daily. Quiet time filled with prayer, reading and studying God's word, meditating on God's principles, and listening keeps us spiritually strong, able to withstand the stress and temptation of the day.


Secondly, daily personal worship enriches corporate worship. When the church gathers to worship God, it is an awesome thing. I am a firm believer that the most important factor in corporate worship is not music, sermons, videos, dramas, sound, lighting or environmental elements. I believe the single most important factor to corporate worship is the heart of the worshiper. When we come to worship services with our hearts strengthened by daily personal worship, that is a worship service I want to be attending!


Third, daily personal worship is practice for heaven. This morning I was moved by the thought that someday we are going to gather around God's throne, and standing in his presence, worship. What a tremendous thought! What an inspiring thought! Worship is recognizing who God is and what God has done. In heaven, we will not be hindered in seeing Him in all His glory, and we will be reminded of all He has done.


"Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."
Revelation 15:4