Absolute Surrender

God has a plan for His Church upon earth. But alas! we too often make our plan, and we think that we know what ought to be done. We ask God first to bless our feeble efforts, instead of absolutely refusing to go unless God go before us.

Being filled with the Spirit is simply this - having my whole nature yielded to His power. When the whole soul is yielded to the Holy Spirit, God Himself will fill it.

Christ Jesus said: “I am the Vine, ye are the branches.” In other words: “I, the living One who have so completely given myself to you, am the Vine. You cannot trust me too much. I am the Almighty Worker, full of a divine life and power.” You are the branches of the Lord Jesus Christ. If there is in your heart the consciousness that you are not a strong, healthy, fruit-bearing branch, not closely linked with Jesus, not living in Him as you should be—then listen to Him say: “I am the Vine, I will receive you, I will draw you to myself, I will bless you, I will strengthen you, I will fill you with my Spirit. I, the Vine, have taken you to be my branches, I have given myself utterly to you; children, give yourselves utterly to me. I have surrendered myself as God absolutely to you; I became man and died for you that I might be entirely yours. Come and surrender yourselves entirely to be mine.

And to every waiting heart that will make the sacrifice, and give up everything, and give time to cry and pray to God, the answer will come. The blessing is not far off. Our God delights in helping us. He will enable us to perfect, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, what was begun in the Spirit.

If you are not willing to sacrifice time to get alone with him, and to give him time everyday to work in you, and to keep up the link of connection between you and himself, he cannot give you that blessing of his unbroken fellowship.

Workers, take your place every day at the feet of Jesus, in the blessed peace and rest that come from the knowledge—I have no care, my cares are His! I have no fear, He cares for all my fears.

Oh, become nothing in deep reality, and, as a worker, study only one thing—to become poorer and lower and more helpless, that Christ may work all in you.

The fruit of the Spirit is love.” We read that “Love is the fulfilling of the law”’ (Romans 13: 10),

Some are crying to God for a great revival. I can say that that is the prayer of my heart unceasingly. Oh, if God would only revive His believing people! … It is not for nothing that there are in thousands of hearts yearnings after holiness and consecration: it is a forerunner of God’s power. God works to will and then He works to do. These yearnings are a witness and a proof that God has worked to will. Oh, let us in faith believe that the omnipotent God will work to do among His people more than we can ask. “Unto him,” Paul said, “who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. . . . unto him be glory.” Let our hearts say that. Glory to God, the omnipotent One, who can do above what we dare to ask or think!

We ask God to bless our feeble efforts, instead of absolutely refusing to go unless God goes before us.

Father, may the Holy Spirit have full dominion over me: in my home, in my character, in every word of my tongue, in every thought of my heart, in every feeling towards my fellowmen; may the Holy Spirit have entire possession.

Notice how Christ uses that word deny twice. He said to Peter the first time, “Deny himself” (Matthew 16:24); He said to Peter the second time, “Thou shalt deny me” (Matthew 26:34). It is either of the two. There is no other choice for us; we must either deny self or deny Christ. There are two great powers fighting each other the self-nature in the power of sin, and Christ in the power of God. Either of these must rule within us.

love—God’s love to me, and my love to God, and my love to my fellowmen. The three are one; you cannot separate them.

First, let us look at Peter the devoted disciple of Jesus; next, at Peter as he lived the life of self; then, at Peter in his repentance; and last, at what Christ made of Peter by the Holy Spirit.

And there they were, empty, ignorant, helpless, glad, and joyful, but deeply humbled.

absolute surrender to God—was sincere, then it must mean absolute surrender to the divine love to fill me. I must be a servant of love to love every child of God around me. “The fruit of the Spirit is love.

love to God by your love to your brother; that is the one standard by which God will judge your love to Him. If the love of God is in your heart, you will love your brother. The fruit of the Spirit is love.

are to love him. Love is to be the fruit of the Spirit all the day and every day. Yes, listen! If you don’t love that unlovable man whom you have seen, how can you love God whom you have not seen? You can deceive yourself with beautiful thoughts about loving God. You must prove your

Do we not begin to fear that love has fled from the earth? That if we were to ask the world: “Have you seen us wear the badge of love?” the world would say: “No; what we have heard of the Church of Christ is that there is not a place where there is no quarreling and separation.” Let us ask God with one heart that we may wear the badge of Jesus’ love. God is able to give it.

How often we say prayers, but how little we really pray! May God make us worthy of doing the work for each other.

I find that many people mistake faith for the blessing that faith is intended to bring. By faith I am to inherit the promises. Oh, believe and trust God; then look to Him to give the blessing. Be filled with the Holy Spirit.

They want to claim, want to take, and want to get, and yet what they crave eludes their grasp. Why? Because they do not wait for God to give it.

Dear friends, maybe you have never sincerely said it because you never thought it was needed; but say it now if you mean it. “Oh Christ, let me be filled with the Holy Spirit. I will give up anything and everything. Accept my surrender of all to You!

Forsake All I ask you to remember that the disciples were men who had forsaken all to follow Jesus. The Lord Jesus went to a fisherman and said, “Leave your net behind and follow Me.” To another man He said, “Leave your position as a tax collector and come and follow Me.” They did it. They left those things behind and followed Jesus. They could later say by the mouth of Peter, We have forsaken all and followed thee (Matthew 19:27). They left their homes, their families, and their good names. Men mocked and laughed at them. Men called them the disciples of Jesus, and when He was despised and hated, they were hated too. They identified themselves with Him and gave themselves up entirely to follow Him. This is the first step to being filled with the Holy Spirit. We must forsake all to follow Christ.

One of the great causes why God cannot bless His Church is the want of love. When the body is divided, there cannot be strength. In the time of their great religious wars, when Holland stood out so nobly against Spain, one of their mottoes was: “Unity gives strength.” It is only when God’s people stand as one body, one before God in the fellowship of love, one toward another in deep affection, one before the world in a love that the world can see—it is only then that they will have power to secure the blessing which they ask of God.

Moment by moment I’m kept in His love; Moment by moment I’ve life from above.

How can I learn to love? I cannot, until the Spirit of God fills my heart with God’s love, and I long for God’s love in a very different sense from which I have sought it so selfishly, as a comfort and a joy and a happiness and a pleasure to myself. I cannot learn to love until I learn that God is love and to claim it and receive it as an indwelling power for self-sacrifice. I cannot learn to love until I see that my glory and my blessedness is to be like God and like Christ in giving up everything in myself for my fellow men. May God teach us that! Oh, the divine blessedness of the love with which the Holy Spirit can fill our hearts! The fruit of the Spirit is love.

The fruit of the Spirit is love. Why? Because nothing but love can expel and conquer our selfishness. Self is the great curse, whether in its relation to God, or to our fellow men, or to fellow Christians. We usually think of ourselves and seek our own benefit. Self is our greatest curse, but praise God, Christ came to redeem us from self. We sometimes talk about deliverance from the self-life and praise God for every word that can be said about it to help us. I am afraid, though, that some people think deliverance from the self-life means that now they are no longer going to have any trouble in serving God. They forget that deliverance from the self-life means to be a vessel overflowing with love to everybody all day.

Some of you have read the words of that aged saint, George Müller, who on his ninetieth birthday, told of all God’s goodness to him.[1] What did he say he believed to be the secret of his happiness and of all the blessing with which God had given him? He said he believed there were two reasons. The one was that by God’s grace he had maintained a good conscience before God day by day; the other was that he loved God’s Word.

Lord God, I have given myself to be led by Your Spirit. You have accepted me and blessed me, and the Holy Spirit now leads me.” Let us recognize that with God helping us, we can leave the carnal side and begin life on the spiritual side.