victory in surrender
God does not wage war in the same manner that man does. As a Navy SEAL, I was taught to never give up the fight, but God showed me this past week a better way to fight my spiritual battles. Learn this lesson now, and you will be victorious in every battle you face from now on! The most important thing to understand is that victory is in surrender, and victory belongs to the Lord!
Exodus 15 speaks about how God delivered the Children of Israel from Amalek because Moses, who represented Israel as their leader, stood on an overlooking hill with his hands raised in surrender to the Lord. When he became weary and his hands dropped, Joshua began to lose the fight and become defeated. Aaron and Hur, two of Moses’ leaders, helped Moses to stay in the posture of surrender. They sat him on a rock and each one held up one of his arms until Amalek was completely destroyed. Moses had to receive their help in humility. He could have refused their help, and while he sat and rested, many of his men would have been killed. If he would have chosen to make his own battle plans and been successful, the glory and victory would have gone to him instead of God. By choosing to walk in humility and surrender his own will to God, God was able to fight the battle through Joshua and his men. In this manner, the glory and victory belonged to the Lord! Aaron and Hur were not mere observers either. When they saw a brother in need, they helped him by supporting him in his posture of surrender while letting him rest upon a rock.
Jesus, “our Rock”, delivers us from our enemies when we surrender to Him. Salvation is not because of our own righteousness or strength, but because of His grace alone. My participation in what God is doing only goes as far as my humility allows. Once I go past that line of humility, His “perfect” will is no longer my primary concern because now I am relying on my own strength. Surrender occurs when we worship and prayer to our God and King. When we focus on Him and His will, the glory and victory will belong to Him alone. Our act of surrender is our participation in the victory. This does not mean that we just sit idly by and let God do everything for us though.
As a Navy SEAL, I was trained to fight. We fought with every ounce of strength until the fight became more than we could handle. Despite all of our preparation, knowledge, skill, and training, if we were no longer effective against the enemy, we would call in fire support and get out of the way. God expects us to “fight the good fight” as Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:12 and put on the “armor of God” spoken about in Ephesians 6:10-18, but when we are being overwhelmed by the enemy, He expects us to cover ourselves with the cloak of humility and call upon Him to fight for us as it says in Deuteronomy 3:22 and Isaiah 40:31. If you become battle weary because the battle seems to never end, don’t let your arms drop. Don’t stop worshipping God. Don’t stop surrendering yourself to Him. Don’t rely on your own strength or your own ideas and plans. Surrender your will to God and let Him fight for you!
If you see someone struggling to surrender or they are struggling in their worship, go to them and help them by lifting them up! Support them, so they can stay in the fight by staying in the posture of surrender and humility towards God. Direct them to “The Rock” that they can place their weight upon while supporting their area of weakness while encouraging them in the Word.
Paul says in Philippians 2 that there is unity through humility. He says, “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.”
By understanding that our strength comes from God and the victory and glory in our battles belongs to Him, we can rest in the knowledge that He is in control and that He will win the day! All we have to do is to remember that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. There is nothing too great for our God! Our King Jesus has already won the most difficult battle of all, the battle for the souls of men. All glory and victory belongs to our Lord and King!
You can read more about this and other truths by obtaining a copy of “Prodigal to Prince” by Beau Walsh at BarnesandNoble.com or Amazon.com.
