Surrender and be Free

Unlike a slave, a bondservant chooses to serve another. The word bondservant is defined as devoted to another to the disregard of one's own interests. My surrender to the Lord used to come in the form of kicking and screaming sort of like an enemy reluctantly raising a white flag to give up rather than die. But the more I learn of the Lord and the more of His Character I am privileged to behold the more I find this surrender is more than a willing yieldedness.  I desire to surrender all the days of my life as an offering to the Lord, emptied of all selfish motives and to become an empty vessel longing to be filled by Him. 

I realize that years of betrayal, abuse and emotional injury could cause one to be reluctant in giving up control of their own life. At times I can remember feeling that control over my own life was all I had left.  But I realized that I had become a prisoner to my own defenses and built impenetrable walls to keep all the hurt out while enslaving myself to my own fears and insecurities. We think we can implement these defenses and keep everyone out except the Lord but that's not the way it works. The safehouse we build for ourselves keeps everyone INCLUDING the Lord out. Unlike man, God will never betray us, He will never harm us. His plans for us are good. When we surrender our lives completely to Him and become bondservants, we experience a freedom like no other. How ironic that in surrendering and becoming a bondservant to Christ we actually become free, free to be all He desires us to be, free to be loved unconditionally, free from fear, free from bondage, free from hurt and pain and most importantly free to belong to Him unreservedly. I encourage you my brothers and sisters today to surrender. Surrender all of it. Hold nothing back. Nothing you've been through, nothing you "hide" in your heart can shock Him or cause Him to turn away. He will receive you with Arms wide open. He will heal all the broken places and show you how to walk in freedom. Today surrender and be free.

This illustrations fits perfectly with what I'm sharing here today: 

Story: There’s a bear caught in a trap. A kind hunter wants to help set it free. But the bear, racked with pain, cannot understand this. The only hope is to shoot it with a tranquilizer gun. The bear, seeing the raised shotgun, panics. The approaching hunter must temporarily push down harder on the injured paw in order to spring the trap. Again there is more pain, more misunderstanding. The bear cannot comprehend the hunter’s vision: a beautiful future where man and bear enjoy the gentle hills together.

Romans 12:1-2 (Amplified):  I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].