Absolute Surrender
By Rose Schlegel

Awareness God - let me be aware.
Let me not stumble blindly down the ways,
Just getting somehow safely through the days,
Not even groping for another hand,
Not even wondering why it all was planned,
Eyes to the ground unseeking for the light,
Soul never aching for a wild-winged flight,
Please, keep me eager just to do my share.

God - let me be aware.
God - let me be aware Stab my soul fiercely with others' pain,
Let me walk seeing horror and stain,
Let my hands, groping, find other hands.
Give me the heart that divines, understands.
Give me the courage, wounded, to fight.
Flood me with knowledge, drench me in light.
Please, keep me eager just to do my share.
God - let me be aware.
Miriam Teichner

Absolute surrender means holding nothing back from God - He possesses you entirely. You run with abandonment toward Jesus and He consumes your life. The firefighters who ran into the Twin Towers on September 11 are recent examples to us of what absolute surrender really means.

"When firefighters run into a burning building, they don't stop to wonder whether the people inside are rich or poor, what race they are, or what religion they practice. Their thoughts are focused solely on the individuals inside that need to be saved. Their actions represent the purest example of love for humanity." - Life Magazine.

The firefighters who ran through the smoke-filled doors of the Towers that day surrendered their lives. They held nothing back and paid the ultimate price. In order to save lives, they gave their own. I believe this is what God is calling us to do. He is calling us to lay down our lives in absolute surrender. Hear W.E. Go.

Hear God's passion. He holds a dying world for which He gave His life and His blood in His heart. Listen and let His love grip your heart. Work. God has given us an urgent job. We do not have much time. Soon the buildings and structures of this world will come crashing down around us and it will all be over. When your life is taken from you, will you be able to say, "I have lived for the purposes of God"? We must live and work in a way that makes sense in the light of eternity.

"Go and make disciples of all nations"(Matthew 28:19 NIV). This is our mandate and mission. It strikes me how urgently Jesus puts it. Not a question, an "if you have the time in your busy schedule," or a "could you please, maybe?" NO. It is a command: GO and make disciples. This command is urgent because God's number one desire is for the nations. He passionately longs for the lost. Exceed. Live beyond what's humanly possible. Matthew 5:19-20 says, "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" (NKJV). "Their thoughts are focused solely on the individuals inside that need to be saved. Their actions represent the purest example of love for humanity." Are our thoughts focused solely on the individuals in this world who need to be saved?

Do our actions represent the purest example of God's love for humanity? Or do they represent love for ourselves?

John Wesley said, in a tract entitled "Covenant Service," "There are other works wherein we cannot please Christ but by denying ourselves, as giving and lending, bearing and forbearing, reproving men for their sins, withdrawing from their company, witnessing against their wickedness, confessing Christ and his Name, when it will cost us shame and reproach: sailing against the wind, swimming against the tide, steering contrary to the times; parting with our ease, our liberties, and accommodations for the name of our Lord Jesus."

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