by Dale Shumaker
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
The
Secret of the Master's Indwelling is about digging our roots deep into
God’s soil that bears fruit abundantly and gives us strength
Supernaturally. Andrew Murray shows what we must do and be to become
stalwarts of Faith.
Secret of the Master’s Indwelling, Chapter 8, Complete Surrender:
We find Joseph in two characters in the house of Potiphar:
first
as a servant and a slave,
one who is trusted and loved, but still
entirely a servant;
second, as master. Potiphar made him overseer over
his house and his lands, and all that he had, so that we read afterward
that he left everything in his hands.
We sometimes speak in the Christian life, of entire surrender.
First, Joseph was in Potiphar’s house to serve him and to help him.
Now,
that is exactly what is to take place with a great many Christians.
They know Christ, they trust Him, they love Him, but He is not Master,
He is a sort of helper. When there is trouble they come to Him, when
they sin they ask Him for pardon in His precious blood, when they are in
darkness they cry to Him; but often and often they live according to
their own will, and they seek help from themselves. But how blessed is
the man who comes and, like Potiphar, says,
“I will give up everything to Jesus!”
There are many who have accepted Christ as their Lord, but have never yet come to the final, absolute surrender of everything.
Let me direct your attention to four thoughts regarding this surrender to Christ:
First, its motives;
second, its measures;
third, its blessedness;
lastly, its duration.
First of all, its motives.
There
is something unusual about the man. He walks so humbly, he serves so
faithfully and so lovingly, and so successfully. Potiphar begins
to look into the reason for this, and finally concludes that God is with
him.
It is a grand thing to have a man with whom God is, to entrust one’s business to.
Give
Him charge of your temper, your heart’s affections, your thoughts, your
whole being, and He will prove Himself worthy of it. You are His house,
and He has a right to dwell therein. Will you not come and surrender
all, and say, “Lord Jesus, I have made Thee overseer over all?”
Secondly,
the measure of that surrender. Potiphar actually gave everything into
Joseph’s hands. He made him master over his slaves. All the money was
put into Joseph’s hands, for we read that Potiphar had care of nothing.
Is
not this entire surrender?—he gives up everything into the hands of
Joseph. Ah, beloved Christians, I want you to ask yourselves: “Have I
done that?” You have offered more than one consecration prayer, and you
have more than once said: “Jesus, all I have I give to You.” You
have said it, and meant it; but very probably you did not realize fully
what it meant.
Come,
because He is worthy; come because you know you cannot keep things
right yourself, and make Christ master over all you have. Give father
and mother, wife and child, house and land, and money, all to Jesus, and
you will find that in giving all you receive it back an hundred fold.
Thirdly, look at the blessing of the entire surrender.
Oh,
Christian, what is that blessing you will get? I cannot tell all, but I
can tell you this: if you will come to Christ Jesus and surrender all,
the blessing of God will be on all that you have. Try that; trust Jesus
for everything, and trust everything to Him, and the blessing of God
will come upon you—the sweet rest, the rest of faith. It is all in the
hands of Jesus; He will guide you; He will teach you; He will work in
you; He will keep you; He will be everything to you. What a blessed rest
and freedom from responsibility and from care, because it is all in the
hands of Jesus! I do not say trouble and trial will never come; but in
the midst of trial and trouble you will have the all-sufficiency of the
presence of Jesus to be your comfort, your help, and your guide.
Give
over your life, in all its phases, into the hands of Jesus; remembering
that the very hairs of your head are numbered, and not a sparrow falls
to earth without the Father’s notice. Consent now and say: “I will give
up everything into the hands of Jesus. Whatever happens is His will
regarding me. Whether He comes in the light or in the dark, in the storm
or on the troubled sea, I will rest in that blessed assurance. I give
up my whole life entirely to Him.”
Do
we not thus see that every circumstance of our living, every comfort
and every trial, comes from God in Christ? There is nothing can touch a
hair of my head. Not a sharp word comes against me; not an unexpected
flurry surrounds me, but it is all Jesus. With my life in His hands, I
need care for nothing. I can be content with what Jesus gives. God will
bless you, that, in your intercourse with men, you may be a blessing;
that by your holy, humble, respectful, quiet walk, you may carry
comfort; that by your loving readiness to be a servant and a helper to
all, you may prove what the Spirit of God has done within you.
Oh,
believers, come today; come out of all your troubles, and all your
self-efforts and your self-confidence, and let the blessed Son of God
take possession.
Let me direct your thoughts, lastly, to the duration of
this surrender.
it
is a grand thing for a person to be able to stretch out both hands, and be
that person is the one who has left all with Jesus—all his inner life,
all his cares and troubles, and has given himself up entirely to do the
will of God. Will you leave it there?
Beloved,
temptations will come; God means it for your good. Every temptation
brings you a blessing. Do understand that. Learn the lesson of giving up
everything to Jesus, and letting Jesus take charge of everything. Leave
all with Jesus. Do not think that by a surrender today or on any day,
however powerful, however mighty, things will keep right themselves. You
need every morning afresh, when God wakes you up out of sleep, to put
your heart, and your life, and your house, and your business, into the
hands of Jesus.
Wait on Him, if need be, in silence, or in prayer, until
He gives you the assurance, “My child, for today all is safe; I take
charge.”
In
conclusion let me speak to two classes. There are times when your heart
is restless; there are times when you are afraid to die.
There
are some true believers who have perhaps never yet understood that it
was their duty to give up everything to Christ.
Beloved fellow
Christians.
“Jesus,
I make Thee Master of everything and I will wait at your feet, that you
wilt show me what you would have me be and do.” Do it now. And let me
say to believers who have done it before, and who long with an
unutterable longing to do it fully and perfectly,—Child of God, you can
do it, for the Holy Spirit has been sent down from Heaven for this one
purpose, to glorify Jesus; to glorify Jesus in your heart, by letting
you see how perfectly Jesus can take possession of the whole heart; to
glorify Jesus by bringing Him into your very life, that your whole life
may shine out with the glory of Jesus. Depend upon it, the Father will
give it to you by the Holy Spirit, if you are ready.
The complete chapter on Complete Surrender:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/indwelling.xi.html
The
Christian Classics Ethereal Library and many great classic works on
Christian Growth, by the best of the Saints of Old who’s works have been
passed down through the ages.
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