It always amazes me how the Lord works, when he chooses to speak and who he chooses to speak too. On October 21, 2011 the Lord spoke to me with what I now know as one of the most clarifying messages I had received up to that time.
I was in Salt Lake City Utah on a business trip and I was praying to the Lord as I was returning to the airport, just thanking him for a smooth trip and thanking him for his mercy for all that he has done for me and my family. As I am driving down the interstate a song comes over the radio. I had never heard the song before and I am not sure I would recognize it again. Truth is I only heard one line, it said “even the angels would bow down before him”. I couldn’t help but get this image of an angel on both knees before the Lord. As I was visualizing this I heard the Lord say “it is not like that”. The next image I had I am sure was from the Lord, It was of an angel on one knee with both hands on his sword. He was in the pose that I had seen many times in the movies, the pose of a knight pledging his allegiance to a king.
As I was trying to figure out what purpose these images had, the Lord gave me another image. The next image the Lord gave was of two vast armies just a few feet apart. Jesus was walking down the aisle between these two armies. Both armies were kneeling before him but very quickly I realized the armies were very different. As I saw the army on the right of Jesus, it was clear, this was his army. All of the angels were fully armed, on one knee, hands on top of their swords, in a position that displayed clearly their allegiance to the Lord. You could sense their loyalty and there was no question that Jesus was their king.
On the left hand of Jesus was another army on both knees, hands bound and they had no weapons. You could sense the hatred in there heart for Jesus and I knew immediately that this was the defeated army of Satan.
As I was looking over this the Lord said to me “the enemy surrenders, my army submits”(an interesting side bar, the word surrender is not used even one time in the King James Version of the bible instead the word submit is used). Instantly I felt overwhelmed to exam in my life, to identify when I had surrendered and when did I submit. I began to realize immediately that in the bad times, when I had made all the wrong decisions and didn’t think I could handle things anymore I would surrender. I would hit my knees and beg for mercy. Only one problem with this, when the external situation changed and I didn’t feel like I could no longer handle the situation my behavior went right back to where it started, me making all the decisions and not ultimately giving my life over to Christ. The fruit is always short lived or nonexistent and ultimately I did not submit to the Lord I surrendered. Most of my adult life I had spent ultimately standing in the world telling the Lord I can handle things and if the mess I create buckles my knees then I will give my life to the Lord, for a season. I showed honor to the Lord in the same capacity the enemy did, only when forced.
For many years I never understood why this whole Christian thing never really stuck with me. I would lay my life down to the Lord but really what changed, certainly not me. Only now do I realize up until recently I never truly begun to lay my life down.
As I had examined the fruit of my life from the last several years I began to realize there has been a huge change. The Lord no longer had to buckle my knees in surrender before I would be obedient. I have submitted everything to the Lord. I do mean everything; my wife, my children, my heart, my mind, my career, my finances, my possessions.
What does it mean to have submitted to the Lord in all areas? I willfully gave everything to the Lord and committed to the Lord I will no longer chase the things of the world. It is his to do with it what pleases him.
- Submission is a willful act of the heart. It is a clear choice not a forced decision. I have begun to relate my relationship with the Lord to my relationship with my son. When I ask my son to do something there are two very different ways to get to the same outcome.
Choice 1: Most parents have seen this you ask your child to clean their room and the fight begins. It usually starts with the whining “I don’t want to”. Then when that doesn’t work it escalates to tears, negotiating, throwing themselves on the floor in a full tantrum or my least favorite they tell you they will do what you asked wait until you turn your back and then they do whatever they wanted to do, not what you asked them to do. All of these reactions result in some sort of punishment and take a job that should have been fairly quick and simple and turn it into an all-out battle of wills. At some point under the duress of the punishment most children will surrender their will and go about cleaning their room as asked but, still will have a heart of resentment toward the task. At the end the parent is usually asking the question “was this worth it; it would have been less energy to just do it myself”. This is an example of surrender, obedience do to duress.
Choice 2: My son can look at me and with a cheerful heart say “yes sir” and go straight to his room and begin cleaning. He will have a cheerful heart as he completes the task and in no time he is back to playing, with my request having been nothing more than an opportunity to honor his father. This becomes a clear choice of submission.
Knowing that the outcome is the same, the room got cleaned, which situation was honoring to his father? Let me ask you, which child do you think you would be more inclined to want to reward, the one that you could only get to do what you asked after a battle of wills forcing him to surrender or the one that submitted his will without a fight? Most people would have no desire to reward the child that they just spent hours battling with over a simple command.
Now let me ask when the Lord asks you to do something, how do you respond, is it a willful act of submission or is it a decision made under duress, Surrender. Are you like a child that has to be punished before you will do what you are asked to do? The Lord wants to reward the obedient, the person that with no hesitation says not my will but, yours be done. There is little reward for those that continue on the path of, I will do what I want and only act in obedience when there is no other choice. So much of the time I see myself asking the question was that really the Lords voice? Maybe I should just wait until I see the whole picture before I act. The fact remains; no action is still a willful of act disobedience.
Proverbs 3:5-6- Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.