See for more themes.
| Q6: SOP and Scripture understanding of "surrender" HYPOTHESIS: Why does SOP use "surrender" when Scripture doesn't? INTRODUCTION: There is only one place in Scripture, where the concept of "surrender" is even considered. Ro 10:3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not "subdued" themselves unto the righteousness of God.
This word here in Greek translated in KJV as "submit" is the Hebrew word "subdue".
Ro 10:21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
(KJV)
So what was Israel doing wrong?
METHOD: The best and clearest SOP is shown, just to give the reader an unbiased feel for the theme.
DISCUSSION: The presentation of SOP and comments are below:
"surrender" ..
It is not a conclusive evidence that a man is a Christian because he manifests spiritual ecstasy under extraordinary circumstances. Holiness is not rapture:
This is perhaps the best SOP listing all the attributes of holiness which is a simile of "surrender". So "surrender" is really the attitudes we have towards the Science Steps of Salvation found in Jesus.
It is not essential for us to be able to define just what the Holy Spirit is. Christ tells us that the Spirit is the Comforter, "the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father." It is plainly declared regarding the Holy Spirit that, in His work of guiding men into all truth, "He shall not speak of Himself." John 15:26; 16:13. {AA 51.3} The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery.
Notice the very next statements under "surrender" is that the Holy Spirit as our Comforter is a mystery. Men cannot explain it.
Thus "surrender" is a profound mystery, a simle of the process the Holy Spirit does upon the soul who practices daily the Salvation Steps of Jesus.
We will test this conclusion using further SOP.
The surrender must be complete. Every weak, doubting, struggling soul who yields fully to the Lord is placed in direct touch with agencies that enable him to overcome. Heaven is near to him, and he has the support and help of angels of mercy in every time of trial and need. {AA 299.1}
Notice "surrender" is a mystery process of completeness. When the soul practices daily the Salvation Steps of Jesus, the Holy Spirit (and other agencies such as the heavenly angels, and other human 'angels') all work together to empower the salvation process.
Daily he must learn the meaning of self-surrender. He must study the word of God, learning its meaning and obeying its precepts. Thus he may reach the standard of Christian excellence. Day by day God works with him, perfecting the character that is to stand in the time of final test. And day by day the believer is working out before men and angels a sublime experiment, showing what the gospel can do for fallen human beings. {AA 483.1}
Notice "surrender" is the mystery process of daily practicing the Salvation Steps of Jesus.
Why does SOP write for the believer "he", and not "she" or "he/she" ? Because SOP writes as Hebrew does.
In the presence of terms that consider "He/she" the "He" takes precedence over the "she", thus it is assumed the "she" is referenced along with the "he".
This might not make sense in our world of today's English, where we see this as male dominated, but in Hebrew it is a case of respect. Nothing more is implied.
The body is the only medium through which the mind and the soul are developed for the upbuilding of character. Hence it is that the adversary of souls directs his temptations to the enfeebling and degrading of the physical powers. His success here means the surrender to evil of the whole being. The tendencies of our physical nature, unless under the dominion of a higher power, will surely work ruin and death.--Ministry of Healing, p. 130. {CME 46.1}
This SOP is very profound...no wonder the "surrender" process of the Holy Spirit is a deep mystery. How many of us understand a "medium" ?
Yes but the most profound medium there is is the rebirth of the human character.
So how is a man's character literally reborn every day through the "medium" of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus spoke of the "wind" as a natural thing as a simile of the Holy Spirit, which is a symbol of a special wind,
we are automatically declaring the "mystery power" to be a "medium". Wind is not something on it's own. Wind is an "energy power" carried by the "air".
Nicodemus asked how can these things be?
Did not Jesus create our first human literally from the ground? The word "Adam" means "ground".
When GOD breathed into the "ground shaped form" the breath of life, this shape became "living".
So what causes the "ground particles" to be alive ? God's power does.
So GOD takes our condemned falling flesh of genetic propensities designed to empower us to sin, but only if we will our minds to sin, but it is impossible in our own human strength, not to sin.
And so GOD breathes in our flesh the breath of salvation, every day.
Why must it be every day? Well the ongoing living of the "ground shaped body" formed into "living energy" has to eat food every day, especially the "fruits of the tree of life"
in order to continue daily living; so it is also with our character, it too needs daily food from Jesus, 'spiritual food' if you like this term.
The Hebrew word for physical "food" living (Job 38:39 ) is "chay" and the Hebrew word for "spiritual food living" or "ongoing living" (Job 33:4 ) is "chayah".
The difference between these words is an added letter, "a Person..Behold the Being!"
This person is a simile of a woman.
Notice the Scripture
And in Hebrew:
And this is a simile of the heavenly Being:
And in Hebrew:
And who is the Holy Spirit ? It is the Shadday. And who is the Shadday? It is the third co-eternal member of the Godhead, who is a simile of a woman,
just as Eve (chayah) is the mother of all living (chayah).
Where does the power of the "breath of salvation" come from? From the Father.
There are two comforters in heaven, agencies for carrying the Father's flow of power.
Jesus the carrier of salvation through Him and His sacrifice, for His Father
and the Holy Spirit, who carries the Father's breath of salvation.
These things are a profound mystery. We cannot explain them. Silence is golden.
And yet "surrender" while a deep mysterious process, is the greatest thing we must do daily in order to be saved daily by the Holy Spirit, who carries for us all of GOD's power, ready for us to use through grace and faith..
The use of natural remedies requires an amount of care and effort that many are not willing to give. Nature's process of healing and upbuilding is gradual, and to the impatient it seems slow. The surrender of hurtful indulgences requires sacrifice. But in the end it will be found that nature, untrammeled, does her work wisely and well. Those who persevere in obedience to her laws will reap the reward in health of body and health of mind. {CG 366.2}
We can switch off these hurtful propensities to sinning by learning to eat better foods. Avoiding sugar cane sugar is a common poison we all need less in our bodies.
There are some who seem to be always seeking for the heavenly pearl. But they do not make an entire surrender of their wrong habits. They do not die to self that Christ may live in them. Therefore they do not find the precious pearl. They have not overcome unholy ambition and their love for worldly attractions. They do not take up the cross and follow Christ in the path of self-denial and sacrifice. Almost Christians, yet not fully Christians, they seem near the kingdom of heaven, but they cannot enter there. Almost but not wholly saved, means to be not almost but wholly lost. {COL 118.1}
What a powerful statement by SOP over the complete need for "surrender".
If we surrender the will to God, we shall not work in order to earn God's love. His love as a free gift will be received into the soul, and from love to Him we shall delight to obey His commandments. {COL 283.2}
True "surrender", practicing daily the Salvational steps of Jesus, is not a human work to earn heaven, but the response to love to delight in His ways of living true to His commandments.
The special gifts of the Spirit are not the only talents represented in the parable. It includes all gifts and endowments, whether original or acquired, natural or spiritual. All are to be employed in Christ's service. In becoming His disciples, we surrender ourselves to Him with all that we are and have. These gifts He returns to us purified and ennobled, to be used for His glory in blessing our fellow men. {COL 328.2}
Surrender is a process of daily practicing the salvational steps to Jesus, who though the agency of the Holy Spirit, gives you all His gifts.
It is not the length of time we labor but our willingness and fidelity in the work that makes it acceptable to God. In all our service a full surrender of self is demanded. The smallest duty done in sincerity and self-forgetfulness is more pleasing to God than the greatest work when marred with self-seeking. He looks to see how much of the spirit of Christ we cherish, and how much of the likeness of Christ our work reveals. He regards more the love and faithfulness with which we work than the amount we do. {COL 402.3}
It certainly seems that "surrender" is the full comittment of believer to the daily salvation steps of Jesus.
Christ has promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His church, and the promise belongs to us as much as to the first disciples. But like every other promise, it is given on conditions. There are many who believe and profess to claim the Lord's promise; they talk about Christ and about the Holy Spirit, yet receive no benefit. They do not surrender the soul to be guided and controlled by the divine agencies. We cannot use the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is to use us. Through the Spirit God works in His people "to will and to do of His good pleasure." But many will not submit to this. They want to manage themselves. This is why they do not receive the heavenly gift. Only to those who wait humbly upon God, who watch for His guidance and grace, is the Spirit given. The power of God awaits their demand and reception. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings in its train. It is given according to the riches of the grace of Christ, and He is ready to supply every soul according to the capacity to receive.--The Desire of Ages, p. 672. {ChS 253.1}
SOP makes an interesting point here regarding the affects of "surrender", either we allow Jesus to be the Authority in the home of our heart, or we become our own home authority of our heart, a religion called Bal or Baal.
Since the first surrender to appetite, mankind have been growing more and more self-indulgent, until health has been sacrificed on the altar of appetite. The inhabitants of the antediluvian world were intemperate in eating and drinking. They would have flesh-meats, although God had at that time given man no permission to eat animal food. They ate and drank till the indulgence of their depraved appetite knew no bounds, and they became so corrupt that God could bear with them no longer. Their cup of iniquity was full, and he cleansed the earth of its moral pollution by a flood. {CTBH 43.1}
Notice the people were eating food God did not design for them to eat....hence God destroyed them...
Is there a typology here? Today before the global flood of fire comes, mankind will be eating foods GOD never intended us to eat... God Move Over foods, or GMO, genetically modified organisms.
And for our health, we are using vaccines, a clinical process that damages permanently the tender young brains of many. The earth is fast filling up with immoral pollution.
See a study about GMO food.
No one can be a successful soul winner till he himself has settled the question of surrender to God. We are individually to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. To each one of us He must become wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. When our faith lays hold upon Christ as our personal Saviour, we shall place Him before others in a new light. And when the people behold Christ as He is, they will not wrangle over doctrines; they will flee to Him for pardon, purity, and eternal life. {CEv 61.3}
Getting Jesus is more important than worrying about doctrines.
Those who surrender to Jesus, who open the door of the heart and invite Him in, will be in safekeeping. He says, �I am the way, the truth, and the life.� John 14:6. Possessing Jesus, they will possess truth. They will be complete in Him. {CEv 62.2}
Getting Jesus fully is what "surrender" is all about. Practicing daily the steps of Jesus, is how Scripture explains this process.
The character of Christ is the one perfect pattern which we are to copy. Repentance and faith, the surrender of the will, and the consecration of the affections to God are the means appointed for the accomplishment of this work. To obtain a knowledge of this divinely ordained plan should be our first study; to comply with its requirements, our first effort. {CT 50.1}
Here SOP lists two of the daily Salvation Steps of Jesus, proving that "surrender" is the process of getting Jesus daily into the soul.
They did not surrender themselves to God daily, that Christ might dwell in the heart; and when the evil spirit returned, with "seven other spirits more wicked than himself," they were wholly dominated by the power of evil. {DA 323.3} When the soul surrenders itself to Christ, a new power takes possession of the new heart. A change is wrought which man can never accomplish for himself. It is a supernatural work, bringing a supernatural element into human nature. The soul that is yielded to Christ becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a revolted world, and He intends that no authority shall be known in it but His own. A soul thus kept in possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable to the assaults of Satan. But unless we do yield ourselves to the control of Christ, we shall be dominated by the wicked one. We must inevitably be under the control of the one or the other of the two great powers that are contending for the supremacy of the world. It is not necessary for us deliberately to choose the service of the kingdom of darkness in order to come under its dominion. We have only to neglect to ally ourselves with the kingdom of light. If we do not co-operate with the heavenly agencies, Satan will take possession of the heart, and will make it his abiding place. The only defense against evil is the indwelling of Christ in the heart through faith in His righteousness. Unless we become vitally connected with God, we can never resist the unhallowed effects of self-love, self-indulgence, and temptation to sin. We may leave off many bad habits, for the time we may part company with Satan; but without a vital connection with God, through the surrender of ourselves to Him moment by moment, we shall be overcome. Without a personal acquaintance with Christ, and a continual communion, we are at the mercy of the enemy, and shall do his bidding in the end. {DA 324.1}
A lot of good advice here, a good summary of "surrender".
CONCLUSION: There seems in the SOP presentation, the idea that "surrender" is one who fully commits daily to the Salvation Steps of Jesus, and this process if done in the right attitude of our mind, promises to guarantee Jesus in our soul.
Please see what these daily salvational steps to Jesus are, and thus learn the process of surrender.
Therefore "surrender" is not something we do daily (like some event), "surrender" is the process of daily living in Jesus (a relationship attitude with our minds to Christ).
If the reader reaches some other conclusion from reading these SOP, I would love to hear from you, via email. Shalom
On the next webpage, we consider SOP and the theme of the "Shadday"
as a member of the Godhead.
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Created by Rob Thompson. Hosted since 10/01/2012. Visitors HOSTED by Prologic, my Son. A thin website.
Here we see energy moving into matter and there are changes to the energies properties.
This is a natural work of mediums. A medium is something that carries something.
Here is a medium composed of air/water media, where we see because of the medium affect, a straight straw looking bent.
Here is a medium composed of solid media, where we see because of the medium affect, the compression and relaxation of a slinky spring, allowing us to "see" moving energy in a solid.
Our bodies store information in our DNA.
There is another covering over this DNA information called "epi-genetics" from which propensities grow, if we waken them in our mind.
The human mind also stores information inside each nerve cell, and all of this becomes our character. It is indeed a profound mystery, how all this works.
But it does, and through faith we can believe it does through the "medium" of the Holy Spirit.
