"If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

God is a liberator not a tyrant. In His first message in the synagogue Jesus said that He had come to set the captives free.

In order to accomplish this He had to surrender Himself to the cross. In order to heal us from our sicknesses He had to surrender Himself to the horrible scourging, -"Being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Phil.2)

Surrender is best demonstrated by obedience. To say "No Lord" is to speak a contradiction. He is the Lord of your life or He isn’t. William Booth, Founder of the Salvation Army said, -"The greatness of a man’s power is in the measure of his surrender."

It takes faith to surrender to God. In doing so you are openly announcing that you trust Him with your life.

 The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God, for we must believe Him and that He will reward those who surrender to Him. To surrender means saying, -"Not my will Lord, but Your will be done." You might waver a little at first, but a surrendered life produces trust in God.

Abraham surrendered to God by obeying the Word to leave his home city of Ur. He did this even though he did not know where he was going to. Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt and yet surrendered to God. He put his trust in God even when he was falsely accused and imprisoned for ten years. He surrendered, even though he did not know why God had allowed all these things to happen to him. In fact, God did not reveal it to him until many years later after he had demonstrated his unconditional surrender.

It is Jesus’ will that we know the truth and for the truth to set us free. When a person practices sin he becomes a slave and is surrendering to Satan as his evil taskmaster.

 Sin pushes us to live a self-centered life which will ultimately end in the fiery judgment.

Our greatest hindrance to God’s blessing is not others, but ourselves. Surrender to God is intense warfare against the self-centered self. Bowing to sin and rebelling against God makes you a slave of the devil. Surrendering to God sets you free from sin and it’s penalty, and liberates you to serve your Creator who loves you.