I want to feel peace in my soul again.

I woke  at 3 a.m. this morning worrying about things that were out of my control. I tried dismissing them, telling myself that there was nothing to be done,  but I couldn’t go back to sleep. I grabbed my phone, slipped in my earbuds, and started listening to Ascend The Hill’s CD “Hymns: Take The World, But Give Me Jesus”.

Their remix of Judson W. Van DeVenter’s hymn “I Surrender All” (1896) pierced my heart. I kept pushing repeat, singing and professing the lyrics, until I had fallen asleep.

Waking this morning I was singing the chorus:

I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

Later in the day, I had a chance to look up the lyrics, and I realized the stanzas of the hymn echo the process of surrendering one’s life wholly to Christ.

1. Professing one’s love for Christ and giving everything over to Him.

All to Jesus I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

Even as I say these words, I know from experience that it will be a daily struggle to “freely give” all to Him. Endeavoring to live in His presence daily – reading, praying, singing – will help me let go of the stuff I don’t have control over anyway in order for Jesus to transform me.

2. I will have to take action.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

Walking away from the things that keep me from experiencing the presence of God is a choice I will have to make. These “things” are different for everyone. Those things that I choose to place over my time with God will either have to be forsaken or re-prioritized.

3. I will have to claim Him as much as He claims me.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

Relationships require each party to give and take. Jesus gives Himself freely to me, holding nothing back. To walk freely in the Holy Spirit, I must reciprocate by giving all of myself to Jesus. If I want Him to make me entirely His, I must be willing to discard what He asks of me, so we can be truly belong to each others.
Continue reading →