Sometimes “Surrender” Is Just Giving Up

Reading Praying with God’s Heart, by contemporary prophet James Goll, I was fascinated by a story he told.

He and his wife Michal Ann dealt with infertility for many years. At one point, his wife had a dream of a son, but then they went to the doctor who told them the situation was medically hopeless. 

They prayed in faith for some months. 

“One night, my wife told the Lord, ‘I won’t like it, but I yield to You my right to have children.’

“Immediately the God of all comfort answered her: I appreciate your attitude, but I am not requiring this of you. I say to you, you must fight for your children.”

What a triumphant word! And they went on to have four children. 

I feel like so often in the church, we're told to “surrender,” which sounds very holy. 

And sometimes it probably is. But maybe sometimes it’s actually just giving up. 

I have been thinking lately of the tension of a few verses of scripture. 

Philippians 2:13 says, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (NLT). 

And Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

So it seems to me that God gives us the desire, then gives us the power to fulfill that desire, and we get to delight in the LORD at all times.

Interesting, then, that sometimes we need to contend for what we desire and not give up. 

So let’s contend.

Lord, I want to pray out of 2 Timothy 2, where Paul says, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.” 

Lord, thank you that all three of these pictures include some form of short term hardship for a worthwhile reward. Thank you, Lord, that you don’t ask us to labor for nothing—that even you, Jesus, went to the cross with the reward in mind: “who, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Increase our desire, Lord. 

Infuse our backbone with steel, that we may contend in strength and authority and power. 

We thank you and praise you. In Jesus’s name, amen.

 The weapons we use for the fight are not merely human; they carry a power from God that can tear down fortresses! Thank you, God!

Amy Joy

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