Making a Complete Surrender

From the time of my conversion in early life I longed to be useful in helping others to find the way of salvation. But my inability and lack of talent was an apparent barrier, and caused me to almost despair of ever being able to accomplish the desire of my heart.

Though I felt that I was a Christian, yet I had a longing in my soul for a closer walk with God. There were times when I had spiritual struggles within and without, and I did not know how to be an “overcomer,” as mentioned in the Bible.

A few years later, while living in Ohio, I was awakened to the fact that the Lord had promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His believing children and that it was my privilege to obtain that experience wherein I could enjoy that “great grace”* (Acts 4:33) which was upon them all who were assembled at one place after Pentecost. My heart yearned for the experience that the people of those apostolic days enjoyed; and as I read about how willing the Lord was to give the Holy Ghost to them that believe, and read that we were promised the “Comforter,”* (John 14:16) who would abide in our hearts, I decided to have the experience.

My religious instructors gave me no encouragement; for they had not attained to such an experience themselves and did not think it attainable in this life. But undaunted, and determined to have relief for my burdened soul, I sought the Lord earnestly to reveal to me the secret of obtaining that abundant grace which I was convinced was within my reach if I could only learn how to obtain it.

The time came when my prayers were answered, and I was enabled to make a complete consecration to the will of God.

But before reaching that point, I many times fell upon my knees or prostrated myself before the Lord in earnest supplication for that grace. In the meantime I met others who had received it, and I realized more than ever that what they possessed was just the thing for which I had been seeking. There were yet two points that seemed to hinder me in my final efforts. My desire was to have such an outpouring of the Spirit as would cause me to leap and shout the same as some others did when they received the Holy Spirit. The second was that there was one thing which I had not fully yielded to the will of God. Regarding that thing I made a conditional surrender—that if God would give me the experience and then show me that I held a wrong attitude, I would then yield the point. I thought the Lord ought to accept my consecration and give me the experience I had so long sought. But He would not do so.

I began to submit myself to the Lord more fully, and He more clearly opened my understanding to His Word and more definitely shed rays of light upon my pathway concerning the point in question; then came the words of Jesus, “Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.”* (John 12:35) My duty was now as clear to me as the morning sun. There was no rebellion in my heart, the surrender was complete, and I could with confidence say that my consecration reached the will of God on every point, regarding all the things I could call to my mind and also everything that might present itself in the future. There was no doubt concerning my having made what we sometimes call a Bible consecration.

Then I realized that I had a right to claim the promise and receive its fulfillment. As I did so, laying claim to the promise as mine and declaring the work was done because the Word of God said so, that whatever touched the altar was made holy, I knew that by faith I had touched the altar, Jesus Christ, and was made holy. I had become willing to receive the blessing in any way that the Lord saw fit to bestow it. Just at the time that I claimed the blessing as mine, quietness reigned. It did not cause me to leap and shout as I had been expecting, but in a quiet manner the Holy Spirit witnessed the work wrought in my soul. I learned that the grace and glory or spiritual power that one possesses is not dependent upon outward demonstrations of the body. While one may leap and shout, another person of a different temperament may remain quiet and yet be drinking just as deeply from the fountain of life.

Although many years have passed, yet I have never once doubted the work wrought in my soul at that time. Amidst the deepest trials of life, sorrow, sickness, and adversity, I have found a sweet solace by trusting all away with Him who understands our every need.

Dark days and shadows of life may come, trials and temptations may present themselves on every hand, the soul may be weighted down with burdens that are heavy to bear, and accusations of the enemy and hours of severe testing may come like a flood; yet for the trusting soul the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against the enemy and lead onward to victory. To me the Lord has been “a very present help in trouble,”* (Psalm 46:1) and a Friend in time of need.

When I see others struggling along and yearning for that experience wherein their souls can be satisfied, my wishes are that they make an unconditional surrender, know without a doubt that their consecration is complete and that they are in all points consecrated to the will of God. It is then that the promise can be claimed and the fulfillment realized.

The greatest sinner on the face of the earth can find pardon through the atonement of Jesus Christ by forsaking his sins, confessing them to the Lord, and believing on Him for deliverance. In like manner every believer can be filled with the Holy Spirit and abound in the riches of the grace of God.