Surrender (The Heart God Controls) - A Book Review

This is another book written by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, the author of  "Lies Women Believe'' and co-author of Dannah  Gresh in Lies Young Women Believe And The Truth That Sets Them Free. 

This book would make you feel humble before God, would make you ask this question, "Is my relationship with Jesus Christ the center of my existence?", and would make you evaluate yourself how completely surrendered you are to God. This statement struck my heart and probably would struck yours as well, "You can probably point to specific areas where you are obeying God. But could it be that there are some issues on which you are reserving the right to control your own life?" 

The author said, "Some people claim to be surrendered to God and may even believe that they are, but (perhaps subconsciously) they are justifying and rationalizing certain habits, values, attitudes or behaviors that are contrary to the word of God."-i totally agree to that.

I like what Dr. David Jeremiah said about this book. He said, "It's easy to sing 'All to Jesus i Surrender.'It's hard to surrender all to Jesus. In this book, Nancy helps us understand the cost of full surrender to Jesus Christ. If you hunger to grow your spiritual life to the next level, you awe it to yourself to read this book."

I also agree to what the author wrote that many of our fears about relinquishing total control to God fall into these four categories:

       1.) Provision- Will I have what i need?

       2.) Pleasure-  Will I be happy (if i fully surrender to God, will i be miserable? 

                            Will I be able to do the things I enjoy? Will i be fulfilled if i obey

                            him?

       3.) Protection- Will I (and those I love) be safe?

       4.) Personal relationships- Will my relational needs be met?

And she also tackled the answers to these four categories that would make you realize that all those fears are just fears because whatever our fears, whatever the unknowns or the challenges in our lives, God has promised to provide for us, to share his pleasure with us, to protect us and to give us his enduring presence.

This book also cited examples of fully surrendered life based from the Bible and in our modern times and those examples are really touching that would make your heart hunger to fully surrender to God just like what those people have done. And yes, i agree to what she said, "from eternity past, through all time, and through all eternity, Jesus' life was, is and always will be one of absolute surrender."

There is just one thing i don't agree with in this book, when the author said something like this, "accept and embrace physical illness". Although, i thought maybe she was talking about accepting the frailties in one's body like, if one was born without legs or arms or things like that (which of course should be accepted) but sicknesses/illnesses should not be accepted and embraced because God wants us to be healed. When Jesus was here on earth, the Bible says, he healed every disease and sickness among the people (Matthew 4: 23) and the Bible also says that, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrew 13:8). If he healed in biblical times when he was on earth, he can also heal us today when we are sick.  He even sent the apostles to proclaim the kingdom and to heal the sick (Luke 9:2). Psalm 41:3 says, "The LORD sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness." James 5:14-15 also tells us that, "Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up." (emphasis mine).In 1 Corinthians 12:28, it says, "And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing..." Those verses would just remind us that God can heal us and he wants us to be healed (although there are sicknesses/ illnesses that may lead to death, in those cases, we should also not question God's power to heal). But if we would just accept and embrace our sicknesses/illnesses, then, it means we are not totally surrendered to God's word and will that he wants us to be healed and see his power available even today.

But, overall, this book is really good. It's worth your time and even if you read it many times, you would still learn a lot from it, be touched and be changed.

In closing, let me post here one of my favorite statements in this book, " My friend, it's all about complete surrender. Whatever the issue may be for you, however trivial or daunting that issue may seem, whatever the price, whatever your fears, however foolish you may feel or look, wherever that surrender may lead you...right here...right now, will you bow the knee? Relinquish control. Let him have his way. Say simply, yes Lord, I surrender all."

 Copyright © 2011 by Mari Ann Rose "Mariah" F. Gadapan . All rights reserved worldwide.
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By the grace of God I am what I am...