Prophetic Teaching (Part One): What's Missing From the Church - POWER in SURRENDER

A couple weeks ago, the Holy Spirit began speaking to me about a “deficiency” in the Church. To be exact, He said, “A house of miracles with no miracles has a deficiency.”

A deficiency is defined as “the state of lacking some necessary quality or element; a shortage of substances necessary to health.” Other synonyms are “drought, famine, lack, insufficiency, poverty and scarcity.” It also means “not having enough of something that the body needs.”

Now, you can probably already see where the Holy Spirit was going with this. But, He went on to say that if the house of God is supposed to be a place full of miracles and none are happening there… well then, something’s missing. And that thing is power.

He also spoke to me about that, saying that His Church is “sitting on power.”

But, the way for us to come into that power isn’t just talking about it. It’s not just singing about it. Or begging the Lord for it.

The way to the power is surrender.

In fact, that’s the other part that He said is missing from the majority of His Church today - surrender. True surrender.

Yes, that statement will upset some people and immediately make the spirit of offense in them go to work. But, it’s true. For the most part, the overall picture of the Church today (at least in America) isn’t one of complete and total surrender.

Mainly, because it goes completely against everything the world tells you to do. And unfortunately, many believers have been living with one foot in the Church and one foot in the world. They know about surrender and again, sing and talk about it… but living it is a whole other story.

True surrender to Jesus as the LORD (not just Savior) of their lives is not a step that most believers have taken. And I know this to be true personally because it applied to me too, up until just the last few years.

True surrender is no joke. It goes against everything in your flesh. Everything the world and those around you tell you. It requires complete submission of your “self” and your will. It is the narrow way. The path that not many take.

But, it is also the way to power. To freedom. And to the true life that Jesus died for us to have.

(This is a looooong teaching, but it’s really good and meaty! So, make sure to read through to the end!)

The Holy Spirit is funny with how He talks to me sometimes. But, early one morning last July, I woke up to Him saying in my spirit, “You’ve been unplugged from the matrix.”

Now, I could go off into a whole separate post about the depths of that statement. But, I’m going to stick to the topic at hand in this teaching.

When He spoke that sentence to me, it was the lead-in to a whole Holy Spirit teaching about His sovereignty, submission, surrender and what it means to be a servant who knows Jesus as the Lord.

He had already been laying a lot of groundwork in me about the truth. That despite what the world is constantly telling us, this is all SO much bigger than us. That He really is in control of everything all the time - which should give us rest and peace. Because that’s what allows us to walk by faith and not by sight - believing Him and what He says above what we see.

It all comes down to belief because just like all the way back at the beginning with Eve in the Garden of Eden, all the enemy can do is suggest. He can deceive you, trick you, manipulate you and mess with your mind. But, he doesn’t actually have the power to outright destroy you, which is why he needs your participation in it. And that participation comes by believing his lies and agreeing with what he says about you and your life.

In fact, that’s where the freedom lies - in the revelation of who we are in the grand scheme of things and how it’s all about Him and not us. That’s what gives us victory over the “3 armies” - the flesh, the world and the enemy. Because all three of those things constantly tell us to focus on ourselves. But, God wants us to focus on Him.

The way we were originally created to function. Did you know that before the fall, Adam and Eve weren’t even aware of themselves? They had no self-awareness. They didn’t consider themselves, as the Holy Spirit explained to me.

They didn’t think about what they were doing or saying. They didn’t wonder if it was right or “enough.” They didn’t feel inadequate or wonder if they were loved or feel ashamed or stupid for something they did wrong. None of that was even in their awareness.

They only knew God, His love and His provision. They hadn’t ever even “considered” themselves until the enemy tricked them into eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (which by the way, happened because Eve went by what she saw and not what God said… “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.” -Gen. 3:6).

Up until that point, they had no concept of good and evil. So, they had no concept if they were good or evil. They had no reference point. No guideline. Nothing to compare themselves to and no awareness to measure themselves in the first place. It’s why they were naked and felt no shame about it (Gen. 2:25).

But, as soon as they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they had just that - knowledge. Awareness. They knew themselves. Whereas before, they had not.

It’s why the very first thing they did was notice/recognize/become aware that they were naked and immediately, felt bad about it (“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” -Gen. 3:7)

But now, God is taking us back to the original design. The way He always meant things to be and the way that Jesus restored by His sacrifice. Where we live in the freedom of knowing it’s all about Him and not about us.

So, how do you do that? How do you go “back” to being aware of Him and not yourself?

Well, that’s where surrender comes in.

Throughout the Bible, we meet people who were successful and blessed because they knew one important thing - that it was all about God and not them. Now, that’s not to say that they walked this out perfectly. None of them did. But, they had the right heart posture. One of surrender and submission to the truth and sovereignty of God.

They had the two things that it takes to surrender - wisdom (to recognize their place and God’s place) and humility (to be willing to submit to it).

Because understanding and knowing it is not enough. It takes true humility to surrender and submit to the truth of who God is and allow (yes, allow) Him to be the Lord of our lives. Because everything in us (our flesh) wants it to be about us. We want to be in control. We want everything to depend on us and our decisions. We want the focus to be on us. Even when we say we want it to be on God.

But, just like the Bible tells us… the rest of creation already knows and acknowledges the truth. The birds in the sky, the fish in the sea. Even the waves in the ocean and stars in the sky. They’re not worried about themselves. They know God is in control and they trust that fully because that’s all they’ve ever known.

It’s the innocence and freedom we’ve been missing.

Which again, is why it takes the faith of a child to enter into the true life Jesus died for us to have.

Children don’t sit and ponder where their next meal is going to come from. They don’t worry about the water heater breaking or how they’re going to pay the mortgage. They don’t analyze everything they say and do or try to control every outcome in their life. They are free. Trusting all those things to their parents.

Or, as the Holy Spirit explained to me (since I don’t have kids yet), it’s the same principle with my dogs and how they look at me. They know I am their master, so they don’t worry about anything. They expect and trust that I will feed them, give them a place to rest, take them out and do all the other things they need. They keep their eyes on me and as long as they are close to me, they feel safe and rest completely in that.

And that’s how God wants us to be with Him too.

Surrender

To surrender means to “cease resistance, submit to authority, give in to or abandon oneself entirely to.” Waving a white flag (a typical sign of surrender) also means to yield.

When we surrender to Jesus as the Lord of our lives, we are submitting to His authority. We are yielding to Him, giving in to Him and abandoning ourselves entirely to Him. But, my favorite definition is “ceasing resistance” because that’s how He taught it to me.

You might read that and think, “What am I resisting?” Surprisingly enough, God.

You might not (and probably don’t) realize it, but when you’re operating in your “self” and not doing things His way, you are “fighting against” Him. You are resisting Him and His ways. And perhaps most ironically, you’re resisting His goodness (because His ways are always better than ours).

The way He showed it to me was with the example of a lifeguard. When a lifeguard goes out to bring a drowning swimmer back to shore, if the swimmer continues to flail and fight against the lifeguard while they’re trying to save them, it’ll make things more difficult for both of them. Whereas, if they’d just relax and let go and lean in to the lifeguard, trusting them to do their job, he could get them safely to shore a lot quicker and more peacefully.

But, so often, we are doing just that with God - flailing and fighting against Him. We do it when we try to control things. We do it when we don’t like how He’s moving in our lives or we don’t understand what He’s doing. We do it when we’re operating in our flesh and not in His Spirit.

And we do it when we are still trying to hold on to the notion that we are the “lords” over our own lives. So, to cease resisting is to give in to that truth. That we are not in control of our lives. That they are truly not our own (1 Cor. 6:19-20, Jer. 10:23) and they were bought with a price (more on that in a bit).

It’s why over and over, the Bible tells us to:

Submit yourselves
Humble yourselves
Deny yourselves

What we are surrendering and submitting to is God’s sovereignty in our lives. Sovereignty means “supreme ruler or Lord.” And Lord means “master, ruler, someone having power or authority.”

Lord/Master

A master is “a person who has control of something.” Jesus is often referred to as “master” in the Bible.

In Matthew 19:16, the man approaches Jesus as “Good Master.” Matthew 6:24 warns us that no one can serve two masters. And 2 Timothy 2:20 speaks about vessels in a great house that are made for use by the master of the house.”

So, likewise, that makes us servants or slaves.

Servant/Slave

(There’s the part they don’t like to talk about in church on Sunday for fear of “offending” someone!)

But, it’s right there in the Bible…

“But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” -Romans 6:22

Maybe “servant” is a more comfortable word for most people. But, before we move off of slave, let’s look quickly at the definition. A slave is “a person who is excessively dependent upon or controlled by someone. They are the legal property of someone else.”

Did you catch that?

A slave is the legal property of someone else. Meaning, they were legally purchased for a price. Just like us.

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” -1 Cor. 6:19-20

When God sent Jesus to pay the price for your sins, He “bought you back” from the enemy and the penalty of sin and death. He paid the ransom for your life. Which means, legally (in the spiritual world), you belong to Him. (And believe me, that’s where you want to be!)

And the important part to note here is that a slave is “excessively dependent” on their master. (Again, the complete opposite of the world’s view of prideful independence!)

But, just to make everyone a little more comfortable, let’s go back to the word servant.

A servant is “one who performs duties of a master” (there’s that word again). There are WAY too many verses about being “servants of God” to list them all here. But, let’s just say the Word gets the point across. With, of course, one of the most well-known examples being the parable of the talents that focuses on the servants and what they do with what the master gives them while He is away.

One of God’s names - Adonai - means “Lord, Master, Owner.” It refers to Him specifically in this role. So, addressing God as Adonai requires us to come totally out of self-sufficiency, give up control and give Him complete reign over our lives. Which again, is the complete opposite of the super self-centered mindset the world teaches us to have!

Adonai expresses God’s absolute sovereignty and complete control of all things. It recognizes His eternal nature, His authority and His ownership of the Hebrews (and later, the saved Gentiles). And people like David knew this was a good thing and something to rejoice over and declare openly!

In fact, all of our favorite Bible “characters” like Abraham, Moses, David, Isaac and Jacob acknowledged themselves as God’s servants and recognized His right to command and direct them according to His will.

It’s only been as generations have passed and the world has become darker and the Church has become more mixed in with it, that these notions have slipped away. But, God is bringing them back to the forefront now. He is bringing His people out of the world once and for all and bringing us back to His original design. One of complete dependency on Him - which is where the FREEDOM lies!

“Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on Me.” -Isaiah 30:15 MSG

Slaves know they have to obey their master. And servants know it is their Master’s business to provide for their needs. So, as servants/slaves of God, we should know this about our relationship with Him. That we are to surrender fully to Him and obey Him in all things. And He, in return, provides for all of our needs because He loves us!

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” -Matthew 6:31-33

The problem has been people’s misconception of what it means to be a “slave or servant of God” and pastors’ unwillingness to teach about it (due to fear of man).

Being a servant of God and having Him as our Master is for our good. It is our protection. It is our provision. It is our blessing!

Because the choices are not serve God, serve Satan or serve yourself. It’s serve God or serve Satan. That’s it. Because when you’re in your “self,” you’re playing for the other side. And that’s another important point that many believers aren’t conscious of.

They think, well I might not be fully submitted to God as much as I should be, but at least I’m not submitting to the devil. Except, you are when you refuse to submit fully to God. And Satan knows that. In fact, God knows it, the angels know it… pretty much everyone knows it but you! And the enemy would love to keep it that way!

“Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness.” -Romans 6:16

You are either a slave of sin or a slave to obedience. One leads to death and one leads to righteousness. And every single one of us has to make a choice. (Are you starting to see why surrender/submission is so important to Jesus?)

Jesus paid a price for you. A very HIGH price. And He did it to save you and give you life. And the amazing thing is all you have to do is submit to it! But, it takes humility to do so and that does NOT come naturally to the flesh. In fact, the flesh is in complete opposition to God. Which is why we have to choose to subdue it (by submitting daily to the Lord).

“The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.” -Romans 8:7

“The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.” -Galatians 5:17

Read that last verse again (that’s the NLT version). You are not free to carry out your good intentions. Meaning, your flesh will betray you every time, no matter how good your intentions are. The flesh is carnal and it wants what it wants, no matter how much your spirit wants to do good. Why do you think Jesus told the disciples, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”?

This is why we can’t just “will” ourselves to do better and why we come up short and disappointed every time we try. It’s why you have to teach toddlers to be good not bad. And why “self-help,” “self-sufficiency,” “self-made” and all the other “self” illusions are all lies of the enemy! He knows he’s still got control of you as long as you’re operating out of your “self”!

The Lord wants us to submit to Him because that is where we are safe! It’s why there are so many analogies in the Bible of “coverings,” “protection,” “feathers,” “wings.” When we are submitted to Jesus, we are safe. We are covered (literally) by His blood.

But, when we are not submitted to Him, we are “out there” on our own. We’re still saved (I’m not talking about salvation here), but we are not living in the freedom Christ died for us to have. In fact, our lives don’t look much different than those who are in the world and don’t know Jesus.

And that’s a problem. (See, how we’ve come full circle back to the “a house of miracles with no miracles has a deficiency” thing?)

When the Church looks like the rest of the world that’s a problem. We are supposed to be set apart from the world. We are supposed to stick out and look different!

We are supposed to be walking in such freedom and power that the watching world inquires and wants to know the Lord for themselves too. But unfortunately, for a long time now, the Church has been doing the opposite and doing their best to blend in with the world.

But, God is saying no more.

Because not only does submission to the Lord keep us safe and give us freedom, but it is also what puts us in alignment for His power to flow through us.

Let me explain it to you with this AWESOME gem the Holy Spirit gave me one day - “Being a follower of Jesus does NOT mean trying to be like Him. But, surrendering totally to Him so He can work through you.”

Read that again slowly. Because the first sentence alone is enough to blow about 80% of Christian teachings out of the water.

Here we’ve been trying to make ourselves like Him all this time (and wondering why we keep coming up frustrated and with no results) and what He’s been wanting us to do this whole time is surrender so He can work through us!

When we surrender, we get our “self” out of the way. We stop trying to do it in our own strength. We stop caring about our own motives or glory. We stop letting our doubts and fears get in the way. We stop trying to figure things out and plan ahead. But instead, just let Him take over. So, (obviously) that’s when He can work through us! That’s when His Holy Spirit power flows the way it was meant to.

And no one gave us a better picture of this than Jesus Himself. Jesus was 100% fully submitted and surrendered to the Father. He only said what the Father told Him to say and did what the Father told Him to do. And that’s where His power came from.

He was a vessel for the Father to flow through. And now we are vessels for the same - through Jesus.

But, we have to be totally submitted because He can only flow through submitted vessels.

The apostle Peter’s power was in his total surrender to the Lord. That’s why it flowed after he had been “sifted” by Satan and Jesus showed him to his face that he would, in fact, deny him. Prior to that, Peter had been under the impression that he was running on his own strength. That he was so steadfast in his faith that he’d never betray Christ!

Except, Jesus already knew that he would and sure enough, he did. Because Jesus already understands our weakness and His grace covers it. He just needs us to realize it (and submit to it) and stop walking in pride, thinking we are the ones making ourselves “righteous,” when the whole time it is actually His Spirit and grace at work inside of us.

Power Through Relationship

All of the disciples walked with Jesus for three years before they ever operated in His power. They were in a relationship with Him first. They spent time with Him, learned about Him, learned from Him and got to know Him.

As the Holy Spirit explained it to me one day - “they came in the back door.” He reminded me how at a popular restaurant or club, the ones that arrive through the front door are the showy ones. The ones that are all about being seen. But, the servants, the workers, the humble ones enter through the back door. And that’s how Jesus teaches us to come into His power. Through humility and meekness (which is not weakness, it’s quiet strength under control).

He also used another analogy one day which sounds funny at first, but is actually one of my favorite illustrations He’s ever given me. After whispering the word “Pikachu” to me one day, I went on one of my Holy Spirit dives with Him and found out some interesting characteristics of the Pokemon character.

Mainly, that his special trait is that he carries electric power inside of him (mind you, He told me this right at at a time when He was also speaking to me about His power being like electricity). But, when it is still a baby (called a Pichu), it doesn’t know how to control its power yet. So, it can harm itself or others if it tries to use it.

But, a Pichu “levels up” and matures into a Pikachu after it develops a relationship with its trainer. In fact, in the game, it’s referred to as developing “friendship.”

Now, if that’s not a clear example, I don’t know what is!

Just like with the little Pokemon, when we try to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit without first having an established relationship with the Lord, we can be a danger to ourselves and others. By either going into spiritual warfare “uncovered” or by getting caught up in false signs and wonders by dark spirits masquerading as the Holy Spirit (see my post on the “Middle of the Road” for more on this).

Remember, Jesus is not just our Savior. He is our Lord and Savior. You’ve probably said it a million times before, but have you stopped to really consider what it means for Him to be your Lord? Have you really considered what it means to be surrendered and submitted to Him?

Because now is the time. In the last month, the Holy Spirit has woken me up early in the morning several times, saying things like “Christianity is man’s religion about following Jesus, it’s not following Jesus.” And “Christianity - the religion - is at its end.”

The days of “playing church” are over.

Jesus is asking His people to “relinquish their selves” and stop trying to protect and preserve themselves anymore. Because in actuality, they can’t. And again, He already knows that. But, He wants us to realize it too.

The Lord is bringing His Church back to full surrender and total dependency on Him because that is the only way they will survive what is coming in these times. They have to come out of the world or they will end up being swept away in God’s judgment. Not to mention, they simply won’t have access to the provisions of the world anymore (unless they submit to the enemy) because they will all belong to the enemy and God will allow it to be that way (Rev. 13:7). So, God is warning His people to wake up to the times we are in!

But, not only that. The Lord wants us to surrender and be fully dependent on Him again because that is where the FREEDOM is! We aren’t meant to be “slaves” to the ways of the world. We are “slaves” to His love and goodness! And the sooner we surrender and submit to that, the sooner His power can start flowing through us again and demonstrating His love and power to a dark and desperate world!

It is time for God’s people to wake up to who they are and who God is. It’s time for us to walk in the freedom and power we were meant to walk in. It’s time for us to come out of the world and step fully into who we are as children of God.

Jesus made the way for us. He paid the price for us. So, it’s time for us to lay down our pride, relinquish our “self” and submit to Him as Lord and Savior. It’s time for us to let Him work through us and bring us into the fullness of who we are IN HIM!

It’s time to stop playing church and be the Church.

It’s time to surrender!

It’s time.