Saturday, January 20, 2018

Day 207 - Surrender

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file.

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"It is a sad fact that real and meaningful change often can’t happen until we completely surrender. Surrender usually comes at the end of a long journey through the pain of a string of “have to” obligations that hit us square in the face."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 183.

Surrender is such a terrible word in my life. I have been taught that you never give up. It is a fact that most of the significant change in this world came as people simply wouldn't take no for an answer. Here are some examples of what I'm talking about. 

Thomas Edison, it is said, was told that he didn't poses the mental ability to be a person of learning. It took over 1000 tries before he found the right combination of materials needed to make the light bulb. Micheal Jordan, arguably the most accomplished basketball player in history, was cut from his high school basketball team - he didn't have the talent to play against teenagers. Walt Disney was fired from a job because it was said he lacked imagination and that his ideas were no good. Henry Ford bankrupt multiple companies before making a go of it with Ford Motor Company. Abraham Lincoln, JK Rowling, Winston Churchill - take a look at the life of just about any person who has had an impact on history and you will see failure after failure that had to be overcome before success was even a remote possibility.

I don't mention this as a pep talk. My words aren't meant to make it so that you will keep success as a dream. What I hope this discussion surrounding victor living does for you and for me is to keep us in the game of life. It is when victim thinking takes over that surrender becomes such a damaging word as we work to apply surrender in such personally destructive ways. 

You see it would have been so easy for Thomas Edison to surrender his efforts at attempt 999 with the light bulb. The invention of the light bulb would have been attributed to someone else had victim thinking taken over in Edison's life and had he surrendered his attempts at history. Same goes for the amazing list of notables that have risen to the top of their game after overcoming failure after failure. 

I have found that surrender is absolutely the key to those who succeed as well as those who fail. It is what the person is surrendering that makes the difference when it comes to success or failure. Those who have reached the pinnacle of success after multiple failures are just as beholden to surrender as those who never reached their pinnacles due to surrender. Let me expand that thought a bit. 

You see, I believe that those who have turned failure into success did so as they surrendered their drive to let what they were doing to have any impact their identities. I can't find in the biographies of famous people who have overcome failure the statement, "I did what I did because I wanted people to like me." No, there was something greater driving those destined for success. They had surrendered the identity issues of success for the passion that drove them way past their care for what others might think of them. 

Where victors surrender letting results be what defines them, victim thinkers let what others might think drive them to give up on their dreams and passions. Success and failure, victor living and victim thinking all happen as a result of surrender. What kind of surrender are you going to give in to today?

There are so many verses in the Bible on surrender. Some of them speak of surrendering to God. Others speak of never giving up. The life of a victor is defined by the knowledge of when to surrender and when not to. Check out today's reading with me now.

So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Galatians 6:9 (MSG)

This is an example of when we are not to give up, when surrender should never be an option. It is in the doing of good that God wants us to persevere, even when the odds are stacked against us. I believe good can have a wide range of definitions in this context. Sure it means being kind and gentle to one another, but I believe good can also be related to what we do when what we do isn't tied to our identity.

God wants us to pursue our passions. He wants us to be all we can be. It is when what we do is so closely tied to who we are that God is looking for surrender in our lives. He had rather us give up on our passions if our passions make it so that we will turn to this world for confirmation of who we are. It isn't that God wants us to fail in the world, it is that failure is guaranteed in a personal way when we let this world dictate who we are.

What good are you doing today? Is that good being met with resistance by the world? If that good you are working on is devoid of as much identity connection as possible, then never, never, never give up! If you are looking for that good you are doing to bring into clarity your identity, then stop now! Even if you get all you are looking for from the world by your efforts, the damage to who you are won't be worth the worldly gains when you tie identity to the success of what you do.

Surrender is the key to your success. Give up on letting your identity be empowered by what you do. At the same time, never give up on the passion you have in your heart if the results of that passion is, is not tied to who you are. Let the fact that God sees you as a victor no matter how much victory you have in your life be the power needed to push through the obstacles you will face today. 


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