Hi, this is Joni and let me tell you what I often sing when I'm facing a big trial…
All to Jesus, I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.
I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.
Listen, friend, when you’re going through a tough time, maybe some great affliction, this is the hymn, “I Surrender All.” I mean, it really is wonderful prayer to sing to the Lord. Because we just have to keep our focus on Him, surrendering it all to Him. And another thing that comforts me when I'm in a difficult or painful season is Acts 22 where it says, “The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.” Right there’s my focus!
What words of comfort they are when it says that we are His chosen ones. In fact, Jesus reminds us that we have not chosen Him, but He has chosen us. He has chosen us to serve and worship Him, to receive every spiritual blessing and a heavenly inheritance. But to some of His loved ones, this is what He whispers: "I have chosen you for the furnace of affliction." That’s right, He does choose some of His children to suffer greatly. Consider the apostle Paul. God said of him in Acts 9, "He is a chosen vessel unto me... for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake."
Chosen to serve Him, yes; to praise Him, of course; but to suffer for Him? After being paralyzed for more than four decades, I am able to say "Yes." That’s right, yes. God gives special promises to those who have been specially chosen. If you have severe aches and pains, a husband gone astray, a wife with manic depression; if your knee or hip surgery has gone all wrong or you are in some other painful circumstance, God has a word that is spoken particularly for you: friend, you are a chosen vessel chosen to suffer. And why is that? Well, that’s where the comfort kicks in. Your suffering has been screened carefully by the hand of God; He knows exactly how much you can handle; better yet, God's got a purpose – an awesome and wonderfully divine purpose that will have eternal repercussions for all of time. Because there are people He wants to reach… families He wants to transform… souls. He wants to rescue. And He plans to do it all through the affliction He has chosen for you to endure.
So, friend… surrender. Surrender all. Just simply in your pain surrender to God and His plan for you in your heartache and hardship. You can give all to Him. Surrender it all and watch Him do incredible things through the suffering which He has “chosen” just for you. Until next time on "Joni and Friends,” join me in submitting. Join me in yielding and surrendering to Jesus because God's chosen vessel has chosen you and me to join Him in the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. And that is not a bad place at all to be. Surrender all!
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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