Andrea Aasen is the Executive Director and CEO of Extreme Love Ministries. Andrea is an apostolic leader, mentored under Patricia King, who longs to see the nations restored. She and her team have worked in nations such as Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Iraq, developing community, business, and advocacy models to rehabilitate and protect victims of human trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Andrea believes in the power of love to overcome every injustice and is passionate to see women and children empowered and walking in their God created destinies.
This month, Andrea shares her heart-journey to a place of fuller surrender to God and His plans for her live. She includes scriptures to pray through and meditate on that invite God to take us to a new place of surrender in our faith.
Most of us have heard the familiar hymn, “I Surrender All.” If not, you have likely heard a rendition, as its words and melody are regularly played in both modern and traditional praise and worship. The song speaks of genuine love and trust in God, which renders radical obedience to surrender everything to Him. While many of us muddle over the lyrics, these are not light-hearted words of declaration.
Though it’s not a regular song I listen to or sing, its words have always brought me into bold proclamations of faith and promise. Recently, I heard “I Surrender All” playing in the Spirit. I would wake up to it, sing it all day, and go to sleep to it. At times, it sounded so loud in my mind and heart that I actually had to find a recording of the song and play it to soothe my soul. The song seemed to follow me everywhere. It wasn’t long before the words, “I surrender all” began to take hold of my heart in a new way. I began to pray and decree the lyrics over myself, but this time it was different. I was burdened to bring before the Lord promises in waiting, and in a wholehearted surrender, I began to see them come to fruition. Plans and promises I had prayed into for years, with one moment of true surrender, came into my now!
But it didn’t stop there. God asked me to delve deep into my heart and surrender everything – relationships, ideas, plans, and future dreams. It wasn’t easy but, one by one, I released to Him all the things I had treasured in my heart (Luke 2:19). Some were God-ordained burdens, while others had become idols, even though they had originated through righteous intent. For each, God began to order my will with His.
I began making trades. I surrendered my plans for God’s plans, regardless of the outcome (Jeremiah 29:11). I surrendered my timing for God’s timing, regardless of the outcome (Ecclesiastes 3:1). I surrendered my will for God’s will, regardless of the outcome (Matthew 6:10; 26:39). As the release and exchange happened, I began to see promises manifest through my sacrifice of surrender. I was amazed as my humbled surrender became a weapon for breakthrough (Ephesians 6:12; 2 Corinthians 10:4).
I hadn’t realized that in my ignorance and lack of obedience to give these things fully to God, I was actually holding onto them in my own strength. There were so many things I was striving to achieve because fear and hope deferred had hindered my ability to fully trust God. Then, in a “suddenly,” my authentic surrender to Jesus put HIM back in the driver’s seat. Through my surrender, I gave Him permission to accomplish His finished work in my life as the author and perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:2). I gave Him my heart desires and entrusted Him to have control.
Surrender ushers in the sovereign power of God to move on our behalf. As it turns out, the writer of the original hymn, Judson W. Van DeVenter, was also wrestling in his soul when the lyrics to “I Surrender All” came to him. Judson was waiting on the Lord in a time of transition and decision. He had a choice to pursue a teaching and art career or to give everything up to serve the Lord in ministry as an evangelist. In a moment of surrender, the confirmation came to him, and he began to follow the Lord as a full-time evangelist.
Following after Jesus means taking up His cross (Matthew 16:24). It means giving our lives as a surrendered offering and daily making decisions to surrender our will for God’s. All of our heroes in the faith have modeled well the sacrifice of surrender. Moses, Abraham, and David all took their surrender to a sacrificial level. I can’t even imagine what it must have felt like when Abraham pledged his love to God by saying, “I’ll even give you my firstborn son.” Ironically, it’s the same pledge our Heavenly Father gave to us when He gave us Jesus, the firstborn of the dead, to die in our place (Colossians 1:18; Romans 8:29).
This month, I hear God calling us to deeper levels of surrender. Let’s pray through and meditate on the Word, asking God to take us to new places of surrender in our faith.
Surrender by giving God your recommitted “yes.” Mary said, “Be it done unto me, Lord.” She, without knowing the fullness of the outcome, said yes to what the Lord was asking her to birth (Luke 1:38). She made a sacrifice of surrender to the promise God had given her. Like Mary, we won’t always know the full burden of the promise we say yes to, but it’s important that we trust God to know the desires He’s placed within our hearts. One yes will often lead to another. If Mary or others had known the full plan of what they were saying yes to, I wonder if they would have agreed. We know in part and prophesy in part (1 Corinthians 13:9), and thank God for that! It makes it a lot easier as we say yes, one step at a time. We may get a picture of the full plan, but often (even if we see the big picture) we will only see a portion of what we need to see in each time and season. Recommit your yes to the Lord in what He’s asked you to do in this season. Don’t worry about what you don’t see, or the unknown steps. But rather, recommit and surrender to Him all the current plans and steps He has asked you to walk.
Surrender by giving God your doubt and unbelief. Doubt and unbelief have led many to delay or walk away from the promises of God. Let’s look at the Israelites in the wilderness (Joshua 5:6). The Israelites saw miracle after miracle as they daily experienced God’s faithfulness. Yet, they wandered for 40 years and many died before entering the promised land because they wouldn’t surrender their unbelief to Him. Early in their journey, they were given a promise that the Lord, Himself, would fight for them, they need only be still (Exodus 14:14). Imagine what would have happened if they had remained in that promise and continually surrendered their doubt and unbelief. How often do we needlessly miss out or wander in confusion because of doubt and unbelief?
Sarah, Moses, and Peter are additional examples we can learn from. Doubt and unbelief held them back or delayed God’s promises. The good news is that God works all things for good, even our mistakes (Romans 8:28)! At any time you can choose to surrender and believe what God says to be true. Pray through areas where doubt and unbelief are holding you back or have forfeited you from walking in God’s plans and promises, and choose today to surrender!
Surrender by giving God your fears. Fear can also keep you from entering into God-ordained promises. If fear is guiding your life, it can rob you of Godly relationships and assignments. Fear is ultimately rooted in places where we have not yet surrendered to love (1 John 4:18), in places that wounding, man’s opinions, or the unknown have held us hostage (Proverbs 29:25). These voices speak louder than God’s voice if we let them. Pray into areas where you have let fear lead. Where has fear kept you from the promises of God and, thereby, stopped or hindered you from acting as God desired? Repent for those areas where you have let fear speak in your life. Surrender your fears to God, and ask Him to go deep with His healing and fill those hurting places with His love. David cried out, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you” (Psalm 56:3).
Surrender by giving God your hopes and dreams. God holds your past, present, and future in His hands (Revelation 1:8; 22:13). Giving Him your future can be one of the hardest things you are called to do. In doing so, it means trusting Him with the plans He has for you (Jeremiah 29:11). He loves to give you the desires of your heart and invites you to dream and create/do with Him (Psalm 37:4). This co-laboring is one of the joys you share in operating as a son. Have you fully surrendered your hopes and dreams to God, trusting Him with even the most vulnerable areas of your future? Are there any places where in trusting God, and perhaps still waiting on God, you have felt hope deferred hinder your ability to dream (Proverbs 13:12)? Give God those areas of want and desire, and ask Him to order your steps and make your will His (Psalm 119:133; Psalm 37:23). Surrender any areas of hope or future dreams that have not yet fully come to pass, and release them into His hands to realign or bring about in His perfect timing. Romans 8:25 says, “But if we hope for what we do not see, through perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
Surrender by giving God your life. Giving God our life is something we choose to do when we follow Him. Just as He called His 12 disciples, Jesus will often call you from what you know into the unknown. He might ask you to leave people, places, and things that you have known for His namesake. We’ve all read scriptures about “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21) and “if you want to save your life you must first lose it” (Matthew 16:25), but do we really understand the nature of what death to ourselves means? We must fully surrender our selfish, independent, worldly, and fleshly ways of living. Ask yourself these questions. Have you surrendered your whole life to Jesus, trusting Him with every part of it, or are there still places in your mind, heart, will, and emotions that are not fully His? Have you given Him your full surrender to trust Him in your time, finances, and talents? If He asked you to leave everything for Him, could you do it, or are there ideas, relationships, or situations that you love more than Him and could have (even unknowingly) as an idol? Seek after those un-surrendered places in your heart; surrender them to Him, and give Him full control and authority to accomplish His will in and through your life. Surrender it all!
Want More? Then May We Suggest:
ULTIMATE PASSION – MP3 download from Patricia King and Steve Swanson
During a conference, Patricia King was sharing a powerful message on the cross when the Spirit of Prophecy came upon her. She began to not merely teach on the cross, but to prophesy from God’s perspective the message of His love for each and every one of us. While this was occurring, Steve Swanson was also flowing in a powerful worship anointing adding sounds from heaven to the unfolding of this amazing revelation. A teaching. A soaking CD. This CD cant be categorized, but has to be heard!
THE BRIDE MAKES HERSELF READY – Book/eBook from Patricia King
Patricia shares insights from Scripture and Hebrew wedding traditions to help you understand Jesus all-consuming love for you and how to prepare yourself to be His Bride!
EVERLASTING LOVE JOURNAL – Book from Patricia King
This beautiful hard cover book with a gold-foil stamp is overflowing with the revelation of God’s everlasting love for you. Designed to be a 31-day devotional, each devotion also has space for you to journal insights as you experience more and more of God’s love.
God loves you with an everlasting love. He did all that he did on the cross so that you might know that love. His arms are extended to you through the pages of this devotional, and His desire is to draw you into an intimate embrace each and every day. May you be revived, refreshed and restored as you grow in the revelation of His glorious and eternal love for you.
