Archive for the 'Pastors' Category
I Surrender
I have just completed my final Easter experience with my Cross Church Family. This past weekend was very difficult for me personally. After thirty-three consecutive Easters with the same church family, Easter weekend will never be the same for me. When I preach my final Sunday here on May 19, I will enter into my new calling formally and wholly.
One morning a few weeks ago in the midst of immense personal struggle, God used a song in my life. The reason this song has so resonated with me again and again is because its words represent what God has already done in my heart in calling me. There was no plan to hear it, nor was it a song someone suggested I listen to.
One morning while my wife was playing a series of tunes by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, this song came on. I had never heard it before, even though it has been around for a number of years. The song is called, “I Surrender.”
Doing God’s will is not easy; in fact, sometimes it is very difficult. The moment you rise up to submit to God and surrender your life to His will, you face reason upon reason not to do it. But while tempted to walk away and choose the road of personal comfort, sameness, and familiarity where risks are minimal and the future seems secure, God calls you again to surrender to Him. Yes, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Speaking of this song, “I Surrender,” perhaps the words of the first verse and chorus will minister to you as they have to me and still do today:
I know Lord Your plan for me is right
I need You to fulfill
Your purpose in my life
I submit to You my King
Be my everything
I’m coming to You again
Lord here I am
I surrender I surrender
Lord I surrender my life
Give it all to You
I surrender I surrender
Lord I surrender my life
Give it all to You
Until we surrender to Jesus fully, we will have little to no prospect of a revival in our hearts, limited to no stirring of the Spirit in our churches, and little to no spiritual awakening in our land. True revival is nothing less and nothing more than the manifest presence of God in our lives.
A surrendered Christian, a surrendered pastor, and a surrendered church will experience spiritual revival.
God does not will that our life and leadership are spiritually powerless, lukewarm, ineffective, and purposeless. He does will this for you and me:
1. Give 100% of yourself to Jesus daily.
I often pray these words regularly and more often now, daily: “Lord, I give 100% of me to 100% of You so that 100% of You will work through 100% of me.”
Spiritual power is not found in holding on to what you have; spiritual power is discovered and released when you release yourself to God. We will never choose to let God have His way with us if we continue to hang on to our own desires, our own dreams, and our own bondage. Just go ahead and pray it now, “Lord, I surrender.”
2. Trust God really knows what is best for you.
Surrendering to God is abandoning all that we have in order to receive all that God possesses and has for our future. When we enter God’s gateway to supernatural power for living, we begin to learn what a surrendered life looks like.
Right now in my life, I am trusting God really knows what is best for us. It is not easy; if fact, it is very difficult.
Back to the song again… I don’t know how many times I have listened to it. In fact, Jeana remarks at times, “You have played the song several times today, are you okay?” I reply, “Yes, I just need to be reminded again and again what I have done in prayer already.”
So, I guess I feel as if I am the one singing this second verse of its lyrics:
Humble and broken I come to You
I’m trusting and waiting
To see what You will do
Lord You know what’s best
And at Your feet I find my rest
I’m coming to You again
Lord here I am
Again and again, and yes, even again, I go to God and surrender. He does know what is best for me and that is why I keep coming to Him.
I believe this is God’s will for my life and ministry. Do you believe this regardless of your vocation? I hope so. Join me now: “Lord, I surrender my life to you.”
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Insights to Discerning God’s Will
This past Sunday, I announced my resignation as Senior Pastor of Cross Church. Completely content in the Lord serving here now for thirty-two and one-half years, God has issued a new calling on my life. On Tuesday, April 2, I accepted the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee.
Needless to say, over these past months, I have needed to discern the will of God pertaining to my life and calling to the ministry. In this article today, I want to share with you a few insights to discerning God’s will for our future.
Insight #1: A God moment is a point in time when God defines your life and turns your life toward Him.
Walking with Christ daily is imperative to discerning God’s will for your life. Staying in the Word of God, the Bible, and filling your life with the Word daily in an overflowing way is necessary to see God turn your heart toward Him. When this occurs, you will experience points in time when God more clearly defines your life and calling.
Insight #2: When these God moments occur, they lead you to God’s will.
These God moments can be personal and private with God in the midst of walking with Him daily or He can use events or experiences to demonstrate Himself to and through you. He can also use both, as He did with me. These spiritual markers will ignite your life toward God and His will for your life.
Insight #3: As you more clearly understand and see God’s work within you, you will more clearly understand and see what God wants to do through you.
Even after all these years of walking with the Lord and leading people, God took me back to my calling and giftedness in order to set my path before me. I believe God has been preparing me for much of my life for this assignment by placing me on an undeniable path providentially.
Insight #4: God uses everything we walk through in life to prepare us for what He has ahead of us.
God may use some or even all of your life experiences to prepare you for what lies ahead of you. When you are anchored in the Word of God daily, this will empower you to see your life from God’s perspective. You do not view life from the lenses of experience, but through the lenses of Scripture. This matures what you sense God is doing rather than being driven by experience alone, which can be extremely dangerous.
Insight #5: God’s preparation precedes God’s calling.
God calls you to do what He prepares you to do. Enough said.
Insight #6: God’s will and future for you are not controlled by you, but by Him.
You do not control or dictate God’s will; He does. You do not belong to yourself; you belong to Jesus. If you called into the ministry of the gospel, you do not get the privilege to determine where you locate and how you are going to spend your life. When this is violated, you settle for much less than what God has for you.
Stop reducing God into your selfish and vocational box. Release God to do whatever He desires to do in and through you, regardless of what it may be or where it leads you.
Insight #7: Always keep the heart of Isaiah 6:8, “Here am I, send me.”
Early in the morning on March 4, 2018, God led me to begin praying Isaiah 6:8 into my life daily. Yes, for over thirteen months I prayed Isaiah 6:8 daily, which God used to keep my heart aligned with the Holy Spirit, and ultimately unknowing to me, what God was doing in my life. Never did I imagine while praying these words, all would become so personalized that it would dramatically shift my calling, position, and location.
God seeded my heart with Isaiah 6:8, cultivating a culture in my life that whatever God wanted, I was ready to do. I was willing to go and more than willing to stay.
So Much More
There is so much more I could say about these matters. Perhaps I will in the future, but today, my goal is to keep this article brief enough that the insights glisten before you more clearly. May you discern God’s will for your future.
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
P.S. If you are interested in viewing the entire message from Sunday, April 7, 2019, at Cross Church, watch this from our Springdale location.
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.