Complete Surrender

Well, COMPLETE SURRENDER has been on my heart lately.  It keeps popping up in sermons, books I've read, and my own personal devotion time.  I thought I'd write down a little bit of what I studied this morning regarding complete surrender to Jesus.
Here are the definitions of "complete" and "surrender" from the Websters 1828 dictionary:

Complete- Having no deficiency; perfect
Surrender- to yield; to give up one's self into the power of another  

Most of us know the song "I Surrender All"...but do we?  Do I?  Have I surrendered ALL my hopes, ALL my dreams, ALL my life, to Jesus?
In John 6:38 it says, "For I have come down from heaven, not to My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me."  If Jesus said this as to why He was here, then what can we say about why we're here?  I think the Westminster Catechism sums it up rather nicely...we're here to "Glorify God and enjoy Him forever."  Jesus is the perfect example of what a life surrendered to God looks like.  Notice how He had "nowhere to lay His head". Our Lord was constantly walking from place to place surrounded by people who just wanted to touch Him,  then He died a slow, torturous death on the cross for you and I, and suffered enumerable other things while diligently following His Fathers will.  Life is not easy, especially a life devoted to Jesus.  It says in John 17:14-15, "I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not the world, just as I am not of the world.  I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one."  You see, Jesus prayed for us, that we would have the strength to be in complete surrender to Him no matter what...and I believe we can do it, but only through Him!
Can anyone think of another person in the Bible who was in complete surrender to his Master?  What about Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian church.  Listen to what the Bible says about him:
"And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit...and Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.  And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.  And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel." Acts 6:5b,8,10, & 15
Wow!  That's high praise coming from the Lord!!  Can people say that about you and I?  I know I still have tons to work on!!  But let us see what happened to Stephen, a man surrendered COMPLETELY to Jesus....
"and they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he knelt down  and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin."  And when he has said this, he fell asleep." Acts 7:59-60 
He died, faithfully still surrendering his all to Jesus!  Not only that but also praying for his persecutors...Lord Jesus, give me that faith, that strength to love the unlovable, those who persecute me!!
What about Paul, all the disciples, William Borden, Amy Carmichael, Lottie Moon, and other past and present Christians?  We have plenty of biographies of people who have surrendered their all and seen what the Lord has done with them.
Dwight L. Moody once made this statement, "The world has yet to see what God can do with a fully consecrated man [or woman]."  
Will you join me as a vessel  used by God to show the world what Christ can do through those in complete surrender to Him?!

Learning to delight in Jesus,
Hannah