I Surrender All

Week 23, Monday

Susan Lafferty

And He said to them, “It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer. But you are making it a den of thieves!”

Matthew 21:13 (hcsb)

God’s temple was a holy place—a house of prayer for the nations—and yet the people had allowed the marketplace to encroach and take over. Maybe it seemed like a good plan at first—one-stop money changing, shopping, and sacrificing—but in no time at all the holy was marred by the unholy. When the one and only Son entered His Father’s house that particular day, He drove out those who were misusing the temple for their own gain. Jesus cleaned house.

During a week of revival meetings during my senior year in high school, I became convicted that my own temple had become cluttered and clogged with thieves that hindered God’s work in my life. One night Miss Bertha Smith spoke forthrightly about the importance of confessing sin regularly, making a list of those things that were robbing me of a truly abundant life in Christ. She described brokenness over the unholy and the importance of true repentance. Then she spoke of the liberating, enabling, empowering work of the Holy Spirit in a cleansed temple that has been fully surrendered to Him. I wanted that. I wanted something more than just plodding along the path of going to church, reading my Bible occasionally, and praying at mealtimes and prayer meetings.

Ephesians 5:18 says, “And don’t get drunk with wine, which [leads to] reckless actions, but be filled with the Spirit” (hcsb). Be filled. Be controlled by the Spirit. When I first professed faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit entered my heart and He is the seal of my salvation (see Ephesians 1:13). But as I regularly confess and repent of the clutter, the sin that so easily entangles, I am set free to surrender every crack and crevice to the filling and control of the Holy One.

Thank You, Lord, that You call each one of us to a holy life—one wholeheartedly obedient to You. Open my eyes to see those things that have encroached and cluttered this temple of Your Holy Spirit. I confess my sin and ask You to “clean house.” Teach me to fully surrender day by day, filled by and walking in Your Spirit. This day, this moment, I surrender all to You. Amen.