Ravi Zacharias tells the amazing story of a young Christian, Hien Pham, whom he met in Vietnam
who served as an interpreter with the American forces.
Shortly after Vietnam fell, Hien was
imprisoned on accusations of helping the Americans.
His jailers tried to indoctrinate him against
democratic ideals with daily readings of Marx and Lennon and it began to take its toll. ‘Maybe,’
he thought, ‘I have been lied to. Maybe God does not exist. Maybe the West has deceived me.’
Hien is then determined never to pray again. Tomorrow would be a new day!
That next morning he was assigned latrine duty.
While cleaning out the tin cans used as toilets, he spotted english printing on something.
He cleaned it an opened it once everyone was asleep.
It read: ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him for I am
convinced that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. He knelt beside his bunk and cried out to God, "Forgive me Lord!"
This was to be the day he would never pray again, but pray he did and still does!
Hien came very close to giving up on God.
He was close to surrendering but to whom?
Satan was waiting for Hien to make the wrong
move and what Hien would be surrendering
would be his soul.
Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,
which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what
is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
John 3:30-31 (NKJV)
30 He must increase, but I must decrease. 31 He who comes from above
is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth.
He who comes from heaven is above
A true Christian must be willing to surrender everything he or
she has to God—nothing less. God wants all of us for Himself
for He is a jealous God. I know I’ve read that somewhere???
Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, that we are to be a
‘living sacrifice’ and ‘not to be conformed to this world.
What does that mean? That is… to be a living sacrifice?
When we think of a sacrifice, we typically envision some
animal on an altar that has had its throat sliced and it will
bleed-out into a bowl, later used to adorn an altar of God
as a sacrifice to Him thereby cleansing those who the sacrifice is for.
But, in this case… it is the person whose things and whose life have been sacrificed
in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because Jesus paid the ultimate price for each
one of us, there is no longer any need to sacrifice anymore animals. In return for what
He did for us… This free gift from God… We MUST offer ourselves and our possessions
to Him, to do with what He so desires.And you know what’s ironic? These things are
already His. We don’t own any of them. He gave them to us to use and in some cases
multiply. But if we SURRENDER… but if we SURRENDER
He may tell us to give up the keys to that shiny new car.
He may tell us to pursue a mission to Africa.
He may have us travel 1500 miles to preach.
You never know what He has in store for you… but to find out…
You must SURRENDER it all to Him.
Tell Him to do with it what He wants!
It’s a hard thing to do!
We tend to love our possessions!
You might find yourself trying to barter with God…
"Hey, I sure would like to keep that one…
Could you take this one?”
I just don’t think that would
go over real big with God???
Sometimes it takes a humbling experience for us to
‘see the forest because of the trees’, so to speak.
Hien, had to get down on his knees to scrub urinals,
just to have God show him, who is real and to dispel
the thought that he had been lied to by his American friends.
Hien made a great choice as did one storm-chaser, whose story is about choices.
It's a story about choices…some bad… some good
A storm chaser back on May 13, 2009, found himself staring at a category five
tornado with nowhere to go… no way to flee from its path. He had been playing
tag with it all day. It would be spotted, would touch down, and then disappear
once again into the darkened sky.
That was until it turned and approached the city, where there was much confusion as seen
by the traffic jam, caused by many of its citizens trying to escape the impending doom.
As the chaser pulled up to a blocked intersection, it occurred to him that most of these
people were unaware that a major tornado was just minutes from them.
Some backed up, turned around and sped away. Most did not. The chaser decided to
abandon the intersection to get a better view for it was pictures that he was most
interested in—not cars blocking an intersection. The chaser had become overly confident,
believing that he was incapable of making a bad decision, so he drove down a country
road that would certainly lead him into the path of the oncoming tornado.
He was sure of it
He was now within 50 yards of the monster. It began to rain much harder than he had ever
experienced. Trees were flying across the road at times; his view often restricted to the
end of his nose.
What he discovered was that he was now trapped. Behind him were fallen trees, blocking
his escape route and in front of him was the largest twister he had ever experienced.
Large pieces of plywood and roofing were pounding his car. He was sure that he would not
make it through this chase. It was at that time, that the atheist, turned to God.
He apologized for his non-belief and put his life in God’s hands at that very moment.
At that exact moment, the tornado was sucked up into the clouds and then he could see
it reappear directly behind him. He had been saved by a prayer. No, he thought…
He had been saved by God who just prior to this event, he had scoffed and ridiculed,
including those who believed in such a fairy tale.
He had made a terrible decision to turn down the road he did but because of that choice,
he then made a great choice. Since that day, he makes no decision without God’s intervention.
He has since surrendered His life to Jesus Christ and His Word.
Notice the use of the word SURRENDER.
Some think that it is a bad or offensive word. They often think of war or the act of giving up
some possession that is prized.
In our passage from John 3, we heard that a man or a woman must decrease, while the Lord
must increase.
In other words, we must humble ourselves like in the old-fashioned get-down-on-my-knees
sort of thing, exalt our God and tell Him that you need Him
We need to stop thinking we can do it all ourselves. That’s a sure recipe for FAILURE.
Hien got down on his knees (a form of humbling oneself) and our storm-chaser admitted
he had made bad choices. They humbly asked for God to takeover. He had failed and could
not afford to fail again. ‘Into your hands I commit myself.’ Does that not sound familiar?
Jesus said something like that to His Father in heaven. You and I must do the same if we
are to be Christians… CHRIST-LIKE. To be CHRIST-LIKE means that we act and talk like Jesus.
It means that we COMMIT ourselves to the Father. We MUST FULLY SURRENDER!
No doubt! No hesitation!
Always remember, that God was unwavering when He surrendered
His only Son to die on a cross on Calvary.
And for that… should we not SURRENDER ourselves to Him?
