The Happen Stance

How to Make Things Happen In Your Christian Life

K. Neill Foster

SOMETIMES WE COME UPON things in the Christian life through a series of circumstances. This chapter, perhaps more than any other in this volume, has a history like that.

I was participating in a short-term Cree Indian Bible School at a place called Peerless Lake in the wilderness of northern Alberta. One of my assigned messages was on the subject of tithing. And as we moved through the familiar passage in Malachi 3:8-12, something new startled me. My attention was riveted on the possibility that giving the tithe allows the Lord to go to war on behalf of the tither.

The sequence is clear enough: "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse. . . And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes." Excitement began to mount in my own heart as these thoughts crowded into the Bible study in that log church: Loose God's funds and you loose God's power against Satan. Could giving be a spiritual weapon? Could spiritual victories be won apart from prayer? Apart from praise? Apart from fasting? Apart from authority? Was it conceivable that spiritual victories could come through giving alone? It seemed evident to all of us there that day that there is a real sense in which tithing does exactly that. It frees the Lord to rebuke the devourer, to go to war on behalf of the tither. That has to be exciting news for Christian believers!

TIP OF AN ICEBERG

When I looked for confirmation of the principle elsewhere in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, I did not find it (though that is not to say the confirmation is not there). But I did begin to look at this "tithing power" in a new light. Perhaps it was just the tip of an iceberg. Perhaps the truth was much larger than giving. Perhaps it is obedience, I thought. Perhaps it is surrender. And that is where my thoughts led me: "surrender power ." The reason tithing releases God to war against the enemy on our behalf is that in tithing we surrender our goods, or gold, to God.

When it comes to "surrender power," there is a strong, biblical case. Surrender, the epitome of weakness, allows the strength and power of almighty God to be made manifest. And the supporting Scriptures come flooding to mind.

Jacob had to surrender before he became Israel. Then God's power rested upon him as never before (Gen. 22-30).

Moses, too, was a reluctant deliverer. After God answered his objections one by one, the moment came when Moses surrendered to Jehovah (Exod. 4:29-31). Can it be coincidence that the miraculous began there? I do not think we should be surprised at this surrender power.

After the death of Moses, the commission to possess the Promised Land was given to Joshua (Josh. 1:1-9). But in verse 10 Joshua commanded the officers of the people to prepare to cross the Jordan. He surrendered to Jehovah's claims on his life. And the conquest of the Promised Land was assured by this surrender to God's power.

Gideon, too, was a great deliverer of Israel. But first he had to surrender to the call and strategy of the Almighty. He equivocated. He called for signs. But finally he obeyed the Lord fully and surrender power fell on the Midianites (Judg. 6-8).

CONFRONTATION

In the classic confrontation between David and Goliath, the youthful David first abandoned himself to the resources of God. Saul's armor and ordinary weapons were put aside. Surrender power brought Goliath down (1 Sam. 17:31-54).

Jonah the prophet had a very difficult time surrendering to Jehovah's call. It took three days and nights in the fish's belly to convince him. But once he surrendered, revival in Nineveh was assured. Surrender power in the prophet brought the great city to its knees. The greatest revival recorded in the Bible followed. It is little wonder that Satan wars mightily against full surrender to God. He has suffered plenty in the past from God's fully surrendered servants. Surrender power has given the enemy many a scar, and he will have more.

After the day of Pentecost when the apostles were threatened and told to quit using the name of Jesus, they replied, "We ought to obey God rather than man" (Acts 5:29). They refused to stop preaching because they had discovered the Holy Ghost was "given to them that obey him." And they were not about to short-circuit the power. They were not about to dissipate the surrender power they had discovered.

It was a fateful day for Christendom when Saul fell to the ground blinded - when he finally cried, "Lord what wilt thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6). Paul was mighty in deeds. He was mighty with his pen. He was destined to become one of the greatest and most influential apostles. Surrender power!

SATAN IN TROUBLE

Paul also reminded the church at Rome of this surrender force: "For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. . . . And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. . ." (Rom. 16:19,20). The only conclusion possible is that the church at Rome had obeyed Paul's earnest entreaty made earlier (Rom. 12:1-2). They had presented their bodies completely to God. And that is why Satan was about to be in trouble through their obedience. It was surrender power.

A prominent contemporary Bible teacher has given a new emphasis to the yielding of rights. According to him, the yielding of personal rights unleashes the power of God to concentrate on the person in need. Here we are calling it surrender power.

The Savior exhibited it supremely. "Not as I will, but as thou wilt," He said to His Father (Matt. 26:39). His surrender to the Father was as complete as His victory over Satan was total. The prince of this world was judged and was cast out. Jesus triumphed over all the powers of hell and darkness through surrender power.

DELIGHTFUL SURRENDER

The delightful thing about all this is that anyone can surrender. The way to win is to lose. The way to live is to die. The way to succeed is to humble oneself.

I am still persuaded that giving the tithe sets the Lord free to rebuke the devourer for our sakes. But the reason I believe that is because it is part of a pervasive scriptural base. The surrender of money is like the surrender of anything else. It generates power.

We should leap to give all that God asks for. And we will, too, when we realize at last that full surrender to Jesus Christ is one of the mightiest blows we can ever strike at the powers of darkness. Our surrender flows ultimately to Jesus Christ.

There our surrender is united with God's power. Then omnipotence is free to work. Do you face any impossibilities? Surrender is the name of the path that leads to victory and conquest.

Chapter 14