The Power of a Surrendered heart!

Do I really want to be changed, really changed from the inside out?

Transformational change!

The Holy Spirit doesn’t invade, he invites, what he means about surrender we sing about it while tightly holding onto the reigns of our own lives! Transformation truly begins, not when we try harder but when we surrender deeper.

Do you know what he does with a surrendered heart?

He fills it, floods it with love and life, transforms it not with human effort but with divine power. We wont weep from sorrow but from awe and hunger, not for success but holiness. We will crave the Word, love prayer and intimacy and burn with a fire that this world can’t explain.

This won’t be an emotional moment, but it will be a holy exchange! The old must die so that the new can live.

“to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV

Those selfish ambitions lay them down, expose those secret sins to his light, those plans that you hold onto so tightly place them into His hands. Then you must wait, listen, allow time for the Holy Spirit to talk to you, let Him guide you and let Him transform your life to bring you into His alignment with His perfect plans so that you can know your purpose on this earth. That life if you choose it brings real satisfaction, yes there will be trials, mountain tops and valleys, but also great adventures and doors opening as you follow the path set before you.

“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] “

John 16:33 AMPC

I never had any thoughts or desires to start a church; I wanted to be happy and become an Archaeologist. Instead, I became an Art teacher, which I loved and was very good at until the day I received Jesus into my heart. My life drastically changed, I couldn’t stop reading the bible, I had a hunger to know the Holy Spirit and He radically began a transformation in me, that I could never have dreamed of! He bought alive what I was reading, showed me how to implement it, and gave me opportunities and opened doors that led to so many divine encounters.

“But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth [full and complete truth]. For He will not speak on His own initiative, but He will speak whatever He hears [from the Father—the message regarding the Son], and He will disclose to you what is to come [in the future].” John 16:13 AMP

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Cor 3:17

And I will ask the father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. Jn 14:16

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Acts 4:31

Teach me to do Your will [so that I may please You],

For You are my God;

Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. Psalm 143:10

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Jude 1:20-21

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Matthew 28:19-20

If only we could catch a glimpse of the life so drenched in glory, so full of purpose, so marked by peace, but it only comes through surrender.

When we finally let go, when we stop resisting, something glorious happens, we don’t just become a better version of ourselves, we become a vessel, a temple, a dwelling place of God. We carry His presence, we become His witnesses and every where we go the atmosphere changes, not because of who we are but because of who he is in us!

Do you not know and understand that you [the church] are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells [permanently] in you [collectively and individually]? 1 Cor 3:16

Maybe today, is the day that Holy Spirit is calling you to total surrender.

With your whole heart can you say, “Holy Spirit teach me to surrender?”

“I want to be transformed, not in my own strength but by your presence, make me holy, make me whole, make me yours!

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words”. Matt 11:15”

True surrender begins not with an outward act but with a quite decision from the heart to surrender its own will, human striving ends and divine leading begins. So many want and long to live a life transformed by the Holy Spirit, yet resist the very thing He requires, a yielded heart.

“And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” Ezekiel 36:26

The will is the deepest part of our soul, yet it fights to control, it plans, it reasons, it defends, however the Holy Spirit won’t wrestle with our will, he waits patiently until we’re ready to lay it down. To surrender your will is more than asking Him to bless your plans, it means surrendering the right to make those plans apart from Him, its not inviting him to walk with you, it’s asking where he is going and being willing to follow even when it hurts! Your will must bow to the Lordship of Jesus.

This is the start of radical transformation, not when circumstances change, or feelings align, but when your heart says, “I trust you more than I trust myself!” That moment of surrender is powerful, it breaks the grip of pride, it silences the voice of fear, it opens the soul to be shaped and moulded. You may not see the change all at once, but heaven takes notice the moment you yield, you surrender!

A surrendered heart isn’t weak, its free, free from the burden of control, free from the pressure to perform, free to live led moment by moment by the Holy Spirit. It’s the birthplace of every transformed life! Until the will surrenders the heart can’t be fully filled, transformation doesn’t come from effort alone, nor through discipline or intellect, true transformation requires the fire of His presence. It’s not a gentle adjustment, it’s a holy invasion.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t just improve what is already there he consumes, refines, and

re-creates. The presence of God isn’t passive its powerfully searches the depths of the soul and burns away what cannot remain.

The fire of His presence is the furnace where the old man dies, and the new creation is born. Many want change without the fire, growth without the burning, but the Holy Spirit doesn’t negotiate with the flesh, he doesn’t co-exist with pride, rebellion or compromise. When he comes, he comes as fire, just as gold is refined by heat, your life must pass through the Holy Flame, your life must be made pure by passing through the Holy Flame!

“I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure.

I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold.

They will call on my name, and I will answer them.

I will say, ‘These are my people, ‘and they will say,

‘The Lord is our God.” Zec 13:9

“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So, when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” 1 peter 1:7

“You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver.”

Psalm 66:10

The fire isn’t there to destroy you, its to deliver you, to reveal what’s false, what’s selfish, what’s dead and replace it with what is eternal. It’s in His presence you are stripped of all pretence; all masks fall off as you begin to see yourself as he see’s you, not with condemnation but with clarity!

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1

In that moment, begins the work of divine reconstruction, you find yourself hungering for righteousness, yearning for purity and craving for intimacy with the one who dwells within!

The world offers behaviour change; the Holy Spirit brings heart change!

If you want to be truly transformed, don’t run from the fire run into it, because it’s there that you’ll be made new by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit never pushes, he leads, he doesn’t demand he invites, His leadership is marked by peace not pressure, by clarity not confusion, always in alignment with truth, with eternity in mind.

To be led by the Holy Spirit requires sensitivity, it means tuning your ear to that still small voice, that often speaks in a whisper. He speaks through conviction, not condemnation, he directs through th word, through inner witness, divine timing. However, if your life is too loud, too hurried you may miss His gentle leading. When you follow Him you aren’t driven by obligation you are drawn by love. He always shows you the path of life one step at a time.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105

You may not see the whole journey, but you will sense His promptings. You will find yourself walking in alignment with heaven to live a transformed life.

There is no greater power on earth than a life fully surrendered to the Holy Spirit, when he takes over you don’t just live a better life you live an anointed life. You don’t just speak truth, you become a living testimony, and the world won’t be able to deny the change because it won’t be you they see it will be Him!

“My responsibility is to obey, to surrender my heart and to yield myself to the will of God. It is in the process of obedience that we gain understanding. You can’t get the peace that passes understanding until you give up your right to understand.”

Bill Johnson