Andrew Murray begins his book titled Absolute Surrender with the premise that we are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and that the first step in fulfilling that command is absolute surrender. He first disperses any doubt as to whether we are truly commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit by showing that Christians clearly acknowledge the command to not be filled with wine that is paired with it. As mentioned previously, we can only be filled if we are first emptied. Are we willing to give up everything so that the Spirit can dwell in us and take full reign of our lives?

Perhaps my willingness of absolute surrender is not fully developed yet, but I have been made blatantly aware of my need for the Holy Spirit. This week, my lust, pride, selfishness, anger, fear, and cynicism have ruled my behavior and marred my testimony at work, at home, and even at church. It is not enough for me to just try harder or do better. There must be a supernatural transformation in my life that everyone (including myself) will have no explanation for other than the work of God. I must be fully surrendered to God because I have no other option. We are familiar with the fact that surrender in the context of battle is almost always forced, yet we view our surrender to God as something that we volunteer to do. Up until today, I have had the same viewpoint, but now I see that I have no choice but to surrender.