Infinite Fellowship Ministries

The Indelibility Of The Divinely Surrendered Or Yielded: Sermon By Deacon David Oyuke

And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.

But the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.” So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.”

And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.” So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

Judges 7:2-8 (NKJV)

Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Genesis 22:2-3 (NKJV)

What we do and become while on earth was always supposed to matter.

Everything God desires to build can only be built according to His measurements.

Our present Kenya was not built, it was partitioned.

God is looking for builders who will build not from what they know but what from what God shows them.

The patterns that will bring generational impact are with God not us.

It is possible for God to affect your environment but not affect you and you remain unconvicted.

Surrender is confrontational. It needs you to lay down the best of you to take up the best of God so that all glory goes to Him.

The hearts of the surrendered cause them to lay themselves consistently on the altar as a living sacrifice unto God.

Giving yourself to God consistently is the biggest test in a fallen world.

It is illogical to reduce your numbers from 30,000 to 300 to attack a well equipped enemy. (Judges 7:2-8)

Being surrendered will need you to accept being foolish before you are proved wise. It will need you to look weak before you are shown to be strong.

It happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.

And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.” Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.”

And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.”

Judges 7:9-15 (NKJV)

Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. 

Genesis 6:22 (ESV)

And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. 

Genesis 7:5 (ESV)

Noah did all that God commanded him. He built a contraption that had never been built for an event that had never occurred.

God is not looking for a perfect people. He is looking for a surrendered people. Imperfect people can do perfect things when surrendered to a perfect God.

Being surrendered can make the dysfunctional functional in their time and season.

Being surrendered is a posture not an action.

Moreover, his mother made him a little robe and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, May the Lord give you children by this woman for the gift she asked for and gave to the Lord. Then they would go to their own home. And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord. 

1 Samuel 2:19-21 (AMPC)

Our posture will be tested out of season. Hannah’s surrender was physical, emotional and spiritual. She united her entire persona to be surrendered to God.

Samuel was faithful with what he knew about God before he knew God for himself.

Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord was not yet revealed to him. 

1 Samuel 3:7 (AMPC)

Having an overtaking anointing is not for self-exaltation but for the humble and surrendered so that God can receive the glory.

But now your kingdom shall not continue; the Lord has sought out [David] a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince and ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. 

1 Samuel 13:14 (AMPC)

Overtaking anointing is about the heart.

Are we willing to embrace divine intelligence so we can realise impossible possibilities?

Don’t allow your desire to understand to outweigh your desire to obey.

Being surrendered will test who we give the glory to.

Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule over us—you and your son and your son’s son also—for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian. And Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you. 

Judges 8:22-23 (AMPC)

Our defeats will ask questions of our trust but our victories will test our pride and idolatry.

If you are not surrendered to the instructions that you receive, it will not only put you in danger, but it’ll halt your progress.

We have a call to honour God and not our achievements. We need to be examples and to teach generations how to maintain a posture of surrender.

Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.” But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.”

Judges 8:22-23 (NKJV)

For our country to move forward, we need continually surrendered sons.

Your name may not be remembered at your place of influence, but what was established when you were there will serve to reveal the name of God to those that come after.

We are caretakers. It is the Lord who builds.

Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain. 

Psalms 127:1 (AMPC)

When God introduces Himself to you, He asks you to surrender. For example, Moses at the burning bush having to remove his sandals and Abraham being commanded to leave all that he knew for a land that God would show him.

You cannot move with God unless you learn to surrender.

There is nothing that will happen in your life unless you learn to surrender.

Once you find yourself being ushered from one season to another, realise that there are things that you must surrender.