I feel that most pastors and churches would agree that there continues to be a deep need for a spiritual revival in our churches today. We need to decide, as pastors and churches, to deal honestly with God's desires for us to give our full allegiance to Him. Until we surrender to Him fully, we will have little to no prospect of a revival in our hearts, limited to no stirring of the Spirit in our churches, and little to no spiritual awakening in our land. True revival is nothing less and nothing more than the manifest presence of God in our lives. It is when Jesus is free to be who He wants to be in, through and around us. A surrendered pastor and a surrendered church will experience spiritual revival, especially when both are surrendered at the same time.

Give Yourself to God Completely

I believe we are more likely to give ourselves to God more completely when we allocate a day or a period of days to some level of prayer and fasting. No, this is not always necessary, but at least consider it if it seems to be needed. Open your heart to whatever God wants you to do. Spiritual revival comes when we give ourselves to God completely. Revival is the manifest presence of God in our lives. Until the church of Jesus Christ regains its spiritual power, recaptures its spiritual passion, is willing to pay the price and begins to demonstrate an unfailing love for Jesus Christ, it will remain lukewarm, out of touch, ineffective, purposeless, nonproductive and impotent spiritually.

Give 100 Percent of Yourself to Jesus

I often pray: Lord, I give 100 percent of me to 100 percent of You so that 100 percent of You will work through 100 percent of me! A spiritual breakthrough begins with personally surrendering oneself fully to God, transferring all ownership to the one true owner, Jesus Christ. We do not need to grab, but to release. We do not live with our hands in fists, but with our hands open. We will never choose to let God have His way with us if we continue to hang on to our own desires, our own dreams and our own bondage.

God Knows What Is Best for Us

In wartime, if our enemy captures us, we are commanded to surrender. At that moment, we have a choice. We can take our chances, make a run for it and hope for the best. But if an armed enemy pursues us, we have little chance of physical survival. When God asks us to surrender to Him, the analogy is the same except for one key point: God is not the enemy. He is our Father and our Friend. He knows what's best for us. We need to surrender our lives to Him in the same way a child holds up his arms surrendering to his parents.

Surrendering to God is abandoning all that we have in order to receive all that God possesses. When we enter God's gateway to supernatural power for living, we begin to learn what a surrendered and exchanged life is all about. We begin to hear God speak to us in a voice we've never heard before. It's not a harsh voice, but rather the voice of a waiting Father who will always tell us the truth.

Pastors and Churches, Surrender 100 Percent of Yourselves to God Today

I continually challenge my Cross Church Family: "Stop being content living life, doing family, working in the marketplace and doing ministry through the local church without the power of God." This challenge is not just appropriate for each of us in my church but may even be worthy of consideration for you and your church.

I have believed this and said for years: "Pastors, stop being content to live personally and do ministry daily without the power of God." This is not God's will nor God's way. There is a better way! What is it?

Pastor, surrender your life and ministry to God completely. Church, surrender all you are and have to God fully. Whatever it is, pastor, and whatever it is, church, surrender it to God fully.

Right now. Not later. Today.

Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the senior pastor of Cross Church, president of the National Day of Prayer and past president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

This article originally appeared at ronniefloyd.com.

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