TOTAL SURRENDER
by Tony Alamo
And when Jesus “shewed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace [separation from the world and self] be unto you: as MY FATHER hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit [eternal life]” (John 20:20-22). However, this is not to be thought of as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The next scripture reminds me of the way Jesus, God, opened my understanding of Himself and how gloriously powerful He is, and how from time to time, He opens more of His wisdom and understanding unto me, also by my constant study of His Word. “Then opened He [Jesus] their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:45-49).
This is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that everyone needs if they are to be in the ministry, the baptism giving you leading, guiding power so you can be in the world, but not be a part of it, a baptism giving you power over temptation, as well as the power to heal, to cast out devils, to prophesize, along with all the other heavenly gifts.1 This is given in addition to salvation. If disciples ever need this power, we do today. We need it for consecration, for God’s power, for us to keep separate unto Jesus. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit leads into a deeper separation, not only from evil, but from all things earthly, leading us into a true supernatural life. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit prepares us while here on earth for the huge transformation in which this corruptible body shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality!2
Adam, who God made out of the earth, was earthy, of course, even before he fell. He had to give place to Jesus, the second man, who was made a life-giving Spirit and has lifted us up unto His own likeness.3 What are we to do, now that we know that we are made out of dust and have the Adamic sin on our soul, as well as all of the evil work of our sinful nature? What we are told to do is to turn those things over to Jesus, our Lord, with the entire, full consent of our will. We are to let HIM separate us from those things and to completely deliver us from their power. Then are we to see things as no longer having control over us. And as we are led further on by Him to see those things that some people might not see as sinful, things we know are not incorporated in the life He lived and lives in us, and His will, we are to separate ourselves from them, surrendering them to Him.
We are to let Him put to death all that is apart from Himself and raise us up in a new resurrected life.4 After we have allowed the Lord to take over, and when we can see that we are delivered from the death struggle with the devil’s evil as well as the oppressive war with ourselves, it is our duty, our part of the war, to hand over Judas and every evil Canaanite and gladly consent that the Lord can utterly slay them all, and utterly blot out all remembrance of them forever. Have you separated yourself like this? It is our responsibility to do the surrendering.5 God will not do anything for us in this respect unless we give Him our consent, unless we gladly authorize Him to do it. We have to become like the city Joab’s army encamped against, when he sent the message that Sheba hiding in the city must die or the whole city must perish (II Sam. 20:1-2, 21-22). But we of the city must be the ones who turn Sheba over to Joab! Have you turned your evil friend, Sheba, over to the Lord with gladness? Let this be your sin offering.6 Have you, before God, laid your hands upon the head of that goat and let all that is still evil in you become a sin offering? Have you transferred your sinful heart and your most precious idols or idol over to the Lord, who was made “sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him [Jesus]” (II Cor. 5:21)?
The word “dedication” means sanctification--“sanctification” means dedication. Sanctification is not only a separation from sin, it is also a separation to holiness. It means to be set apart, to be the property of God. We offer ourselves to God for His absolute ownership. We allow Him to completely possess us as His personal possession, for Him to do with as He will for His purpose alone. This is the same as the appeal of the Apostle Paul to the Romans: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service [or duty]” (Rom. 12:1). We are a peculiar people (exclusively owned by God).7 Jesus paid for us with His own blood; therefore, we are not our own.8
For a Christian to take a Christian to a secular court is a betrayal to Christ. To do this you not only must be crazy, you must be worse than crazy, you must be anti-Christ. To do this is the same as taking them before Pilate, Caesar, or Sennacherib. Also, you are separating yourself from Christ, as Judas Iscariot did. “Dare any of you having a matter [or even thinking you have a matter] against another, go to [secular] ‘law’ before the [sinners] unjust, and not before the saints?” You may think you’re right, and you may believe you have told the truth, but you haven’t. Judas also told the truth. He said that Jesus said He was the Son of God. That’s all they needed to justify murdering the Son of God. You must think getting a car and going to college was worth going to Hell for. Did the FBI buy you some toys and a birthday cake, and pay your freight to the Cult Awareness Network at Wellspring? You’ve sold your souls for less than a bowl of soup.
The Lord wants to work His holy and perfect will in us all. We must glorify God in our bodies, which belong to God. It is true that God has purchased us, but He refuses to compel or force our surrender. He will accept nothing but a voluntary gift, because it is by His love we are happy and privileged to be His.
Consecration is our voluntary surrender or offering of self to the Lord. I am the Lord’s, and the Lord is mine. “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” (Song of Sol. 6:3). But it must be of faith. We must trust the Lord to know that we are safe enough in His care to totally surrender ourselves to His loving care. When we surrender unto the Lord, we are, so to speak, falling into the Father’s arms, confidently knowing that our faith is well-justified. He has pledged Himself to make us as perfect as He promised we would be and as we would love to be. We are clay; He is the potter. Clay must yield itself to the hands of the potter if we are to be to be the child of the King of kings and Lord of lords, a vessel for the Master’s use.
One man of my congregation, a former dope addict, used to pick up half-eaten cheeseburgers on the street to eat and cigarette stubs from the streets to smoke. He used to be a very good Christian, a big help in my ministries. I’m praying he will return to the Lord before it’s too late.
We shall have everlasting shame if we hesitate at all to make this total surrender to Him who gave it all up for us, or if we even think to qualify our surrender with any conditions save His good and perfect will. Have you given yourself in this full surrender to God in the name of Jesus? If you have, you are full of gladness and joy, full of the peace of the Holy Spirit. If not, then do it now, at His mercy, at His feet of love. Humble yourself as a total burnt offering, and pray this prayer unto the Lord:
My Lord and my God, have mercy upon my soul, a sinner. 1 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. 2 I believe that He died on the cross and shed His precious blood for the forgiveness of all my sins. 3 I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit 4 and that He sits on the right hand of God at this moment, hearing my confession of sin and this prayer. 5 I open up the door of my heart and I invite You into my heart, Lord Jesus. 6 Wash all of my filthy sins away in the precious blood that You shed in my place on the cross at Calvary. 7 You will not turn me away, Lord Jesus, You will forgive my sins and save my soul. I know because Your Word, the Bible says so. 8 Your Word says that You will turn no one away, and that includes me. 9 Therefore, I know that You have heard me, and I know that You have answered me, and I know that I am saved. 10 And I thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving my soul, and I will show my thankfulness by doing as You command and sin no more. 11
You've just completed the first step in a series of five steps which are necessary to receive salvation. Your second step is to deny yourself and take up the cross daily for the purpose of mortifying yourself, that is, for putting to death your own will, your soulful self, and the world with all of its lusts. All these must be baptized into the death of Christ.
Step three is your resurrection from the satanic life of Adam unto the sinless life of Christ. Step four is your ascension into a position of authority to reign for God on earth, and the fifth step is to reign for God on earth to the end for the purpose of bringing about the kingdom of Heaven on earth. You must learn the Word of God, then submit yourself and do what the Word says, so that the Church and the world may see evidence of your submission to God's Word, His order, and His authority in and by you.
Praise the Lord. May God reward you abundantly.
Pastor Tony Alamo
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Total Surrender footnotes:
1. Mark 1:8, Luke 11:13, Acts 1:4-5, 8, 2:38-39, I Cor. 12:7-11 return
4. Rom. 6:3-14, I Cor. 15:21-22, Phlp. 3:8-11 return
5. Ex. 25:2, Judges 5:2, I Chron. 28:9, 29:9, Rom. 12:1-2, I Cor. 9:16-17 return
7. Ex. 19:5-6, Deut. 14:2, 26:16-19, Titus 2:11-14, I Pet. 2:9-11 return
8. Acts 20:28, Rom. 3:24-25, 5:9, Eph. 1:7, 2:13-16, Col. 1:12-20, Heb. 9:12, 24-28, 10:10-20, 13:12, I Pet. 1:18-21, I John 1:7, Rev. 1:5-6, 5:9-10, 7:14, 12:11 return
Prayer footnotes:
1. Psa. 51:5, Rom. 3:10-12, 23 return
2. Matt. 26:63-64, 27:54, Luke 1:30-33, John 9:35-37, Rom. 1:3-4 return
3. Acts 4:12, 20:28, Rom. 3:25, I John 1:7, Rev. 5:9 return
4. Psa. 16:9-10, Matt. 28:5-7, Mark 16:9, 12, 14, John 2:19, 21, 10:17-18, 11:25, Acts 2:24, 3:15, Rom. 8:11, I Cor. 15:3-7 return
5. Luke 22:69, Acts 2:25-36, Heb. 10:12-13 return
6. I Cor. 3:16, Rev. 3:20 return
7. Eph. 2:13-22, Heb. 9:22, 13:12, 20-21, I John 1:7, Rev. 1:5, 7:14 return
8. Matt. 26:28, Acts 2:21, 4:12, Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14 return
9. Matt. 21:22, John 6:35, 37-40, Rom. 10:13 return
10. Heb. 11:6 return
11. John 5:14, 8:11, Rom. 6:4, I Cor. 15:10, Rev. 7:14, 22:14 return