The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections  
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Aug 16
A Testimony of Surrender

Fully Surrendered To The Son

When it comes to surrender, that is all there is on our part — surrender. Surrender all of you to Him… and He does all the rest. You just surrender. Yield every single part of yourself to His holy fire of sanctification.

The Holy Spirit who dwells within you is the sanctifier. He will take each part of you in His loving hands and sanctify you — burning off everything that does not belong anymore. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit: God in Spirit within you. He is sanctifying you: working the very nature of Jesus Christ into your very nature.

You just yield. Yield to Him whatever He brings to mind that needs to be yielded.

Before surrender, I laid down a fifty‑year burden — the weight I had carried for most of my life. After surrender, the Holy Spirit began emptying the rest. One day, while I was writing a devotional, He brought all my worries and fears to mind — every single one of them. I gathered them up and laid them down, and suddenly they were gone. A whole room full of noise… silent. They have not returned. And I will be honest — I was lonely for a long time afterward.

Later, through another devotional, the Lord gently showed me my ego — and I laid it down, and it was gone. Then He brought my pride to mind — and I laid that down too. I do not miss any of them.

It is my choice; I am here, surrendered… and I want to be here. I want surrender. I want Him to be on the throne of my life. I want the surrendered life — free from striving in this world.

Free from the battle of good and evil within me. He takes care of the sinful me, the willful me, the self that only wants what self wants and does not care about anything else… I am free of that now. And I want to stay here.

And I want to grow. I want to continue to yield to Him and learn more and more about the elusive life of the surrendered soul. I need it like I need my next breath. I have a desire for it.

I have a love for Jesus that the Holy Spirit pours into me. My heart is becoming more open, tender, and willing every day. I see Jesus in every circumstance of my life. He is here. He has always been with me, but I was not always with Him.

But now surrender has brought Him forward into my life in a very prominent way. He sits on the throne of my life. I am aware of His presence in my life, in His temple — my body. I listen constantly for His still small voice. I wait for His guidance. I obey when He nudges me, gives direction, gives insight; now I respond and know that it is Him.

I rest in His peace that is not understandable or explainable. I know not from where it comes or how it arrives — it is just there. And it reassures me that I am right where I want to be—in the shadow of His wings.

Sanctification is not something that happens in a moment or overnight… it is gradual. The Holy Spirit has been very gentle with me, kind, and loving. He knows me and knows what I have been through. He treats me well — gently, and oh so carefully. I do not know how He does it, but He is changing me from the inside out, and I just yield, obey, surrender, and do it all over again… He absolutely does all the rest.

I am not perfect. I am not completely whole. I am still very damaged, very vulnerable, very susceptible to the attack of the enemy. And I am still hidden, still being healed, still being protected, still in the valley of learning.

But I have a life of Bible study under my belt, and the Lord provides remembrance of all I have learned — the memorized verses, the knowledge hiding in my mind that I have gleaned over the years. Because although I was not with Him, He was always with me in a way that I cannot easily explain.

I can look back now and see His hand so steady in my life, in my past. He held me up. He carried me. I was not aware. I was inside a tumultuous lifestyle, making decisions by the seat of my pants — I thought. But all the while He was actually guiding me, and I had no idea. But He is reminding me: See this memory… that was Me. I was telling you: be quiet, be silent, do not speak. This is the plan. This is what you need to do. Giving me that peace and strength that can only be explained as supernatural.

I now can understand how I survived; it was Him. He was in my yesteryears, my yesterdays, my todays, and my tomorrows. But I did not have awareness of it. I did not even have the time to think about it and figure it all out. My mind did not go there anyway — it was just trying to survive. When you live in survival, you do not have time to contemplate such things. I was just an unseen nobody as far as I knew. I had no idea He was also by my side in each and every single moment.

But He was there all along. And now I know it. And now I notice it. Now I know that He is closer to me than my next breath. I do not want to lose that. I do not want to be without that sensitivity to Him. I do not want to be without surrender. It made all of me accessible to Him. It made all of Him accessible to me. That is beyond special. That is supernatural.

So I will do what Chambers says. And Chambers says my job is simple: repent, obey, surrender, walk in His light, and respond to His call. Because we cannot purify ourselves, sanctify ourselves, nor burn away our old nature. We cannot “fix” ourselves.

So we do not need to try to “feel holy,” produce spiritual fire on our own, or try to sanctify ourselves… only He can do those things. He is the supernatural One here, not us. We are still just dust in the wind. But while He is here with us, we are special. We are holy because the One within us is holy.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire means purification — and surrender brings those things into your life. Purification. Sanctification. It is a cleansing fire, a purifying fire, an all‑consuming fire, a fire that burns away self‑will. A fire that destroys pride, ego, stubbornness, and self‑reliance.

Because when you are with God, you need none of those things. He carries you. He strengthens you. He does it all. He lives — through you. That is why you need sanctification: so your body, His temple, is prepared to hold Him, support Him, obey Him, belong to Him. You are now hidden in Him. He will live through the sanctified and shine His light on the world through your life. It is not parasitic — it is holy. It is God Almighty, El Shaddai living, Yahweh walking, Jehovah speaking through you.

It is incomprehensible. I know. But it is the life of the surrendered.

Our part is obedience; His part is transformation.

This is not self‑improvement, 
self‑effort, 
striving… 
It is yielding. That is all.

Letting Him have His holy way with you.

Surrender.

It is also the sweetest thing I have ever known in my entire life.

Psalm 34:8 — Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Breath Prayer

The sweetest thing
Is You in my life.

And the Lord may say to me… 
Now, be still. 
Let Me do the work. 
Let Me be God. 
And you… just be still and know that I AM God.

Selah, 
Jesus is Lord 
~ Quil

If you would like to read how He brought me out of the chaos 

that led to this surrender, 

you can visit: From Chaos to Christ

Scripture References

1. Surrender — Yielding, Not Striving

• Romans 12:1 — Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

• James 4:7 — Submit yourselves therefore to God.

• Psalm 46:10 — Be still, and know that I am God.

• Matthew 11:28–30 — His yoke is easy; surrender brings rest.

• Galatians 2:20 — It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

2. Sanctification — His Fire, His Work

• 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 — The God of peace Himself sanctify you… He will do it.

• Philippians 1:6 — He who began the work will complete it.

• Ezekiel 36:26–27 — A new heart and His Spirit within you.

• Hebrews 12:10–11 — His discipline produces holiness.

• Malachi 3:2–3 — The Refiner’s fire purifies.

3. The Holy Spirit Working in Us

• John 14:26 — The Spirit teaches and brings remembrance.

• Romans 8:14 — Those led by the Spirit are sons of God.

• Romans 8:26 — The Spirit helps in weakness.

• 2 Corinthians 3:18 — The Spirit transforms us into His image.

4. Our Body as His Temple

• 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 — Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

• 2 Corinthians 6:16 — God dwells in His people.

5. His Presence in My Life

• Psalm 139:7–10 — You cannot flee from His presence.

• Deuteronomy 31:8 — He goes before you and will not leave you.

• Isaiah 41:10 — Fear not, for I am with you.

6. God’s Hand in the Past

• Psalm 73:23–24 — You hold me by my right hand.

• Psalm 121:7–8 — He watches over your coming and going.

• Genesis 50:20 — God works even in what was meant for harm.

• Isaiah 46:3–4 — He carries you from birth to old age.

7. Survival, Protection, and His Hidden Guidance

• Psalm 91:1–4 — Hidden under His wings; He covers you.

• Psalm 34:7 — The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him.

• Psalm 18:16 — He rescues you from deep waters.

• Isaiah 30:21 — You will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way.”

8. Transformation — His Work, Not Ours

• John 15:5 — Without Him you can do nothing.

• Philippians 2:13 — God works in you to will and to act.

• Titus 3:5 — Not by works, but by the washing of regeneration.

• 2 Corinthians 4:7 — Treasure in jars of clay — His power, not ours.

9. Fire of the Holy Spirit

• Matthew 3:11 — Baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire.

• Acts 2:3–4 — Tongues of fire at Pentecost.

• Hebrews 12:29 — Our God is a consuming fire.

10. Hidden in Him

• Colossians 3:3 — Your life is hidden with Christ in God.

• Psalm 32:7 — He surrounds you with songs of deliverance.

• Psalm 17:8 — Hidden under the shadow of His wings.

11. Obedience and Response

• John 14:21 — Those who obey Him are loved by Him.

• Isaiah 6:8 — Here am I; send me.

• James 1:22 — Be doers of the Word.

12. The Sweetness of His Presence

• Psalm 34:8 — Taste and see that the Lord is good.

• Psalm 16:11 — Fullness of joy in His presence.

• Song of Solomon 2:3 — His fruit is sweet to the taste (devotional imagery).

13. Breath Prayer

• Acts 17:28 — In Him we live and move and have our being.

• Psalm 73:25 — Whom have I in heaven but You?

• Psalm 63:3 — His lovingkindness is better than life.

14. Closing Benediction

• Psalm 46:10 — Be still, and know that I am God.

• Exodus 14:14 — The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.

• Isaiah 30:15 — In quietness and trust is your strength.