A pastor argues that real surrender to God means accepting suffering and discomfort, not just the blessings you want. True faith requires your will to clash with God's when he calls you into pain. The crucified life isn't comfortable.
It's easy to surrender when you're stepping into something that you desire. It's easy to surrender when you're stepping into a blessing. It's easy to surrender when you're stepping into something that you've been praying for. Oh, but when the Lord is calling you to step into something that is painful, to step into something that you don't want to face, that's now where we begin to see the clashing of the wills. This is where real surrender begins. Why don't we hear preaching like this anymore? Whatever happened to the talk of the surrendered life? Whatever happened to the crucified life? Sermons on this, we as believers need to recognize that being filled with the Holy Spirit means that sometimes we will face things we don't want to face.
