Michael Catt - The Power of Surrender

ENDORSEMENTS

The Power of Surrender drove me to my kneesthe only place where true revival begins.

John Bisagno, Pastor Emeritus Houstons First Baptist Church Houston, Texas

The greatest need for the church today is true, genuine, Spirit-sent revival. That is what this book is all about. Read it and weep, pray, repent, and beg God for His mercy. Thank you Michael Catt!

Philip Roberts, President Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Never in our generation has the moment been more ready for a movement of God. It ALL begins with us. In Michael Catts newest book, The Power of Surrender, we read, Surrender begins in the heart. Revival begins in the church. That statement convicts me as a Christ-follower and a pastor. Nothing attracts the God of heaven any more than a humble person before God that raises their heart and hands in ultimate surrender to Jesus! May this be the moment God rains His power upon us! I need this book. You need this book. Every Christian in our churches needs this book. Get it. Read it. Share it. Most of all, live it to Gods glory.

Ronnie Floyd, Senior Pastor First Baptist Church of Springdale The Church at Pinnacle Hills, Arkansas

This book is filled with food and water for hungry and thirsty hearts, those longing for more than typical twenty-first-century Western Christianity has offered us. But let me warn you, get ready to have your world shaken. Michael Catt doesnt sugarcoat the message. He confronts the critical issues of our day with the time-tested truths of Gods Word. He challenges us to seek God to revive our hearts and transform our lives. I encourage you to read and apply the truths in this passionate plea for a mighty revival in our generation.

Sammy Tippit, Evangelist and Author

THE POWER OF SURRENDER

Copyright 2010 by Michael Catt

All Rights Reserved

978-0-8054-4869-6

B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

www.BHPublishingGroup.com

Dewey Decimal Classification: 234.4

Subject Heading: Revivals \ Repentance \ Confession

Unless otherwise noted, all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Other translations used include The Message (MSG) Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. The Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT) Copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois. All rights reserved.

Quotations at the beginning of each chapter and other uncited quotes are taken from John Blanchards The Complete Gathered Gold (Webster, NY: Evangelical Press, 2006).

Printed in the United States

Dedicated to my daughters

ERIN AND HAYLEY

whom I pray will see a genuine revival in our nation in their lifetime

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Few people know about the private aircraft headed home to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the morning of 9-11. The control tower from Harrisburg radioed the pilot with a simple instruction: Land immediately at Harrisburg. Realizing he was not far from home, the pilot responded, I want to go a short distance further and land in Lancaster. The tower forcefully responded, Land immediately at Harrisburg. Again the pilot replied, No, let me just go a little further to Lancaster. A few minutes later the tower gave one more command: Look out your right wing. The pilot glanced right and saw two F-16 jets. Without hesitation he blurted, I will land immediately at Harrisburg!

Why is it that we dont obey Gods commands immediately even though we know He is more powerful than all the worlds fighter jets combined? Is it because we are not really a surrendered people? Is it because our surrender is based upon our full agreement with the commandeven though we dont see the big picture? If we really knew God for who He is, in all His love, all His wisdom, and all His sovereignty, would we not be quick to trust and obey, surrendered even to the most inconvenient command?

Nothing has propelled me to a place of fresh surrender more than being in Romania shortly after the fall of communism. After a week of speaking, I was invited by a leading pastor to his home following our final service late one December evening. He wanted to fellowship one more time before we left early the next morning. As we were preparing to leave his home, my pastor friend went into the kitchen and soon returned with a cup of tea. He asked if he could share a story.

As we sat down at the table, my friend held up his teacup and shared a story about a pastor and wife who were captured by the communist regime and taken to a labor camp. En route, the wife escaped but her husband, like many before him, ended up losing his life in the cold snows of Siberia. My friend and his family took care of the pastors wife for several years. Just weeks before this dear widow went home to be with the Lord, they were having tea together when the godly widow stopped my friend and asked, Do you know whose cup you are drinking from? It was my husbands cup. I took it with me when I escaped. It is a martyrs cup. I want you to have it.

I will forever remember what my pastor friend said next: Tonight I want to invite you to drink of the martyrs cup, realizing that those most responsible for the fall of communism are not the strategists in Washington, D.C. Those most responsible for the fall of communism are those whose bones lie in the cold snows of Siberia.

When I took hold of that cup, the Lord seemed to say to me, Byron, those who will be most responsible for the fall of evil and wickedness in America and bring about the next great revival will be those who are willing, if necessary, to drink of the martyrs cup. That moment became a launching pad for daily surrender at a level I had never previously experienced.

I have had the privilege since 1975 of helping thousands of churches prepare for a corporate move of God in revival. With few exceptions I have reminded them that full surrender to the authority of Gods Word and the Lordship of Christ is a precursor to revival. I tell congregations that there is a greater chance of God sending revival if there is one person who is 100 percent surrendered than if there are a thousand people who are 99 percent surrendered. It only takes one.

Michael Catt has been tutored by choice men of God who knew what surrender is all about. Both from the pulpit, in his writings, and as executive producer of Sherwood Productions array of movies, Michael has carried a passion for surrender. The theme of surrender is the grand take-away of Fireproof, Facing the Giants, Flywheel, and now Courageous. Is it the grand take-away of your life?

My daughter and her husband recently moved to Winona Lake, Indiana. They felt prompted to ask the owner of an old home if he would be willing to sell the house, even though it was not actually for sale. Within a couple of months they had moved in. A few weeks later, they discovered that the songwriter Judson W. Van DeVenter, author of the hymn I Surrender All, once resided in the home. A few days later, I discovered that Mr. Van DeVenter wrote the tune to another hymn. Entitled Sweeping This Way, the author makes the same connection between surrender and revival that Michael Catt does in the pages of this book: