One of the things I feel I have picked up from the Holy Spirit is that it will really be “worth your while” to fully surrender your entire life over to God the Father and go with His call on your life rather than you deciding what you are going to do with your life.
The reason for this is that there will be some incredible rewards in Heaven being given out in heaven for those who are willing to do good works for the Lord while living down here on this earth.
Good works will not get us into heaven, as the Bible specifically tells us that we can only be saved by grace through our faith in Jesus Christ.
But being willing to do good works for the Lord in this life will bring us certain types of rewards as you will see in the Scripture verses I will list in this article.
As I have said numerous times in many of our other articles, each Christian must make a big personal decision as to how they will live their life on this earth.
You can either choose to fully surrender your entire life over to God the Father and let Him decide what your divine destiny is going to be in this life, or you can choose to do things your own way and completely run your own life.
Most Christians take the latter approach. They do not ask God what their vocations or jobs should be in this life. They do not ask God who they should be marrying in this life. They do not ask God what their real goals and aspirations should be in this life.
In fact, the only time they really approach God is when they get in some kind of trouble and they then need some type of miracle from God to get them bailed out of a bad situation.
Most people do not like to be told what to do, how to do it, or how to get to where they are going. They want the pride and challenge of trying to do everything on their own without any of God’s help or guidance.
We have another article in our site titled, “The Full Surrender.” The Bible tells us exactly how God wants us to live this earthly life – and that is under a full and complete surrender to God the Father.
Only God knows what is best for you on all matters – you do not! Only God knows what is best for you on all matters – you do not! Only God’s knowledge and wisdom is perfect in all matters – yours is not!
Only God knows what you will be best at in this life – you do not! Only God knows who your true soul mate should be in this life – you do not!
And not only does God have full knowledge on all of the above for your life, but He is also the only One who can safely guide you to reach the goals that He has set up for you to seek after in this life.
And the only way to be able to get God’s full protection and full guidance for your life is to fully surrender your entire life over to Him and let Him place you in His perfect will for your life.
However, there is one small catch to really being able to make a complete full surrender to God the Father. We live in the most blessed country in the entire world. There are many smart and intelligent Christians.
As I said in my article on the Unjust Steward in the Miscellaneous Section of our site, when many Christians are faced with what the Bible says about making a full and complete surrender of their entire lives over to God the Father, they really have a hard time in doing it.
They are afraid if they fully surrender everything over to God, that they will lose their one and only chance to make it big in this lifetime. They are afraid that God may call them to do a job that may pay them only pennies a day.
To those of you whose hands this article may fall into, and to everyone else who may question the most important decision they will ever make in this lifetime other than receiving God’s gift of eternal salvation through His Son Jesus Christ, this article, I hope, will try and convince you as to why you should fully surrender your entire life over to God the Father.
Per what I feel the Holy Spirit has conveyed to me – it will really be “worth your while” to fully surrender your entire life over to God the Father.
Why? Because the Bible says that God will be rewarding each person for the work they have done for Him while living down here on this earth! And when God gives out His personal rewards in heaven, you can bet your bottom dollar that these rewards will end up being bigger and better than any rewards that you could possibly get down here.
There is one major revelation that all Christians really need to grab a hold of and that is this:
This life is for just a very short period of time compared to the eternal time frame that is operating in heaven. Heaven is for eternity – our earthly life is not!
The time we will spend in heaven, and then eventually the New Heaven and New Earth, will be for the rest of our eternal lives – forever and ever.
This earthly life is not even a blink of an eye compared to the eternal time frame that is operating in heaven.
So ask yourself, do you want to call all of your own shots and do what you want to do in this life – all for earthly wealth that will completely perish and pass away the second you die and cross over into heaven?
Or do you want to go with God’s perfect will for your life, accomplish the missions and goals that He will want you to accomplish for Him in this life, and then receive your full and final just rewards that will last forever once you enter into heaven?
What does your natural common sense and intelligence tell you as to which one of these two would be the better option? Jesus Himself said that what does it profit a man to gain all the wealth of this world, but then lose his own soul in the process of acquiring all of that wealth.
Jesus says that not everyone who calls Him “Lord, Lord” will be entering into the kingdom of heaven – but only those who are willing to do the “will” of God the Father!
Many Christians are not really aware of some of the verses in the Bible that are talking about God really rewarding His people for the good works they can do for Him while living down here. I will go ahead and give you some of these key verses in this article.
The Bible also says that crowns will be given to some of His people for different levels of service. And when the Bible says that crowns will be given, I believe this is literal interpretation, and that crowns will really be given by God for special types of service.
I also believe that God can reward you with some incredible blessings while you are still down here on this earth. However, the rewards I will be keying on are the rewards that you will be receiving when you enter into heaven.
These are the rewards that will really matter. These are the rewards that will last you for the rest of your eternal life. A lot of what God can reward you with down here on this earth are still perishable rewards. You cannot take some of these blessings with you when you die and cross over.
Another key insight I feel that the Holy Spirit has given to me about God the Father is that is He is a God of maximum intensity. Everything about Him, His ways, and His personality is all maximum intensity. His love for all of us is maximum intensity.
His goodness, mercy, compassion, and understanding are all maximum intensity. If there is one revelation you will come away with after reading about God the Father in the Old Testament – is that He is God of maximum intensity! All of the emotions within God the Father are of maximum intensity.
So if everything about God the Father is of maximum intensity, then it is only logical to conclude that any reward that you will be receiving from Him when you enter into heaven will be of “maximum intensity.” As a result, these rewards will completely surpass any rewards, blessings, or earthly wealth that you can get down here on this earth. There will be no comparison whatsoever!
This is why it will really be “worth your while” to fully surrender your entire life over to God while you still have a chance. Let Him make the calls on what He wants to do with your life with the rest of the allotted time you still have left down here. It is never too late to completely turn your entire life over to God the Father and let Him do what He wants with it with whatever time you still have left.
Remember the story of Moses. Moses was 80 years old when God called him out of the desert to rescue His people from the Egyptians. Look at the exciting and adventuresome life that Moses had in God over the last 40 years of his life. It is never too late to fully surrender your entire life over to God the Father to see what He can still do with it.
Now I will give you some very interesting verses from the Bible that will specifically talk about these rewards and crowns.
Rewards
1. This first verse will tell us that every single one of us – no exceptions – will have to appear before the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ to be judged for everything that we have ever done or said down here on this earth. Here is the most powerful verse:
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things DONE IN THE BODY, according to what He has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)
Most Christians do not fully realize the seriousness of this verse – that we are all going to have to give an account to Jesus for everything that we have ever done down here on this earth – all of the good with all of the bad.
2. This next verse will tell us that our rewards from God will be according to our labors that we have done for Him while living down here on this earth. Here it is:
“… and each one will receive His own reward ACCORDING TO HIS OWN LABOR.” (1 Corinthians 3:8)
This verse is telling us that the rewards given to us by God will be totally dependent on what we accomplish for Him while living down here on this earth.
My interpretation on this verse is that the greater and better our labor and work is for the Lord in this life, the greater our rewards will be in heaven. I believe there will be a direct correlation between the two – greater service will be leading to greater rewards.
3. This next verse will tell us that Jesus will be bringing His rewards with Him, and that He will be rewarding every person according to the work they have done for Him while living down here on this earth. Here it is:
“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone ACCORDING TO HIS WORK.” (Revelation 22:12)
Again, not only is a heavenly reward being implied, but this heavenly reward will be based upon our earthly good works.
Please note however that you cannot get into heaven based upon good works. The gift of eternal salvation is a free gift from God and is something that has to be accepted by faith. However, once you are saved, God expects you to do something with what time you still have left down here on this earth. He expects you to come and work for Him.
How well you work for God, and what you accomplish for Him while down here on this earth is where the good works will be coming in. The gift of eternal salvation gets you into heaven, but good works will be getting you the bigger and better rewards once you enter into heaven. This is why the Bible says that “faith without WORKS is dead.”
4. Here is another verse basically stating the same thing, even though the word rewards is not actually mentioned.
“… I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you ACCORDING TO YOUR WORKS.” (Revelation 2:23)
Jesus obviously has something to give to every believer once they enter into heaven. I believe this passage is implying that rewards will be given, and that these rewards will be based upon the good works you did for God while down here on this earth.
5. This next verse tells us that God will be rewarding some of His own a hundredfold for having to leave family and friends in order to go to work for Him. This verse would definitely apply to all of the people who go off to the mission fields to other countries, leaving a lot of their families, friends, and comfortable surroundings for their calls in God.
This verse tells us that these people will not only receive a hundredfold blessing in this life – but also in the age to come – which obviously refers to the next life they will have up in heaven. And when God says that these people will be receiving a hundredfold type blessing, you know we are talking about a major blessing, since He is a God of maximum intensity and a rewarder of those who will diligently seek after Him and serve Him. Here it is:
So Jesus answered them and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brother or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or land, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a HUNDREDFOLD now in this time … and in the age to come, eternal life.” (Mark 10:29-30)
All of the above verses are definitely telling us that God will be giving out some kind of rewards for any good works that are done for Him while living down here on this earth. However, the Bible does not tell us exactly what these rewards are going to be. I believe God is not telling us what these rewards are going to be in His Word because He wants to surprise us.
But if you take the fact that we are dealing with a God of maximum intensity, and a God who will reward those who will diligently seek after Him – then my conclusion is that these rewards are probably going to be some really big intense rewards, and probably beyond anything that our imaginations can even begin to try and conjure up.
So the final conclusion would have to be:
That it really will be “worth your while” to fully surrender your entire life over to God the Father, let Him place you in His perfect plan and destiny for your life – and then do the best job you can on whatever He calls you to do for Him on a daily basis.
Do all of this, and I believe that when you enter into heaven, you will be appropriately and highly rewarded beyond your wildest dreams!
Tasmin Hopper
Monday 20th of April 2020
Even if we have stumbled, can we still hear those words “well done good and faithful Servant?” And still be rewarded abundantly? This has bothered me for a long time as Believer. Can someone put my mind at ease? It would appreciated beyond measure❤️
Jeffrey
Wednesday 22nd of July 2020
Nice you're sincere about this but I believe what you really need is not one to put your mind at ease as no one can do that but one that will tell you the scriptural truth. Obedience to these scriptural truth puts your mind at ease. One of the evidence of a perfected love is the absence of fear. This is because perfect love cast out fears. The Christian journey is not usually smooth and gallop free. There could be ups and down in your faith. The truth is that stumbling doesn't mean you've failed as it could help you not to fall. You fall when you give up in your struggle against sin according to Heb. 12 and Gal. 5. You're are in a race that the final reward is given to those that made it to the end. If you sin as a Christian, it not strange or impossible. Run to Christ and seek forgiveness and continue your journey. But it's one thing to sin and another to make a practice of sin. Falling out of faith does not begin at a point a believer sinned but at a point he starts making a practice of sin. At this point, he is been controlled by fresh which will end up in lost of God's kingdom as seeing in Gal.5. The antidote is to sincerely repent and ask for forgiveness from Christ and to live a controlled by the holy spirit. It is scriptural that you can struggle with sin but never give in to it. But why keep struggling when a life of the spirit can subdue lustful desires and work. There are much to say but because of time I would summarise thus. That you stumbled does not put you out of the race, you are only out when you quit. Dust yourself through sincere repentance and asking Christ for forgiveness and you will experience great joy that will help you continue your journey. Never give in to the lies of the devil that you're finished. The scripture says that godly sorrows bring repentance not judgement. Whatever things are holy, truth, good, of good report among others think on them. Fix your eyes on things that pleases God not yourself or your fresh. Run away from men pleasing ministers and gospels and go for the true doctrine. In so doing, you will find peace and joy that will sustain you in the love of Christ. Finally, always seek to obey God's words and commandments as this is the genuine expressions of our love for Christ. Christ said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Shalom!
Rock Petros
Sunday 23rd of February 2020
I am confused at the rewards aspect of the result of works for one that is saved. Not that I wouldn't accept them, but what is the purpose of the rewards in Heaven? In my mind, Heaven and eyernal life with God is reward enough. Not to say that we shouldn't exercise our faith to do good works for the sake of bringing others to His kingdom and loving others, even our enemies, so they can see God in us and hopefully plant seeds. But again, what will we do with these rewards? It seems to me a kind of heirarchy system where some will be in Heaven at a higher level than others. Is this really what God wants for us? Could it be possible we might be missing something? I have prayed about this and am truly seeking the view of others and not with the intention to promote confusion or apostasy. Any input? Thanks and love.
noelle
Friday 19th of June 2020
Hello! We throw our crowns (which are rewards)... at the feet of Jesus. God is a lover and a God of pleasure - He created it! Why get all spiritual and say we don't need recognition, that God is glad to give... even Jesus mentioned it multiple times. It's according to the LOVE of the Father that he should reward us. Saying we don't need reward is the same as saying we don't need his love ... and that's rejecting God. It brings pleasure to God to reward us. I don't see what's the problem with that. We don't understand fully about heaven and eternal life ... just the basics. But Jesus clearly said that God will acknowledge our good works ... and in my thought, it's based on his love for us.
About higher levels ... I think that God always has structures of authority (rulers of people, princes, kings, etc) in place. I don't see why in a future heavenly city he shouldn't appoint certain people to have authoritiy over others. That's how we function as a society... I wonder if it will be similar in heaven with Christ.
Hope this helps!
Noelle
Azariah Morgan
Wednesday 17th of July 2019
WOW!!! How much controversy this stirred up! One great advantage I had as a child was to let the bible tell me instead of me trying to tell the bible. It says Jesus comes bringing his rewards. Any questions?
Jesus says in Revelation 22:12 “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.
While my motivation to serve and do good works is Love for my Savior it seams rather rude to not want the rewards He has prepared for me.
There also appears to be some confusion that Salvation is a free gift, but rewards are given by Jesus for the Good works we will do.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.
I look forward to the rewards Jesus has for me, He wants me to.
Lily
Friday 14th of June 2019
I am confused. How do we give our lives over to God? If I had two job offers, how would I know which one God wanted me to take? Would I pray and then feel the Holy Spirit directing me or something? Somebody, please reply soon!
Sarah Watson
Sunday 24th of November 2019
Dear Lily. You can give your life over to him by simply believing in him and what he tells us! You then jus have a one on one talk with him and promise to obey him and live for him ! Gods really cool to believe in and he really loves you. He knows your not perfect and will forgive you for your mistakes just always try to best! And with the jobs . If you have two great job offers God blessed you with both and the option to choose :) do what's best! He wants the best for you and wants you to Live n be happy!
Jamie-Leigh Kinmont
Sunday 22nd of September 2019
My mom always says the Lord usually speaks through three things: Inner peace regarding one offer over the other, His Word, and your spiritual family's advice. Ask Him which offer might be more influential for his Kingdom.
He also gives us options to choose from and sometimes neither one is wrong. Lastly, you can also choose based on what you would enjoy most. He is good and wants us to ude our strengths and enjoy work.
Hope this helps. I know it's a bit late
doubt Mutenda
Thursday 27th of June 2019
hi Lily
Giving our lives to God is a fruit of first having the knowledge and understanding of who God is. If you understand God as the Author of life, who says in Jeremiah, "I knew you before l formed you", would you not want such a God to be the one who directs your ways? As for how He does that, Depends on your faith coz He surely does have strange ways of communicating with us all, and we hear Him differently. Just act "stupid" and ask and acknowledge God in everything that you do or happens in your life and you will surely hear Him in your conscience, directing your ways. I hope it was helpful, God bless you.
Brooke
Sunday 23rd of June 2019
Hi Lily, fully surrendering to God is more about the posture and attitude of your heart rather than hitting a bullseye of God’s will. He will not always tell us point blank which choice to make, sometimes but not always. He trusts us to make certain decisions and use the experience and wisdom He’s given us. If there was a way He absolutely wanted you to go, He is perfectly capable of letting you know. Surrendering is more about being WILLING to go where He says to go. Let’s say you really want option A but this time He does actually tell you which way to go and He says option B. Surrendering is saying, not my will (option A) be done Lord, but Yours (option B.) In all decision making and things of life, every day our heart desires for Him to be glorified by our lives, for Him to find pleasure in us, to commune with Him in His presence. If these things are our heart’s desires, then we can trust He will lead us and guide us in the way we should go, EVEN when we are unaware of Him orchestrating events and opportunities for us. Even when we encounter trials and suffering, we still know He is leading us and we are in his will. I hope this helps you! God bless you!
Nick Sherman
Thursday 20th of June 2019
Hi Lily,
We give our lives over to God by confessing to Him our need of Him. It is in the acknowledgement of our sins, our wrongdoings, and in the acceptance of the Gospel, which is Jesus' good doings, that we give our lives over to God. Read John 3:1-18 as a reference, some is hard to understand but I am praying that God will give you understanding as you read.
Regarding the job offers. You may feel the Holy Spirit lead you in a direction when you pray. However often times we can make the decision based on very practical terms given there is nothing inherently sinful about the work, like anything dishonest or indecent. You can often decide based on the fit, location, the better fit based on your skills, how it will affect your home life, the pay, the nature of the work in regards to which might be more fulfilling for you.
This is of course if you don't have any strong inclination from the Holy Spirit regarding which choice to make. Many times God gives us the freedom to choose. I hope this helps.
carl
Thursday 12th of February 2015
Great article! There is no doubt we will be rewarded individually according to our individual service to the Lord. We just need to make sure our reward isn't cancelled out by our pride.
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6).
Just as there will be different levels of reward in Heaven, there will be different levels of punishment in Hell.
"Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you." (Matthew 11)