If there has ever been a time that the spirit of antichrist is evident in the world it is certainly now. The Bible speaks of the increase of these things as the day of the Lord comes closer and closer. Opposition to God is no longer a hidden agenda but an outright open assault. Nonetheless, God’s word always has a timely revelation for every season of life. James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Did I just a quote a passage of scripture that had the word “submit” in it? Absolutely. God’s word is full of life and freedom and even through submission is victory over the enemy found. This leads us to another revelation of God through his name, Adonai, which means Lord and Master.

Our story is found in Genesis 15:1-2 “After these things the word of the LORD (Jehovah) came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” But Abram said, “Lord (Adonai) God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

Little nugget for you, the first LORD is all capitalized, which represents Jehovah (to be discussed on another day). The second Lord is capital “L” and lowercase letters which represents Adonai. This is the same situation as in Exodus 4:10 Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” In both these situations God is present and the speaker acknowledges God as “Adonai” meaning Lord and Master. Adonai is another way of saying “Owner” of all things. So, when we use the phrase Adonai, we are saying, I submit to you as my Lord, Master and Owner. This is an act of obedience, sacrifice and surrender to another. What I find interesting in both of these passages and the stories that follow, is that the response of Adonai to God from man acted like a password for the unveiling of Jehovah in their lives. The miraculous power of God was released after both of them spoke of their surrender to Him as Master.

In Romans 10:9-10 we see a well known scripture concerning what one does to become a Christian. It reads, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”. This verse very clearly identifies something important that many omit when speaking of Jesus of in their lives. That of Lordship. One doesn’t simply make Jesus their Saviour, without making Him their Lord. All to often, we want a God to save us, we want a Saviour, but we don’t want to surrender to his Lordship. 

Even Jesus surrendered to His heavenly father in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:42). His prayer is basically saying to the Father, Adonai, I surrender to you all that I am. I submit to you as my Lord, Master and Owner. This is an act of obedience, sacrifice and surrender to another. Jesus took his intimate relationship, love and respect for his Father in ABBA and followed it up with his submission to his Father as Lord all in one. This is essentially exactly what Jesus did. He surrendered his will, mind, emotions, body and spirit to his Father as his Master. We all know the fullness of the release of power of God that followed with the cross.

This surrender to Adonai is precisely what God is looking for from us. He is the good master, He wants the best for you, to provide for you, protect you and see you flourish. Will you surrender to God this day, or be lead by your own desires and yourself on the throne of your heart. I’m going with my Adonai.

Sample Prayer: I thank you that you are my Adonai. I surrender this day my will, my mind and my emotions to you. I give you my finances, gifts and talents for your purpose. I trust you with my life, for you are good. I submit to your lordship this day.