Once and Forever—And Still Ongoing

Surrender isn’t a moment—it’s a posture of open hands, lit by the unchanging presence of Christ.

Devotional Source: In Christ by E. Stanley Jones
Photo Credit: Unsplash

E. Stanley Jones draws our attention to a truth that many believers overlook in their practical walk: that self-surrender is not a repeated ritual but a once-and-for-all response to God's call. Yet, in that singular surrender, there are countless daily, even moment-by-moment, expressions of the same heart posture. He compares it to a good marriage—you don’t re-enter the covenant every day, but you do live out that covenant in countless small ways daily.

Jones clarifies that the abiding life isn’t one of intermittent connection, like plugging in a phone charger once a week to get spiritual energy and then walking away. Instead, abiding in Christ is an unbroken union that continues through both mountaintop moments and missteps. When we stumble, the relationship isn't severed—it’s merely clouded, and can be cleared the moment we acknowledge the slip.

He emphasizes that abiding is full surrender—both of what we already know and what we don’t yet understand. There’s no room for clauses or conditions. Everything—seen and unseen, past and future—is handed over to Christ with open hands. It’s not about control but about life. And not life on our own terms, but life in Him.

🕊 Journal Entry | In the Voice of the Holy Spirit

Beloved, you are Mine—not by hourly renewals or weekly check-ins, but by the eternal joining of your spirit to Mine. You said yes once, and that yes echoes through every moment you draw breath. Yet in that great Yes are smaller yeses—your quiet nods in the everyday, the unseen surrenders that say again and again, I am Yours.

Remain in Me as I remain in you. This is not a visiting arrangement. You are not a guest—I have made My home in you, and I am not moving out. When you slip, I do not leave. When your awareness dims, I do not withdraw. Confess freely and quickly, and you’ll see—nothing has changed on My end.

You may wonder what tomorrow holds. Let Me assure you—what you do not yet know is already Mine. Your unknowns wear My name. The road ahead may feel hidden to you, but it is lit by My presence. Keep walking. You walk not toward Me—you walk with Me.

You don’t need to figure out what needs to be surrendered next. Simply stay in Me. I will bring it to light when it’s time. You are in the Vine, and I am flowing through you—not as a current that flickers, but as a Life that endures.

You are safe. You are sealed. You are Mine.

Scriptures woven in: John 15:4–5, Romans 8:9–11, 1 John 1:9, Ephesians 1:13, Philippians 1:6, Romans 12:1, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Isaiah 42:16

🙏 Prayer

Father, I thank You that surrender is not a tiresome ritual but a restful reality. I’m not plugging in and out of You like some weekend recharge—I am forever grafted into Your Son, and Your Spirit pulses through me as Life itself. When I offer the “little alls” of each day, I do so joyfully, knowing they are merely the unfolding of the “big Yes” I gave You when I trusted Christ as my Life.

I rest in the certainty that nothing separates me from You. Not my missteps, not my doubts, not even what I cannot yet see. All of it—past, present, future—is Yours. I live in the security of Your ongoing work within me, and I walk in the freedom of knowing that even the unknown is already under Your Lordship.

You are not far off, waiting for me to catch up. You are here. You are within. And I am content in that forever reality.