I Surrender All

I Surrender All

By: Judson W. Van De Venter

All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give; 

I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.  
I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Thee my blessed Savior,
 I surrender all. 

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All to Jesus I surrender, humbly at His feet I bow, 
Worldly pleasures all forsaken, take me, Jesus, take me now. 
I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Thee my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.  

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All to Jesus I surrender, make me Savior wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit, truly know that thou art mine. 
I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Thee my blessed Savior, 
I surrender all. 

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All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee. 
Fill me with Thy love and power, let thy blessings fall on me. 
I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Thee my blessed Savior, 
I surrender all. 

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 Someone once said, "Only in the Christian life does surrender bring victory." Judson Wheeler Van De Venter learned that for himself. 

Born on a farm in Monroe Country, Michigan, in 1855, Judson grew up interested in art and music. He was converted to Christ at age 17. After graduating from college in Hillsdale, Michigan, Judson became an art teacher and then supervisor of art for the high school in Sharon, Pennsylvania. In 1885, he toured Europe, visiting art galleries and museums and studying painting. He was also a musician, having studied in numerous singing schools. All the while, Judson was heavily involved in his local Methodist Episcopal Church where he sang in the choir. He found himself especially fulfilled when participating in evangelistic rallies and revivals in which people received Christ as their personal Savoir. Friends encouraged him to resign from the school system to enter fulltime music evangelism, but for five years he struggled with the decision.

Finally falling to his knees, he said, "Lord, if you want me to give my full time to Thy work, I'll do it, I surrender all to Thee." For the next several years he traveled extensively through the United States, England, and Scotland, assisting in evangelistic work, leading the singing for Wilber Chapman and other evangelists, and winning men and women to Christ. While engaged in meetings in East Palestine, Ohio, Judson stayed in the home of George Sebring (whose family founded Sebring, Ohio, and who himself later found Sebring, Florida.) It was there that he wrote the hymn, "I Surrender All," while recalling his own personal submitting to full-time ministry. 

Moving to Tampa in 1923, he began teaching hymnology at Florida Bible Institute. He retired after several years, but still occasionally showed up on campus to lecture or to speak in chapel. In the 1930s, a student at Florida Bible Institute sat wide-eyed, listening to Judson Van De Venter. That student, Billy Graham, later wrote: "One of the evangelists who influenced my early preaching was also a hymnist who wrote 'I Surrender All,' the Rev. J.W. Van De Venter. He was a regular visitor at the Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity Bible College) in the late 1930s. We students loved this kind, deeply spiritual gentleman and often gathered in his winter home at Tampa, Florida, for an evening of fellowship and singing." This widely known and sung hymn still encourages Christians to surrender their lives fully to the Savior, for he's the only one that can bring real peace. 
Taken from "Then Sings My Soul" by Robert J. Morgan
 
In Christ's unending love and mercy,
Ashley
Isaiah 64:8
But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.