The Most Important Type of Surrender
Well, this is a big question, isn’t it?
I talk about surrender a lot, mainly because it is something I have seen as a necessary vein that runs through every part of our lives. But, it’s also very uncomfortable sometimes to think about, isn’t it? That’s what makes it surrender.
Surrendering to God starts with a surrendering of our sin & a surrendering of trying to live our way & a surrendering of thinking we can pay our own way to heaven, accepting that our sin is too great, our trying to live our way dishonors God & really is to our detriment, & that we could never even hope to come close to paying our own way to heaven.
That’s the first & greatest surrender of our lives. It’s a decision I made at just 5 years old & even these 36 years later, was notably the best decision I have ever made.
Be willing to pray: “God, I am a sinner. I have wronged You in so many ways. I cannot save myself. Please forgive me of my sin & please, Jesus, cover my sin. I no longer want to live my way, but Yours. Thank You, Jesus, for dying on the cross to cover what I could never pay. Please be LORD in my life from now on. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”
(***Read more on this topic: “Have You Met Jesus?” & “Am I Going to Hell?” & “Before Life Began, God Had a Plan for Grace”***)
A Life Defined by Surrender… & That’s a Good Thing
But the surrender doesn’t end there. Yes, surrendering your life & sin in exchange for forgiveness because of Jesus is the only surrender that gains us God’s grace & forgiveness, & an eternity in heaven, but there is still so much more surrender awaiting us as we strive to live our lives pleasing & honoring to God—which ought to be our overarching, ultimate goal in life.
A life of surrender means taking our wants, our beliefs, the “even ifs,” & all of our self-effort to His throne & laying it down for His will, His way, His plan, & His help.
Surrender to God also looks like doing His way over your way. It is a trusting He knows more than you do, sees more than you can, & can fit the pieces of life together better than you could ever even attempt to do.
I Want What I Want…
We want a lot of things in life, don’t we? Whether it’s hoping to be liked & accepted by peers. Whether it’s getting your dream job. Whether it’s getting married… having kids… having a dream house. The list can literally go on forever.
But the things we want aren’t just the big things, right? They’re the little day-to-day things. Like having things go the way we feel is best, like getting a break when we want it, like being recognized for a job well done, like feeling appreciated.
But live just a little while & you will already see that we don’t always get what we want, do we? It can be easy to feel disappointed or discouraged or invisible even at different seasons of our lives.
God wants to hear about it. God wants you to tell Him all about it. God cares for you. But God also doesn’t want it to control you. He wants you to trust that He can be enough for you in its place… even if you don’t get what you so badly want.
Surrendering Our WANTS to God
So, what does surrender look like then? It looks like taking your requests to God, but trusting that if He chooses not to allow what you hope for, that you will choose to trust Him more than you trust that desire you have for whatever it is.
It’s a laying down of that thing you want, whether it’s wanting a comforting word when you got a harsh one instead… wanting a break, but getting an interruption or another task… wanting a spouse, but getting singleness… wanting recognition, but getting ignored… wanting a child, but ending up childless… wanting a good day, but getting a hard one.
Trust God’s perfect timing. Trust God’s perfect plan. Trust God’s perfect foresight. Trust God’s perfect wisdom. Trust God’s care for you in all things. Trust God’s perfect sufficiency in all things… even when you don’t get what you want.
Be willing to say to Him: “God, I want ________________ soooo badly it hurts. I feel like it’s right for me to want it. I feel I need it. I feel like I can’t be happy & live without it. But, God. I know You are sufficient in all things, even when I struggle to feel it. Help me trust Your plan, Your will, Your sufficiency. Help me not to make _____________ into my idol. Help me trust You more than my feeling I need ______________. Help me to trust YOU. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”
(***There are some “Prayers of Surrender” prayer guides made available if you are struggling to even WANT to pray with a heart of surrendering it to God. You can check those out on the “Resources & Recommendations” tab on my website: “Prayers of Surrender.” Currently available topics include: Childlessness, Singleness, Financial Struggles, & Depression/Anxiety.***)
What You Believe Vs. What God Says
The next common area of surrender is in what you believe to be true put up against what God says is true.
Maybe it’s identity, sexual preference, gender confusion, believing something feels too good & innocent to be sin while God says it is.
Whatever it is that you believe so intensely in your heart of hearts, that you feel you would defend to your grave… consider Who made you.
Consider Who made this world.
Consider which of you has perfect & complete knowledge, understanding, & wisdom… & which of you only sees in part.
Consider which of you has ultimate & almighty, limitless power & authority over this world.
I’ll give you a hint: It’s not me… & it’s not you either.
If We Disagree with God… We’re the Wrong Ones
A big part of surrender is taking all of your ideals, understandings, & beliefs… all of the world’s philosophies… all of culture’s whims & whimsies… all of everything… & laying that down at the King of king’s feet, recognizing that He is God… & we are not.
To say, “God, I don’t get this. THIS feels SO REAL & TRUE to me. And soooo many people AGREE WITH ME. So how can it be “wrong”? I don’t get it. I don’t like it…. But… YOU made this world… I didn’t. Help me to trust that if You made this world, then You alone know & get to determine how it was made to be… not me… & not anyone else You made either. Help me learn to trust YOUR way over what I feel so strongly about. You are God & I am not. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”
Surrender can be so hard sometimes, can’t it?
The “Even If” Type of Surrender… When the Storm Clouds Seem to Linger Too Long
The next piece I want to talk about, with regards to SURRENDER, is one I probably talk about the most, especially with my lifelong wrestling through different seasons of depression: it’s the “EVEN IF the hard doesn’t stop” surrender….
I talk about this one A LOT, mainly because I feel like it’s the one I struggle with most noticeably. Yes, I am sure, though more in subtle ways that are more difficult to recognize, I struggle just as much with surrendering my wants & beliefs… but this one I actually FIGHT against sometimes.
My main idol is ease, easy, & comfort. Anyone else? I do not like to struggle.
I Don’t Like It… I Don’t Want It… But God, Help Me Trust You Anyway
Lack of sleep? Sickness? Allergies? Asthma? Depression? Heartache? Struggles with others? Super typhoon? Tragedy? Physical pain? Isolation? Trials? Tribulation? Witnessing a loved one in pain? Injury? Loss? Financial struggles? Hurt from a friend? Hardships at work? Arguments at home?
Nope, nope, nope, & an extra big helping of NOPE from me.
But unfortunately, I do not get to control whether or not hardship or struggle waltzes into my (at times) calm, peaceful life.
So, when God allows it to continue, even after MUCH prayer on my part… I have the tendency to feel like God must not care that I am suffering. But the TRUTH is, He wants me to recognize that His sufficiency is not at all dependent upon everything in my life working out just so. He is quite all I need come what may.
Surrender with the “even ifs” when in pain hurts the most for me.
Hindsight Is Our Best Friend Sometimes
I can come to the understanding that what I want can be an idol & that God knows better. Like with children. I hold no grudge against God for my lack of children. He has shown me He has a different plan for me than that. I have accepted it. I love it actually, because I get to pour into other peoples’ lives more regularly because of it—which is what I absolutely love to do. (Previous post: “To the Barren Woman.”)
And beliefs? I can accept that despite strongly believing it… well, I am not God.
Like when I struggled as a huge flirt when I was younger, thinking that was the only way I could make friends being the chubster I felt I was. Believing SO STRONGLY that it was “just who I was.” But when I finally realized GOD made me, so GOD ALONE got to determine HOW He made me, I turned that over to Him in surrender & asked for His way over my way. And He did. Thank GOD for that freedom.
(Previous post: “…Trusting God, Losing Friends, & Finding Myself”; “…God Made Me, I Didn’t”.)
“Just Take the Pain Away…”
But hurts not quitting? Pain extending? Troubles abounding & flourishing? Waters & waves crashing around me figuratively? People refusing reconciliation? Isolation worsening versus improving? Seeing someone I love continue to suffer?
No, no NO. Just take the pain away.
I don’t want it. I want it GONE ASAP. I don’t want to surrender. I want it to stop.
But, again, that is the very reason it is called “SURRENDER,” isn’t it? A laying down of demanding you get it your way & trusting God above anything & all else.
To say, “God, Your ways are above my ways. Your wisdom is above my wisdom. Everything You do & everything You allow is ALWAYS, 100% for my good AND Your glory… never one without the other. You NEVER waste my pain & struggles. Not once. Help remind me. I believe, LORD, help my unbelief. Help me keeps my head above the waves. Be my strength when I have none. Be my sufficiency when I can’t even hold myself up. Help me remember You are enough… that You love me… that Your plan is perfect… EVEN IF. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”
LIVING As If I Need Him… Because I DO
And then there’s one area of surrender I think we all often are too quick to forget… the need to surrender to His help.
Self-effort seems like the most Christian, God-honoring thing we can do, but it is laced with the lie that God needs our help.
That to please Him, we must try harder, be better, work more. But He doesn’t need our help.
When God asks of us, He asks of us knowing He is the Vine… aka He is the supply. He enables. He strengthens. He gifts us with what we need. He provides. He leads. He knows what to do & how to best do it.
He doesn’t need your help.
Whether it’s following His call or whether it’s in the day-to-day obedience of living the ways He says we ought—having His Word ever on our lips, meditating on His truth, serving & loving others (even our enemies), speaking truth in love. It doesn’t matter what it is. He can help you live it if you are willing to surrender to His help.
It Takes Abiding. He Is the Vine, We Are the Branches… Apart from Him, We Can Do Nothing
It takes an ABIDING in Him. If we are submitting to Him, talking with Him, taking concerns to Him, seeking His wisdom, getting to know His Word, & trusting Him evermore every day… that is abiding in Him, & as we abide in Him, He supplies what He calls us to as we rely fully on Him in the work.
It doesn’t mean a not doing. It means letting Him do the leading, the equipping, & the empowering. HE does the work to help you as you live for Him, as you abide in Him.
It’s like living through life with Superman as your best friend & striving & straining what Superman could do with just his pinky finger. And God is so much more powerful than he! We need to live like that’s true!
God’s All-Sufficient Role in Our Growth Can Make Us Feel Ashamed… But Jesus Paid for That, Too
I have gotten annoyed/uncomfortable responses to this discussion, & I get it because I have felt it. It takes ALL excuses out of the equation when we begin recognizing God is the answer & sufficiency in ALL of our lack that has kept us from daily &/or big obediences… & it can make us feel like we failed God in our shortcomings by not going to Him through ALL of them.
But God gives grace upon grace. Jesus already paid for your past, present, & future. There is now no condemnation because of Jesus. There is no shaming because Jesus takes our shame. There is only failing forward now. Because you will still get it wrong sometimes. I have 36 years of proof of that.
But, are you willing to stop avoiding, stop neglecting, stop excusing inactivity to surrender to His help? Or is it more comfortable to have an excuse to fall back on when you mess it up?
To say: “Lord, I am awful at obeying with ________________, because I feel like I’m lacking in ______________, but if it’s something that honors & pleases You, I can be fully assured that You WILL help me if I am willing to ask of You. So please help me to be willing to ask You & to trust You can help me if I am willing. I don’t want to give up or settle based on my own shortcomings. I want to trust that You’ve got what I don’t… that You can do what I can’t… That You know & see & understand it all where I don’t. Forgive me for any area of lacking obedience that I have excused because it felt too hard for me, forgetting nothing is too hard for You. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”
(Previous post: “Self-Empowerment or Self-Surrender?”; “How to Do the Things We Know We Should Do but Just Can’t”; “…God Can Help Us Obey Him”)
5 Areas of Surrender-What Does Surrender to God Look Like?
So, of these 5 areas of surrender, which area are you struggling to surrender in your own life?
What does surrender to God look like? Do you need to surrender: Something you want? Something you believe? An “even if”? Avoiding something or doing something yourself, forgetting He can supply? Or maybe the best surrender imaginable: turning your sin over to Him for forgiveness through Jesus Christ?
Trust He really is enough. Trust He really can sustain you. Trust His care for you is really real. Trust Him even in the even if. Trust He can help you where you lack. Trust Jesus.
Shine HOPE by choosing to surrender. By living a life of surrender, in every way imaginable. Because He’s worth it. Every single time. He’s worth it.
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Defender Necklace (INDIA)
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