“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.'”
To surrender means to yield to the power of another; to give or deliver up possession upon compulsion or demand.
Has the Lord ever asked you to do something, yet you hesitated and didn’t follow through? You couldn’t see how things were going to work out, so you didn’t move. Living a surrendered life is a life of someone who trusts God in the unseen. It’s about relinquishing control and allowing God to guide us. It’s crucial for us to recognize that in surrendering, we are not giving up something but rather gaining a closer relationship with our Creator. We become more in tune with His purpose for our lives, leading to a more fulfilled existence. Surrendering shows our trust in God’s wisdom and His love for us.
Self-Denial Is Part of Surrender
“Then He said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'” – Luke 9:23 NIV (emphasis mine)
Self-denial is only good when it is denying ourselves for the singular purpose of exalting Jesus and His will for us in some area of our lives. It is an important part of our life as a Christian. Jesus sacrificed His life for us, and He demands we die to ourselves that we might experience this new life He has provided. We do this first by recognizing that we can’t save ourselves by our own effort and second, by trusting God—not ourselves—for salvation. Then we daily need to deny our own wisdom and seek God’s wisdom and direction.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20
The Blessings of Surrender
When we talk about surrendering to God, it’s essential to remember the huge blessings that come with it. By surrendering our will to His, we open ourselves to the many gifts He has in store for us. Blessings such as peace, joy, and fulfillment that surpass our understanding. It’s like embarking on an adventure where we no longer must navigate our way; instead, we have the ultimate guide in God. Recognizing the blessings of surrender helps us appreciate how much God loves us and desires to lead us. We need to be excited about the blessings we receive when we trust Him and leave our worries behind.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6-7 NIV
The word anxious means “uneasy and apprehensive about an uncertain event or matter; worried”. This is a command for us not to be anxious about anything. You may be asking Tracey how do we do that?
Well, I’ll tell you. This verse goes on to explain that we are supposed to take our needs and problems to the Lord in prayer. Anxious people are people who haven’t thrown their problems over on the Lord in prayer (1 Peter 5:7).
Notice that Philippians 4:6 states that our petitions are supposed to be made with thanksgiving. That’s very important. Sometimes, people just tell God all their problems and call that prayer. That’s complaining. But when we voice our needs to the Lord and wrap them in thanksgiving, that moves us over into the realm of faith. If there isn’t thanksgiving in every prayer we pray, then we aren’t abounding in faith (Colossians 2:7).
Paul said that we are to give thanks when we make our requests to God. A request is something asked for but not yet received. We wouldn’t request something to happen that has already happened, would we? So, we are supposed to thank the Lord for doing things before He does them. That’s what the Bible calls faith.
Surrender and Faith
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” – Hebrews 11:1
Faith and surrender are two intertwined concepts that we often experience in our Christian walk. Surrendering to God requires us to trust Him in the unseen as I said earlier. I am not saying that faith is believing that something is real when it really isn’t and that if you believe it hard enough and long enough, it will become real. That’s not Faith. Faith is real. It is substance and evidence; it is just substance and evidence of things that can’t be seen, but they do exist. Faith is a choice. It is based on what you choose to believe about God’s word.
God invites us to let go of our need for control and enables us to rely on His unfailing promises. This faith brings about a deeper relationship with God and helps us navigate life’s uncertainties with confidence. Surrendering means embracing the fact that we don’t have all the answers, but our faith in Him reassures us that He does. Let’s choose to cultivate our faith by surrendering regularly, allowing it to grow and flourish as we experience God’s goodness in our lives.
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