Chapter 6:
Surrendering It All To God
When I was young I asked Jesus to come into my heart to live. I always went to church with my mom and dad every Sunday. I grew up knowing Jesus, learning all of the Bible stories and memorizing them. I was known as a good girl, who told others about Jesus, followed all of the rules, to the best of my ability and tried to do all that was expected of me. As I matured into adulthood, there was something missing in my heart. The peace I thought was supposed to be there wasn’t. I tried to fill that void with drugs and alcohol. It had gotten to a point, where I was emotionally out of control and felt I had nothing left inside. I had no clue, who Carolyn was or where to turn. In the process, I was hurting everyone around me.
One night, after the death of my husband in 1997, I realized how empty and out of control I was. I poured my heart out and surrendered to God. I told Him how I felt, and how I had messed things up, trying to do it my own way. I asked for forgiveness and promised Him, that if I lived another day, every breath I took and every day I lived would belong to Him. I couldn’t do it my way anymore, so I had to let go and give God charge of my life.
When I think back to that night in 1997, I realize now I hadn’t given God full control of my life. For sixteen years, I thought I was right with God and that I had surrendered everything to Him. God chose those three and half days, that Jim and I were so sick to show me how powerless, helpless and alone I was. I didn’t realize that God was speaking to both, Jim and me at the same time. On the 4th day of our sickness, we both totally surrendered our hearts, bodies and souls to God. It was the first day of the rest of our lives with Him. Since then, our lives have been a continuous state of change and growth. We are learning step-by-step to truly trust God and allow Him to have full control of our lives, home, family and finances. We are learning what love, joy and peace truly mean.
The word “surrender” is defined as: to yield, give up or over, submit, abandon, relinquish, cede, waive, or capitulate. In some translations, the word “surrender” is not found, but the concepts of “yielding" (Romans 6:16-19) or submitting (James 4:7) is used instead.
Surrendering to God involves a relationship, and this relationship involves trust and faith for our lives. By surrendering to God, we let go of whatever has kept us from wanting God’s ways first. Surrendering everything means being willing to say, “God, whatever You want me to do, I’ll do it.” Yes, to anything, You ask of me, even if it means dying to my desires and myself, I will give up the things I want to do in order to have more of You in my life. God, I will put You first and give total submission to You.”
What is submission? Submission is something you decide to do, not something someone forces you to do. The meaning of the word “submit” is “to submit yourself.” It’s a condition of the heart. Having a submitted heart means you are willing to give all of yourself and come into proper alignment with God’s will.
A thought comes to my mind about an old western movie, where the good guy points his gun at the bad guy and says, “Stick um up.” The bad guy drops his gun, raises his hands and says, “I give up.” This is the kind of surrender God wants. We aren’t the bad guys and God isn’t pointing a gun at us, but rather He is pointing His finger at us in a loving way and saying, “My child, I want you to give me all, give me everything. I have so much that I want to give back to you.” We need to drop everything and say, “God, I give up! I totally surrender to You my all. Please take my life and use it as You want and I will do whatever You say.
If we would do this, our lives would be so much better. Believe me, I know! Why is it so hard for us to do this? It’s because we want, what we want and we’re afraid of what God might ask us to do. We doubt, that God only asked us to do things for Him, because He wants us to be on His winning team.
It’s important that God wants us to be sold out to Him completely. Luke 10:27 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind…love your neighbor as yourself.” This verse sums up the concept of surrendering to God. If you’ve tried to surrender to God, but keep failing, here are some principles to consider from God’s Word.
Surrendering is an act of worship. Ask God to change your viewpoint so you can worship Him through a surrendered spirit.
· Surrender is a form of humility. James 4:6-7 says, “But He gives us more grace.” That is why scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’ Submit yourselves, then, to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:6-10).
· Surrender your mind, will and emotions. This is often the toughest part of surrendering. Romans 6:13 says, “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.”
One who is in you is greater than the one who is in this world.”
God is glorified when we come to Him and surrender our lives. When we feel like we have failed in our surrender, we can go to Him and receive grace. God knows us intimately-He knows that we may fail and He knows the sincerity of our hearts, when we come to Him for forgiveness.
The Bible speaks about two wonderful theological truths, that occur within the life of a Christian the moment he believes. First, the believer is justified before God (Romans 5:1). To be justified means to be “declared righteous.” Before a person comes to know Jesus, he is declared guilty of sin before God. This declaration of sin by God, upon the sinner, makes the person an enemy of God (Romans 5:10). The death of Jesus on the cross enables man to enter into a relationship with God, where God declares the sinner not guilty of sin. The believing sinner, while still sinful, is reconciled with God and comes into a new standing with God (Romans 5:11).
Second, the believer is sanctified before God 1Corinthians 1:2). To be sanctified means to be made righteous before God. It’s the idea that since I have been declared righteous (i.e.,justified), I am also made righteous (i.e., sanctified). You see, once a person becomes a Christian, God begins a work in him, enabling him to become more like Jesus (Romans 8:29). It’s God’s Will that each believer grow and become more and more like Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:3). God’s role in the sanctification process is evident from Philippians 1:6, “…He (God), who began a good work in you, will carry it on to completion, until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Personally, I do see the word “surrendering” used when it comes to the salvation process. I see a similar idea with that of commitment, however, when I was declared justified before God, I realized, that I was a sinner in need of Jesus’ provision of salvation. I made a commitment to trust Jesus for the forgiveness of my sin. I suppose one could use the word surrender in place of commitment. This is one commitment, however, that was just the first of a series of personal commitments, that I have made to God.
Because I am also sanctified, God is at work in me. Let me give you a personal illustration of God working righteousness in me. When I first became a believer, I drank alcohol on a regular basis, just like I did as an unbeliever. God was at work in me producing an on going righteousness and within a few days, I realized that my addictive behavior was not pleasing to God, so I quit all together. I did not need twelve steps, extensive counseling, or other means to quit drinking. God was working in my life and He saw what I was doing, so I made a commitment to please Him in this particular area. All throughout my Christian life, I have made many different commitments to God. If you would like to use the word “surrender” to describe what I did, that is fine with me.
In summation, surrendering to God is essential for salvation, but it is not a one-time decision. Making commitments to God is an ongoing process throughout the Christian life. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).