“Surrender is not the best way to live; it is the only way to live, nothing else works.”
-Rick Warren-
For many years I’ve always wanted the word Surrender tattooed on my forearm. Just small to serve as a physical reminder to live each day in full surrender to the one that created me and all things around me. That word has become very special to me over the years. Each birthday I pray about a word and the past three years God has placed the word surrender on my heart so it has become my word to live by each day. But what does surrender mean to me??
I believe surrender is the heart of worship. It becomes the natural response to the love and mercy of our God. Surrender is giving Him your whole being as a sacrifice to be used for his glory, and good and righteous purpose as we are reminded in Romans 6:13. Many times in the Bible we are told to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice too God but what does that really mean? Paul tells us that offering of yourself is being dedicated to HIS service and pleasing HIM. I also think that it is being willing to do whatever it takes to bring glory to HIS name. Surrender. Surrendering to the Father is offering yourself COMPLETELY to him. Surrender is to offer.
As we think of surrender there are many different types of things that you need to put into it. It doesn’t just happen. One of the biggest factors to surrendering is to TRUST. Truth is you cannot fully surrender if your trust is not fully put into the Father. But in order to trust HIM more, you got to know HIM better. When you surrender you learn that the father is more. He is a savior, brother, friends and the list goes on!! The God you surrender too, is the same God that meets you in whatever path of life you are in and whatever you are facing. He meets you head on. A fully surrendered life is trust. Just as Abraham followed God’s lead not knowing where it would take him, Hannah waited on Gods perfect timing not knowing when, Mary expected a miracle without knowing how, and Joseph trusted Gods purpose without knowing why he had to go through such hard things. You know what all these people had in common? Each of them had a heart full of trust and a heart fully surrendered to God.
Rick Warren said this in his devotional, “The Purpose Driven Life”, ” Surrendering is sacrificing your life or suffering in order to change what needs to be changed. God often calls surrendered people to do battle on HIS behalf.” Read that again,. Sacrificing and suffering to change what needs to be changed for the glory of God. I absolutely love that. It shows the real and rawness of the art of surrender. Its hard and can be painful but a surrendered heart is beautiful and the Lord can do some amazing things with a Surrendered heart. Surrendering becomes obedience. When you surrender, you obey the word of God. Just as Simon did. After a long night of bad fishing, Simon still casted His nets because the Lord said so. Just like Simon, even when you are tired or weary continue to cast your nets if it is honoring to the Lord.
I pray that each of you reading this has walked or has began to walk in the steps to surrendering yourself to HIM and I pray that you wait patiently upon HIM. I pray that you can join me in praying this prayer prayed by Jesus as He was on the cross, ” Father, everything is possible for you, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine. I surrender my whole life to you.”
