Surrender to God's Loving Control

“Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.” (Romans 5:1 NLT)

If you want to have deep, personal, satisfying peace of mind in heart and soul, you’ve got to surrender control of your life totally to God. How do you know if you’ve done that?

Evidence of a surrendered life is always obedience. When God says, “Do it!” I do it. I don’t care if I don’t understand it, if anybody else is doing it, if it’s possible or not, if it’s hard or easy. I just do it.

When you listen to God’s Word and follow his direction, the result is always the same: peace.

Today, you may be in an uncontrollable circumstance. You may be married to an unchangeable person. You may be experiencing an unexplainable problem. The good news is you can have the peace of God in your life. But first, you have to make peace with God. You can’t have the peace of God until you first make peace with God. How do you do that? By surrendering your entire life in faith to Jesus Christ. “Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us” (Romans 5:1 NLT).

Aren’t you tired of being at war with God? Don’t you realize that is the single greatest source of stress in your life? What is the result of being in control of your life? Worry, guilt, bitterness, resentment, anxiety, fear, fatigue, depression, and despair. What is the result of putting Jesus Christ first in your life and being fully surrendered to whatever he wants? Peace, power, strength, wisdom, purpose, meaning, eternal life, significance, and joy.

Would you pray this prayer in your heart? 

“Dear Father, you know how I have resented the problems in my life, and you know how I have resisted the things that have caused me pain that I can’t change. You know that I’ve asked you many times for an explanation that has never come.

Today, I want to stop fighting you over things I don’t understand. Forgive me. I want to begin the path of personal peace. So I ask you for help. Help me to change the things that I can, and help me to accept the things that cannot be changed. Help me, Jesus, to trust in your loving care when things don’t make sense. Help me to trust that you are a good God and that you have my best interest at heart.

Today, I make an unconditional surrender of all my life to your loving care and control. Please give me your strength and wisdom and peace and purpose. I want to make peace with God by faith so that I can have the peace of God through you, Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Trust in God's Loving Care

“Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.” (Philippians 4:6-7 LB)

There is no such thing as a problem-free life. You just have to learn to have peace in the middle of your problems, or you’re never going to have peace — period. As soon as one pops up and you deal with it, another one is going to take its place.

So, why is your life just one problem after another?

There are three reasons:

First, Adam choked. He blew it. He and Eve gave into temptation and allowed sin to come into the world, and we’re all paying the consequences. We live in a fallen world.

Second, you have an enemy, and his name is Satan. He wants to mess with your mind, your family, your health, your finances — particularly if you are a follower of Christ and you’re trying to do the right thing.

On top of all that, you make your own mistakes. Most of the problems and pain in your life comes from your own poor decisions. When we make dumb decisions, we pay the penalties.

But sometimes the pain in your life is no one’s fault. Sometimes there’s a problem in your life so that the work of God may be displayed in your life. Regardless of why you have the problem that’s unsolvable, unchangeable, unexplainable, or uncontrollable, whether it came from the world, the devil, or yourself, you still need the same response every time — trust in the loving care of God.

Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand” (NLT). That’s the path to peace. Trust God’s loving care in the situation.

Talk It Over

• What evidence is there in your life of God using your struggles to point others to him?
• How do other people respond when they witness your peace in the midst of difficult circumstances?

Losing and Gaining Our Lives

The great paradox of life is that those who lose their lives will gain them.  This paradox becomes visible in very ordinary situations.  If we cling to our friends, we may lose them, but when we are nonpossessive in our relationships, we will make many friends.  When fame is what we seek and desire, it often vanishes as soon as we acquire it, but when we have no need to be known, we might be remembered long after our deaths.  When we want to be in the center, we easily end up on the margins, but when we are free enough to be wherever we must be, we find ourselves often in the center.

Giving away our lives for others is the greatest of all human arts.  This will gain us our lives.

Ready, Set — Wait

“The Lord is good to everyone who trusts in him, so it is best for us to wait in patience — to wait for him to save us.” (Lamentations 3:25-26 GNT)

When life seems to be falling apart, your most “spiritual” decision may be a surprise: Get alone with God, and wait.

The Bible tells us this in Lamentations 3:28, “When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:?Wait for hope to appear.?Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face. The ‘worst’ is never the worst” (Lamentations 3:28 MSG).

Most of us don’t know how to “enter the silence.” We’re always anxious. We don’t like to wait on God because it stresses us out. We like to be in control.

What does it mean to wait on God? You sit down, close your mouth, and just listen to God. You may read your Bible. You may pray. But most all, you’re quiet in front of God.

Anxiety comes when we’re not “waiting for hope to appear,” as Jeremiah tells us. God wants to talk to us. He wants to give us the hope we crave. But we’re way too busy. All of our circuits are busy! When he calls, we’re on a different line.

If we want to listen to God and experience the hope he has for us, we have to get alone with him. We must “enter the silence” and be ready to hear him.

Jesus also said this in Matthew 6:6: “Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace” (MSG).

Get honest with God, and your focus will shift from just seeing your problems — no matter how overwhelming they seem — to the grace of God.

Lamentations 3:25-26 says, “The Lord is good to everyone who trusts in him, so it is best for us to wait in patience — to wait for him to save us” (GNT).

Before you go out and try to solve your problem on your own, let God save you. It’s like in those war movies when the enemy is marching toward the hero’s army — which is usually an inferior, ragtag group. The hero tells his men to wait until he gives the order to shoot. Then, at the last possible moment, he yells, “Shoot!” Firing at the right moment means success.

The same is true for us. No matter what obstacle you’re facing, you’ve got to wait for God’s timing. He’ll time your next move perfectly.

So wait and listen.

Talk It Over

- Can you think of a time in your life when acting too quickly led to a disastrous outcome?

- Why is it difficult to wait for God when you’re struggling through difficult times?

Instead of Trying Harder, Trust More

"Surrender yourself to the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” (Psalm 37:7a GW)

Surrendering your life means:

- Following God’s lead without knowing where he’s sending you.

- Waiting for God’s timing without knowing when it will come.

- Expecting a miracle without knowing how God will provide.

- Trusting God’s purpose without understanding the circumstances.

You know you’re surrendered to God when you rely on God to work things out instead of trying to manipulate others, force your agenda, and control the situation. You let go and let God work. You don’t have to always be "in charge." Instead of trying harder, you trust more.

You also know you’re surrendered when you don’t react to criticism and rush to defend yourself.

Surrendered hearts show up best in relationships. You are not self-serving, you don’t edge others out, and you don’t demand your rights.

The most difficult thing to surrender for many people is their money. Many have thought, "I want to live for God, but I also want to earn enough money to live comfortably and retire someday."

Retirement is not the goal of a surrendered life because it competes with God for the primary attention of our lives. Jesus said, "You cannot serve both God and money," and "Wherever your treasure is, your heart will be also."

The supreme example of self-surrender is Jesus. The night before his crucifixion, Jesus surrendered himself to God’s plan. He prayed, "Father, everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine.”

Jesus didn’t pray, "God, if you’re able to take away this pain, please do so." He began by affirming that God can do anything! He prayed, "God, if it is in your best interest to remove this suffering, please do so. But if it fulfills your purpose, that’s what I want, too."

Genuine surrender says, “Father, if this problem, pain, sickness, or circumstance is needed to fulfill your purpose and glory in my life or in another’s life, please don’t take it away!"

This level of maturity doesn’t come easily. In Jesus’ case, he agonized so much over God’s plan that he sweated drops of blood. Surrender is hard work. In our case, it requires intense warfare against our self-centered nature.

Talk About It

- Where is your treasure?

- Does your attitude toward money reflect a heart that is surrendered to Christ?

The Heart of Worship Is Surrender

“Give yourselves to God ... surrender your whole being to him to be used for righteous purposes.” (Romans 6:13b TEV)

The heart of worship is surrender.

“Surrender” is an unpopular word, disliked almost as much as the word “submission.” It implies losing, and no one wants to be a loser.

Surrender evokes the unpleasant images of admitting defeat in battle, forfeiting a game, or yielding to a stronger opponent. The word is almost always used in a negative context. Captured criminals surrender to the authorities.

In our competitive world, we’re taught to never quit trying, never give up, and never give in, so we don’t hear much about surrendering. If winning is everything, surrendering is unthinkable.

Yet, the Bible teaches us that rather than trying to win, succeed, overcome, and conquer, we should instead yield, submit, obey, and surrender.

And by surrendering to God, we enter into the heart of worship. This is true worship: bringing pleasure to God as we give ourselves completely to him.

Surrendering is best demonstrated in obedience as you cooperate with your Creator. You say, "Yes, Lord" to whatever he asks of you.

In fact, "No, Lord" is a contradiction. You can’t claim Jesus as your Lord when you refuse to obey him. Peter modeled surrender when, after a night of failed fishing, Jesus told him to try again: "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." Surrendered people obey God’s Word, even when it doesn’t make sense.

God is not a cruel slave driver or a bully who uses brute force to coerce us into submission. He doesn’t try to break our will but woos us to himself so that we might offer it freely to him. God is a Lover and a Liberator, and surrendering brings freedom, not bondage.

When we completely surrender ourselves to Jesus, we discover that he is not a tyrant but a savior; not a boss, but a brother; not a dictator, but a friend.

Talk About It

- What do you need to surrender to God today?

- Surrendering ourselves leaves us vulnerable. Why is it so hard to be vulnerable in front of our Creator?

Surrender to God's Good Life

Written by Nicole Unice at Today's Christian Woman

Submission is difficult. This month's articles may feel unsettling, but that's good! Choosing submission helps us experience peace—something we could all use more of. So let's slow down and take a deeper look at how to surrender to God.

Part One: A Heart Check

Have you ever thought:

• I need to keep my options open because God may ask something I don't want to give or require something that will make me miserable.
• God hasn't done right by me to put me in this situation.
• I'm suspicious of God's plan even though Scripture claims he is good for me.

If you answered yes to any (or all) of these statements, welcome to humanity. Since the Garden of Eden, we've struggled to submit to God's goodness, especially when we cannot understand it. Over the next several days, allow these thoughts to get under your skin. For every yes, ask yourself the "why" behind it. For instance, you may journal: Why do I feel this way? Why did I think it would be different? What did I expect? What did I receive?

Because God invites us into a relationship, journaling and praying about these feelings is a way to clear the air between you and him. This is the first step in giving yourself completely over to God.

Scripture Reading:

As you journal from the above prompts, think about corresponding biblical stories, such as Sarah (Genesis 15-16, 20-21), Job, Jonah, and the rich young man (Matthew 19:16-30).

• What did God ask from each of these people?
• How did they respond?
• What was the fruit of that response?

Part Two: The Fruit of Surrender

We know that submission is challenging, but let's look at the other side: the fruit of surrender.

Answer yes or no to the following statements:

• I regularly admit to God my real feelings about hard things he's put into my life.
• I've experienced good fruit from "dying to myself."
• I often relinquish my desire to be right and confess sin to God and to others.
• I've experienced how my suffering can draw me closer to Christ.
• I've given up my need to know why with God.
• I've submitted to others' wisdom, allowing them to ask hard questions and push back on my thoughts and feelings about a situation.

Scripture Reading:

We need reminders of God's goodness and our weakness if we're to cultivate a spirit of surrender. Some verses for meditation:

Job 38-39
Galatians 2:20
1 Peter 5:6
Psalm 131

You may want to journal about these questions:

• Do I allow God to be big enough to hold all things—even things that seem evil and wrong—together?
• What does it mean for me to be "crucified with Christ?"