It Starts Small

Our Heavenly Father and Creator designed our lives for glory. Even before you knew Him personally, He knew you.

“Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; you understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my travels and my rest; you are aware of all my ways.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭CSB‬‬

When we surrender our ourselves to God we are surrendering our old thoughts, feelings, an desires for new ones. We are acknowledging our way is the wrong way. We desire to walk His way and become what he created us for. To do this, it takes faith. By faith, we believe that God is who He says He is and He will do what He promises.

Surrender means we can still reach our goals, overcome our failures, and enjoy success, but for different reasons. Instead of boasting about what we achieved on our own, we can enjoy what God has given us abundantly. Surrender becomes a life that reflects God rather than a checklist of human accomplishments.

Surrender is fulfillment. Surrender is contentment. Fulfillment and contentment only come when we give God all of ourselves. This is not settling for second best. This does not mean we stop doing what we are trained to do. It means you come to a point where you ask God to use you to the fullest so other will come to know Him and experience His forgiveness and unconditional love. Those who have never discovered the wonderful joy that comes from serving God, have yet to experience His eternal fulfillment.

God has a great plan for our lives.

“For I know the plans I have for you”  — this is the Lord’s declaration — “plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭11‬ ‭CSB‬‬

When you trust and seek only Him, He will teach you how to live a life above your circumstances. Yielding to Him is the first step in the process of discovering our gifts and His wonderful purpose for our lives.

What does surrender look like?

For me, it was first confessing who I was. I brought a laundry list to the throne room and acknowledged before my Heavenly Father all that I was. I confessed myself and all my unrepentant sin. That took a lot of introspection and time to allow the Holy Spirit to show me in the place I was, who I am. I had a lot of sin in life. I chose that morning in prayer to turn away from it all and leave it on the cross.

Surrender to me was taking a side. I could no longer try to straddle the line in the sand. I had to chose a side and decide to give my life to that side. I no longer desired to be what I was. I knew God is the God of change and possibility and this world was vain. Nothing in this world over 20 years had brought me peace or joy.

I had to decide right then and there that the Word of God was the ultimate authority in the universe and over my life. What he speaks, is truth and nothing else was. I prayed before my Heavenly Father for His forgiveness for defiling His creation is horrible ways and asked for His cleansing of my heart.

Then I payed my blessings in His hands. Sadly, the very things He had blessed my life with, had become my idols. I surrendered my relationships, my marriage, and my family back to Him. I acknowledged the hurt and pain I had caused them and asked for His forgiveness. I prayed He would hold on to them until I was right with Him to receive them back, if it be His will.

Then came the surrendering myself. I laid my life down at His feet. I asked for His help in transforming and changing the things in my heart that were not right. I prayed for change. I prayed for understanding of all the things behind me to show me His goodness and will. I surrendered my heart. I surrendered my thoughts and feelings. I surrendered my desires. I no longer wanted what I wanted. I wanted what God wanted for my life, my marriage, and my family.

I gave everything I was, and all to Him. I decided it was no longer going to be my way. I decided that these behaviors that caused me to stumble over and over were no longer going to control tomorrow because the God who dwells in me is stronger. I surrendered to the Holy Spirits leading. I surrendered my will inside of me to Him.

Since that morning, every morning after I lay my heart on His altar and ask for His cleansing and I lay my life down in surrender. Surrender is a daily action. Surrendering each morning reminds me that I am His. I belong to Him. He is in control and I yield to Him, not this world.

Have you surrendered all to God? Have you godly and courageously taken that step over the line to God’s side or are you still straddling the line? Maybe you are standing on the wrong side? You do not have to be in a “perfect” place to state of mind to do this. Go to Him today and lay it all down.

Principle 1: Living God’s Way
Principle 2: Surrender: The Starting Point
Principle 3: Grace: Why we need it
Principle 4: Connection with God: The most effective way to live
Principle 5: Trust: Faith in Action
Principle 6: Obedience: It always brings a blessing
Principle 7: God’s Will: It’s worth the wait
Principle 8: Adversity: He refines us by fire
Principle 9: Prayer: It’s War on the floor
Principle 10: The Bible: Our sourcebook for life