Full Surrender
- Bailee Chavez
- May 21, 2023
- 5 min read
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Matthew 16:26 (AMP)
Hello! After a two-week hiatus due to finals and vacation, I’m back for the summer! This week God has been really putting on my heart the concept of surrender. I took some time to look back on some old prayers from a year ago in my prayer journal this week.
What I found is what I already knew to be there- prayers mirroring the same things I’m still struggling with.
How could a whole year pass by and I still be wrestling with the same things?
The answer is not that the Lord hasn’t given me direction through the Holy Spirit and through other people in my life.
It is simply that I have refused to humbly obey and fully listen to the direction He’s offered. Yes, I have absolutely seen improvement- particularly when I adhered to sound advice.
But the absence of full surrender and full trust in God has led to unnecessary residues of fear in my heart and mind.
I listened to this devotional this week, and I wanted to include it in this week’s blog (full devo below).
My favorite part, and the most challenging part, of the devotional is the following question regarding what surrender entails:
How much will be required of me?
The answer is simple. Everything.
It caused me to ask myself:
Can I really say I have surrendered everything to the Lord? Or am I still holding tightly to my own plans for worldly gain in attempts to make me feel more secure.
Here are a few areas for consideration
Body image
Finances
Relationships
Living situation
Career goals
College plans
Certainly, it is not bad to strive for excellence, but when excellence is pursued in the absence of a pure heart that is totally surrendered to God, bad things happen.
I’m learning that I can’t halfway surrender my life if I want to live out the full and abundant plans God has for me. Partial surrender leaves me in a seemingly never-ending cycle of sparse moments of peace that are soon crowded out once triggers arise.
Breakthrough cannot be accomplished if we don’t allow God’s truth to carry us over the mountains in our way.
To complete an obstacle course, one can’t stop and turn around at every barrier along the path.
The same is true in life. We can only overcome life’s barriers by applying what we learn from God and His word.
What does His word say He wants from us? Full 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. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
Luke 9:23-24 NIV
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror
and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:23-24
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More of Him, Less of Me
If my life is surrendered to God, all is well. Let me not grab it back, as though it were in peril in His hand but would be safer in mine!
— Elisabeth Elliot
Surrender.
It’s a word that many see in a negative light. A surrender occurs when a person or group has been overpowered. While that’s a true definition of it, there is more to it.
To surrender also means “to give up completely or agree to forego especially in favor of another.”
When we surrender to Jesus, we have the ability to agree to forego in favor of His purpose. We get to choose to be a part of His eternal game plan.
Jeremiah 29:11 says that His plans are not harmful, but are good, bring hope, and a bright future.
But we often hold on to our agenda as we attempt to follow Jesus. We don’t want to surrender because we are convinced that our limited vision and wisdom exceeds God’s boundless and foolproof strategy.
Our full surrender to Jesus usually boils down to one question:
How much will be required of me?
And the answer is simple. Everything.
In Mark 8:34-35, we read that if we want to be Jesus’s disciples and follow Him, we have to deny ourselves and take up our cross.
The Greek word for deny in Mark, chapter 8 is aparneomai, and it means to “forget one’s self and lose sight of one’s interest.” These two verses are summed up in this way: deny self and die to self.
Surrendering to Jesus means setting aside our selfish appetites and allowing Him to live through us. It’s choosing to trust His faultless plan even when we can’t make sense of it.
It’s believing that our eternal joy is more pressing than any momentary pleasure.
But there’s another question that we don’t ask, but should.
What is a life surrendered to Jesus filled with? The answer is the same. Everything.
Every spiritual blessing from God is what we get when we stop striving to fulfill our human plans on earth. Yes, trouble will still find its way to our doorstep. Burdens will still leap onto our shoulders. Hardship will still stumble in front of us. But through it all, we get...
His peace that’s impenetrable. His joy that’s indescribable. His freedom that’s unexplainable. His love that’s outrageous. His mercy that’s generous. His grace that’s undeserving. His presence that’s soothing. His wisdom that’s reassuring.
All because we trusted in the plan of the God of the universe instead of our own.
So, if we want to know how to follow Jesus, we just have to ask who is leading us. Either Jesus is leading or we are. Either we choose Jesus or we choose self. It’s not complicated to decipher; it’s just not easy to accomplish. Following Jesus means more of Him, less of us.
Reflect
Think about your life. Are you mapping it out on your own or are you seeking God in everything? Think about this as you go through your day.
Works Cited:
Listen to the devo: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6at2qCNUPtsoo4jyPuOyUJ?si=6dvUlaOOQM-HrOgsHz1jjA
Full demo on the Youversion Bible app: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/17808-what-does-it-mean-to-follow-jesus/day/2
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This summer, I'm challenging myself to fully surrender to God- concerning myself with eternal matters over worldy treasures that have no real value.
I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 27:13-14 (NIV)
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