How Surrender Brings The Greatest Blessing

 

 

How Surrender Brings The Greatest Blessing

 

Have you ever watched people walking their dogs? Some dogs are in sync with their owners. They happily trot directly ahead on a short lead, in pace with their master. And then there are those other dogs! It seems as if these dogs are walking their owners instead of the other way around. You see them constantly straining at the leash, eager to follow every distraction and oblivious to their master’s desire to protect them. The route the master wants to take makes no difference to these dogs. They are determined to have their own way – unwilling to yield to their master’s will.

Much like these pets, some believers have a hard time surrendering to the Master’s guidance and protection. Surrender can be perceived as negative, but let’s find out what it truly means in the context of our relationship with Jesus.

What Does It Mean To Surrender?

According to Webster’s Dictionary, surrender is an act of yielding or resigning your life or the possession of something into the power of another; to give up or to yield to the influence, passion, or power of another.

For example, the living Bible says, “We are not our own bosses…” and Romans 14:13 says, “Try instead to live in such a way that you will never make your brother stumble by letting him see you doing something he thinks is wrong” (TLB).

So instead of following our desires and impulses, we are to yield our lives to the influence of Jesus in every aspect of our beings. Evangelist T.L. Osborn once said, “You are painting a picture of Jesus to others by every word you speak and every deed you do. Make sure you are painting a good picture.” Surrender is easier said than done. But our motivation to surrender has a big part to play in how consistently we yield to Jesus.

What Is Our Motivation For Surrender?

Surrender is based on love. When you truly love someone, you surrender your plans and desires, and instead do that which honours and pleases the other person. You give serious consideration as to how your actions affect another person.

In surrender to Jesus, you now think about how your actions affect your relationship with Him and with others. Your surrender to Jesus is not a one-time experience. It becomes a daily experience. And an experience that deepens over time. To the extent we surrender, the more we are willing to surrender.

What Is The Extent Of Surrender?

We choose to surrender to the will of Jesus’ every day rather than demanding our own way. When you go your own way, choosing to be strong-willed or self-focused, you’ll experience the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit (and your own conscience) warning you to stop. I know this for a fact, because I have experienced the convicting power of the still small voice of the Holy Spirit many times.
Once you become a Christian, you need to recognize that your body and your spirit are now God’s dwelling place or house (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Believe me, God cares about His house.

Now that you have invited Jesus into your heart as Lord and Savior and surrendered to Jesus, you no longer belong to yourself. You belong to God. He owns you. By the way, He can’t just be your Saviour without becoming your Lord. Lordship implies authority over you.

Many Christians want Jesus to be with them to help them out when they get into trouble (like a personal maintenance man), but they don’t want Him telling them what do when things are going smoothly.

So, your surrender extends to considering Jesus in everything that you do. Consider means “to think seriously; to have regard for; to respect; to take into view in examination.” When you consider Jesus, you take into account His opinion and His view of things. You want your attitudes, thoughts, motives, words, behaviour, and yes, even your appearance to honour Him.

You’re more highly motivated to please Him than to please yourself or others. Ask yourself, “Do I consider Jesus in what I think, what I say, and in what I do?” “Do I represent Jesus well to others?” Are people attracted to Jesus when they look at you? It’s good to ask yourself, “Can people see Jesus in the way I live? Does my lifestyle as well as the words I speak help or hinder people in becoming closer to Jesus? ( Romans 14:7). Surrender to Jesus is the path of blessing and has a significant outcome on our lives.

How Does Surrender Determine The Outcome Of Our Lives?

Your life, whether it is a good life or a difficult life, is determined by choices you make daily, living submitted and surrendered to God or living your own way. When you have your personal time with God each day, acknowledge that you know He owns you and you want Him to keep you and lead you.

The choices and decisions you make will affect your future. Jesus understood the power of choice, and He chose to live submitted and surrendered even in the face of great temptation. He showed us that it is possible for us to submit our will and surrender to God.
God gave us free will because He wanted us to love Him and obey Him by our own choice. God won’t force us, even though He knows the end result of an unsurrendered will is difficulty, heartache, pain, hardship, and sometimes destruction.

So when we Christians know that the Bible instructs us to live a surrendered life, why do we ignore that knowledge? Most often it’s because we want to fulfil our own desires or lust. When you decide you will go your own way, you unlock and open doors or windows to the enemy.

Sometimes Christians wonder why their lives are full of heartache and difficulty, but if they will take time to re-evaluate the choices they have made, they will discover where they have made themselves vulnerable through poor choices. Choices in which they stubbornly insisted on going their own direction instead of surrendering to and obeying God’s promptings and warnings. When you are self-willed, stubborn, rebellious, and unsubmissive to God’s authority, the enemy has much greater opportunity to rob you or even to destroy you.

Once you decide to surrender your life to Jesus, obeying God’s Word will become easier, your natural way of doing things. You will begin to see the Word as a guideline to live by.

To Sum It Up

When you are under the guidance and direction of the Master, surrendered to His good plan and ways, you won’t be straining at the leash, following after every distraction that comes up. Surrender is a blessed state, motivated by love for Jesus and extending to every aspect of our lives. It is of highest importance to Believers because it determines the outcome of our lives.

 

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Comments

  1. Anita Partanen says

    I gave my heart to the Lord 23 years ago. However I never gave my will to him. In december last year I enrolled in bible college surrendering my will to God so he could have his way in me. My life has been a struggle due to poor choices. Know I am learning how to do things God’s way. His way is now bringing joy to my life.

  2. Love this Olga! “When you truly love someone, you surrender your plans and desires, and instead do that which honours and pleases the other person. You give serious consideration as to how your actions affect another person.” This is a beautiful explanation of surrender. God has so much more to offer us than we can imagine! Surrender is Acceptance to that abundance!

  3. Awesome as usual! I loved the part where you talked about the act of surrendering to another person in a relationship. I often talk about how it seem our generation has lost that thing that our grandparents had in the way they approached relationships. You described it so clearly here.
    Ron recently posted..3 things in Vocal Ministry Breakthrough not found in any other home study vocal training courseMy Profile

  4. Love your analogy Olga! I think we so often miss out on God’s blessings because we aren’t willing to fully surrender to Him. We hold back and don’t put our complete trust in him. I think it is a process and one that we must work on our whole life! I always enjoy your wisdom and insight!
    Sue Glashower recently posted..Quick Meal Planning Ideas for Busy MomsMy Profile

  5. You are so talented! Love the way you can explain things in ways that reach so many! He is our Lord! Our willingness to trust just plain makes sense to me!!
    denny hagel recently posted..Tips on How to Answer Kid’s Difficult QuestionsMy Profile

  6. You hit the nail on the head with this one. I am exactly where you described. I’ve been a christian since 1985 but just recently have surrendered like never before. My life has been in such turmoil but believe am getting on track again because of this decision of surrender – daily. Thank you for affirming.

  7. I love reading your posts, Olga. They are inspirational. Thank you and God bless.
    Alexandra McAllister recently posted..What Are Your Sales Conversion Numbers?My Profile

  8. Surrender is a tough word to embrace. It can mean surrender to oppressions, circumstances, illness, disease….all sorts of negative experiences and concerns in our lives. This surrender is of giving up, letting go of hope and faith and is not surrender that I desire or encourgae. But surrener in this text as you have presented it is wisdom, hope and faith in God, the Creator of all things including and most especialy us and His perfect will for our lives….that is a whole other ballgame! 🙂
    Carl Mason-Liebenberg recently posted..How to Start Your Health JourneyMy Profile

    • Thank you so much Carl for your great comment, I totally agree of course. When we surrender to Him everything will turn out ok

  9. Thanks for a inspiring post Olga – real surrender is all about letting go and trusting that all will be well, sometimes that can be difficult to do when we feel like it’s us that has to figure everything out.
    Moira Hutchison recently posted..The Key to SuccessMy Profile

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