Surrender

Amber Kennedy
Mar 13, 2016
4 min read

We recently celebrated our daughter's Chloe's 5th. birthday. On her special day, she wanted to go ice skating, so our family of four went. Alexander was less than thrilled to have ice skates on his feet and was even less enthusiastic about venturing out onto the ice. Chloe, on the other hand showed no reluctance and even wanted to skate on her own after just stepping out onto the rink. It had been years since I had gone ice skating, so I cautiously took my time, while holding Chloe's hand in one hand and gripping the wall with my other. It wasn't long before this Mama had the hang of it. Chloe was doing well, also. Even Alexander started to relax, as Chris held on to him and helped him gently skate along. As we skated, Chloe told me she wanted to do it on her own. "No, not right now," I replied, holding on tightly to her little hand.

Just as soon as I said those words,

the Holy Spirit spoke to me saying, "Just let go," so I did.

As much as I wanted to continue to hold on, I wanted more to listen to her desire for freedom and independence. After all, how will our children grow if we get in the way of them trying things for themselves? So, I let go of her hand, and as I did, God spoke to me again saying, "When you let go, you really trust me. I love your surrender." I began to think about surrender and what that really means.

What is surrender? Miriam Webster defines surrender as "to agree to stop fighting, hiding, resisting, because you know that you will not win or succeed. To yield to the power, control, or possession of another upon compulsion or demand. To give (oneself) over to something (as an influence). To give oneself up into the power of another: yield." When it comes to surrendering your life to God, have you given all of yourself and every area of your life over to Him completely? Have you agreed to stop fighting and resisting Him? I'm sure all of us could honestly say that we have something that we still need to surrender to God.

It's never too late to surrender to God,

and as Christians, surrendering to the Lord will be an ongoing process as long as we're on this earth. In order to walk more intimately with God, we have to be willing to surrender our hopes and dreams, our pain and hurt, our minds and our will, and everything that we are and all that we have. When we do this, we are able to walk in more peace and greater intimacy with Him, not to mention that there is great freedom to be attained in surrender.

Hebrews 12:2 says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." When we fix our eyes on Jesus, we are able to take our minds off of whatever it is that we may be focusing on, worrying about, or dealing with in our lives. When we surrender whatever needs to be surrendered to God, we put our faith to work and truly put our trust in Him. Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."

Choosing to surrender will help us to see that we don't have to strive to be perfect, once we realize that Jesus is still perfecting us. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith --and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8)." God's grace and mercy are available to us, and He will meet us in every dark and broken place, messy situation, weakness, and unlovely place that we cry out to Him from. When we are willing to surrender our lives to God to be changed by Him, He will work within us by His Holy Spirit to transform us. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." Surrender means we allow ourselves to take hold of God's grace and we fix our eyes on Him, as He transforms us from glory to glory! If we know that then why is it so hard for us to surrender?

Our flesh and our soul get in the way of surrender all too often.

This is why we are told in Romans 12:2 that we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds and why Jesus said that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. If we want to get good at surrendering our lives to God, then we have to get good at letting go. It will take time and work with the help of God's Holy Spirit to surrender, but if we put God first in all that we do, if we take time each day to spend time with Him in prayer and reading His Word, and if we choose to live lives that glorify Him, we will see that little by little we are changed in Christ.

As the new year begins, I want to encourage you to surrender to God. Lay it all down at the feet of Jesus, and trust Him in the process. Ask God to guide you and direct your steps so that you can fulfill all that He has called you to fulfill in this life. You have been born for such a time as this. God has good plans for you, and He wants to use you. Enjoy the journey and remember that God is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20).

Amber Kennedy

She sets such a beautiful example of God's Love and it is an honour and a blessing to have her sharing a word from God's heart, a word inspired by the Holy Spirit and a word we believe that will change and impact your life.