Surrendering to God’s Will

Have you surrendered and given control of your life over to Christ? Are you living in His will? Surrendering to God’s will is imperative in order for Him to take control and lead and guide us through life. But, many times as Christians, we go through life without depending on Him for His wisdom and guidance, and when we meet challenging times, we become defeated. Why? Because we are not self-sufficient or well-equipped to handle trials and tribulations by ourselves. In fact, He created us with an innate dependency on Him for these very trying times in our lives. In His Word, He told us that, “in the world, we would have tribulations, but in Him, we will find peace.” Therefore, without Him, we will never live peaceful lives. This is why we, ultimately, need to surrender our lives to Christ.

In this post, I will talk a little about what God’s will is for us, what surrendering to God’s will means, and why we need to surrender, to Him. Finally, I will share some simple ways to surrender to God’s will. My hope is that this post will encourage you to let go and let God take full control of your life and bring you closer to Him.

What is God’s Will for Us?

Simply put, God’s ultimate will for us is to serve Him righteously and live under His control. Living in God’s will helps us maintain a close personal relationship with Him. Consider this analogy: you have a child, you raise them under your control and authority, guide and direct them according to your wishes, and expect them to submit to your authority over them. Likewise, it’s the same with God. When He created us, He expected us to live under His control and authority; and to depend on Him throughout life.

What Does Surrendering to God’s Will Mean?

First off, surrendering to God’s will assumes we are in a position of weakness, which we are because He created us to depend on Him for everything. We relinquish control of our lives to Him and live under His authority, allowing Him to guide and direct us in life. We stop leaning on our own understanding and doing things for ourselves. Yielding our hearts to Him, dying out to ourselves, and letting go of all of life’s concerns. And living righteously. Moreover, we render our thoughts, ideas, fears, and worries to Him. And seek His wisdom and knowledge to guide us in life.

“Come unto me all ye that labour and are are heavy laden…And ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

Matthew 11:28-29

Jesus invites us to come and find rest in Him. How do we find rest in someone? It would take that person having power and control, and the ability to affect positive changes in our lives, that we would confidently rely on them. And this is the case with finding rest in Jesus. With His power and ability, He provides for us and works out situations in our favour. This makes us want to surrender to Him and relinquish control of all aspects of our lives and rest in Him. Finding rest in Him also brings us peace and comfort in our lives.

Conversely, when we surrender our lives to Christ, we are admitting our weaknesses, inadequacies, insufficiencies, and our inability to care for ourselves. That we give up trying to figure things out on our own and constantly fail. We admit defeat in life without Him by our side. Above all, we tell Him that we have faith and trust in Him to allow Him full control to “perfect that which concerns us” in life.

Why Do We Need to Surrender to God’s Will?

We need to surrender to God so He can have full control over our lives. If we don’t surrender to Him, He cannot take control. Logically speaking, no one can control us if we don’t give them permission by relinquishing control to them. When we live in His will and under His control, He will help us navigate life. We submit control to Him because we are failures in life. Our failures expose our weaknesses and inadequacies and our need for God’s control. It informs us that we can’t succeed with our own strength, understanding, and lack of God’s wisdom in our lives. In addition, submitting to Christ allows us to live peaceably. He told us that in the world we will have tribulation, but in Him, we will find peace. This is why surrendering to God’s will is imperative.

Consequently, surrendering to God’s will gives us hope for eternal life in glory. So, Christ is our hope of glory. When we cede control of our hearts and lives to Him and give up all unrighteousness, He renews our minds and transforms our hearts, and puts us on a path of righteousness. Then, He begins to work in and through us and dwell in us. When He dwells in us, His Holy presence goes with us everywhere, and we have confidence that whatever challenges we face in life, He will see us through. But, it takes full and sincere surrendering to God’s will.

How to Surrender to God’s Will

The first step to surrendering to Jesus is to go to Him in prayer and pour out your heart to Him, withholding nothing, just as vulnerable as you are. Acknowledge that you are weak and insufficient and need Him. He will come into your heart when you give it freely to Him. You must be sincere and honest, that it’s what you really want, and are ready for Him to take over your life. It is essential that you have faith and believe in Christ before surrendering to Him. He needs to know that you believe in Him.

Secondly, we surrender by giving up all unrighteousness and abandoning our own ideas and plans for our lives. We abandon everything that is opposed to His Word: sin, pride, worldly desires, and unrighteous living. And we only seek to live holy and righteously for Him, keeping our minds and hearts focused on Him.

Importantly, yielding control to God and letting go doesn’t mean that we won’t have the tendency to try and handle things on our own, or that we won’t face temptations anymore. Surrendering is a discipline that we must practice every day for the purpose of ceding control to God. Hence, we must be diligent and persistent in prayer while entrusting Him with control of our lives. As with everything else we struggle with, we need to pray for God’s help.

Surrender Your Hearts to God

“And He said, “that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders. Thefts, coveteousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, and evil eye; blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the man.”

Mark 7:20-23

Based on the above scripture, “out of the heart of man comes sin.” This means that the heart controls all human emotions, behaviours, and practices, as well as all desires good and bad, including sin. Therefore, we must “keep it with all diligence,” in other words, guard it against all unrighteousness, only fostering holiness. Accordingly, we must submit our hearts to His control so that He can help us remain holy and righteous, refraining from sin.

“Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it is the issues of life.”

Proverbs 4:23

As we see, the heart is the focal point of our lives. When it is holy and righteous, God dwells in it and guides us by His Holy Spirit. Likewise, if there’s sin in our hearts, God will not dwell where there’s sin. This is how sin separates us from God and stunts spiritual growth. He stays away from us where there’s unconfessed, continued sin in our hearts controlling our decisions, life choices, and practices. And, He withholds blessings from us.

Moreover, King David understood how the heart operated very well. That’s why he prayed in psalms 139:23-24 and asked the Lord to “search me and know my heart...see if there be any wicked way in me.” He wanted to ensure that he was living righteously and there was no wickedness in his heart. And if there were, God would cleanse him and set him free. He was convicted in his heart after committing adultery with Bathsheba. After that incident, he was always careful not to sin against God anymore; he said those words in his prayer, “search me and know my heart...see if there be any wicked way in me.

Surrender Sin to God

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:9

The number one thing Christians struggle with today is sin. As we live in particularly challenging times, with increasing immorality and temptations at every turn, we are seduced by sin. Being born into this fallen, sinful world, naturally, we are tempted by sin. Ergo, sin and the temptation of sin is a battle that we will always struggle with, unless we sincerely surrender our hearts and lives to God to His complete control. Then, His Holy Spirit which dwells in us will help us to sustain a life free of sin. Jesus knew it would be difficult for us to fight this evil by ourselves without His intervention. That’s He promised that if we confess our sins to Him, He will be “faithful and just to forgive them.” But, when we confess our sins and receive forgiveness, we must strive to avoid sin.

When we live in complete daily surrender to God and are faced with sin, we get convicted in our hearts and our conscience makes us refrain from engaging in sin. Living in full surrender to Christ keeps us on a path of righteous and holy living. And, when Christ dwells in us, His Holy Spirit keeps us in check and accountable. For, He sees all things that we do and knows our inward thoughts and heart. So, if we genuinely love and want to honour Him, we will obey our conscience and refrain from sin.

“For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He pondereth all His goings.”

Proverbs 5:21

Bible Believers Surrendering to God’s Will

Surrendering to God’s will takes having faith and trust in Him. It’s always encouraging to look to scripture for examples of how the Bible believers lived and responded to challenging circumstances. And how they relied on God for wisdom and guidance to get them through. We can use them as examples of how to respond to our own circumstances and seek God’s help.

Case in point, the book of Hebrews, Chapter 11 delineates several examples of saints to whom God had made promises, including Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah. They surrendered to His will by obeying His commands and waited until the time was right for Him to fulfill His promises to them. They never doubted but placed their faith in God and believed in His promises. And they never got impatient and went ahead and tried to take care of business for themselves – they waited, and He faithfully fulfilled His promises to them.

How to Know You are Living in God’s Will

After surrendering to God’s will, your life becomes His. Christ becomes the center of your life. You begin to live freely and joyfully for Christ, shunning all things contrary to Him and His Word. You give up all worldly desires, pride, self-reliance, and all unrighteousness. You begin to love what He loves and hates what He hates. When He speaks to you, you know it’s Him because you can discern His voice; that’s proof of His Holy Spirit living in you. Ultimately, you have faith and hope to entrust Him with your life, without reservation, to see you through and overcome the perils of this life. Confidently, you accept and rest in His control and authority over you.

Finally, surrendering to God’s will pleases Him, because it’s what He expects from us. He wants us to submit to Him so that He can work in our lives freely and fulfill His purpose in us. Surrendering is our only hope to continue living on a path of righteousness and holy living, and being guided and led by Him throughout life. With God’s Holy Spirit living in us, it keeps us from all sin and unrighteousness and brings us peace, joy and comfort.

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