there may be
hopes and plans
stored in the heart
but a surrendered
heart endures.
…
a heart holding too much
is a weary heart.
our hearts are burdened
by the weight of the world.
the weight of other’s expectations.
the weight of our plans .
the weight of our worries.
only a surrendered heart
can walk free.
a surrendered heart
is a heart:
poured out
emptied.
so to be filled.
so to receive.
…
so today let’s talk about
surrendering our hearts to the Lord:
why do we need to surrender?
when is surrender required?
how do we surrender?
before we do, it is important to note that
the word “surrender” does not actually
appear in the scriptures, instead it is a
concept that has been introduced in
Christian thought that encompasses
words that do appear in the scriptures,
for example, submit, obey and offer.
so we will be exploring how we
adopt a heart of surrender and
a posture of submission to God.
to begin, we must ask ourselves
why do we need to surrender?
the concept of surrendering reminds me of
prisoners of war who are forced to surrender
to enemy forces. if there is an act of surrender,
there is often a signal sent to the enemy to
indicate that they are “giving themselves over”
to being captured by the enemy forces.
so why would an individual or group of individuals need to surrender?
in this wartime example, the individual(s) have identified in themselves
an inability to continue fighting. there has been a calculated call and
decision that it would not be wise to continue fighting. maybe they have
led themselves into a helpless situation, met unfavourable conditions,
or maybe they just cannot get out of there without ending up dead.
this type of surrender requires humility. the willingness to acknowledge
a limitation in resources, and in themselves. and this example helps us to
understand why we may reach a point where we need to surrender to God.
when we try to navigate life by our own strength and plans, we may
reach a point where we come to the end of our strength, or where we
either don’t have a plan, or things have not gone according to our plan.
we then have a decision to make.
do we keep striving on our own? do we partner with
others, who also have limited strength and foresight?
or, do we realise that we are unable to sustain this pattern
of self-sustainment and self-navigation for the rest of our lives.
the reality is simple, but hard to swallow.
we were not created for self-sustenance.
when we try to live our lives from our own strength, following our own plans,
we quickly find ourselves lost, broken, weary, confused, and lacking hope.
we want to surrender like the prisoners of war, because we have reached
a point of honesty within ourselves. that we can’t continue to choose
life, if we do not choose to surrender to the Giver and Sustainer of life.
life, on our own terms, according to our own dreams and plans, by our
own talents and abilities and strengths, sounds appealing. but it only
leads us to death and despair. for we, despite our trying and striving,
will never be able to sustain our lives without the sustenance of God.
in the garden of Eden, before the serpent twisted God’s words into a lie,
God provided Adam and Eve with everything that they needed. they were
given a role, a plan for their days [to work and keep His creation], and
they were given sustenance [all living things]. Adam and Eve lived
in surrender, in the form of submission, agreement, alignment to
God’s desire and design for their days in His creation. but when the
serpent came, what did he thwart? he twisted God’s words, planting
a question into the heart of Eve, as to whether God could be trusted,
whether His word was true, whether His design and plan was good.
when Eve wrestled with this question, she was tempted to see what
the fruit on the forbidden tree offered. she contemplated it [gen. 3:6].
the serpent told her that eating the fruit would open her eyes, and
that it would make her like God. Eve did not see the deceptive intent,
she did not read between the lines of the serpents words, and ask
herself whether there was a reason she was not meant to be like God.
and there, we have the fall of humanity. the entrance of sin,
which is, separation from God by disobeying His word.
this. is why surrender is needed. we were created to surrender
to God, to obey His word, His design and plan for our days. we
were created to live in intimacy with Him, in communion with Him.
but ever since the fall, we have lived in a fallen creation. a created
order that does not submit to Him, to His design and plan. and
creatures who have thirsted after the serpent’s seed, which planted
the idea of being our own god, and being like God, into our stories.
but we were not made to be our own gods, our own sustainers.
we were not created to plan our own days, to live in our strength,
to provide for our own needs, to seek intimacy apart from Him.
the enemy has deceived us, and deceives us, to this day. it has
become such a cultural norm to live our lives according to our
own needs and wants, plans and dreams, hopes and desires,
that we do not question whether or not these will lead us to death.
we are prisoners of war. a spiritual war. there is a battle for our
hearts, that occurs not in flesh and blood. God is mighty to save,
he has fought for our hearts and continues to fight for our hearts.
He is waiting for us to surrender.
to surrender to Him,
to surrender our hearts to Him.
He does not want us to surrender
our hearts to the deceiver, to the Enemy,
with his twisted desires and lies.
God is fighting for you.
He is fighting for your heart, that is,
your allegiance in this battle of life.
“the LORD will fight for you;
you need only to be still.”
[exodus 14:14]
stillness is surrendering
to His presence, His voice.
silencing all other voices,
including the lies of the Enemy.
we need Him.
we need Him to fight for us,
to intercede for us in battle.
the battle is life or death.
surrendering to anything or anyone else,
will lead to being prisoners of the Enemy.
this is why surrendering to God is freedom.
“the Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and i am helped”
[psalm 28:7a]
“The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him”
[nahum 1:7]
notice that in both of the above verse,
the pre-requisite is trust.
we cannot surrender, without trust.
trust is entrusting our hearts to God, allowing
Him to be our refuge, our strength, our shield.
why do we need to surrender our hearts?
“God has given to every human being the door to their
own heart, and God himself will not force his way in”
[john ortberg, all the places to go… how will you know?]
surrender is not a requirement or an obligation
God will not “force us” to surrender our hearts.
God invites us to surrender
surrender is an invitation.
we do not have to respond
we do not have to surrender.
but when we do, we experience
the freedom of a surrendered heart.
surrender is a choice.
trusting is a choice.
faith is a choice.
but there are consequences
to not surrendering, not trusting.
if we have not given God our hearts
we cannot receive His love.
you cannot love God or others
without receiving God’s love in your heart.
if you have not received God’s love
then you only love from your self,
that is, a conditional version of love
(self-sustained, self-navigated).
you cannot receive God’s love if you
have not surrendered your heart to Him.
He wants your heart
to fill with his love.
his love is perfect, and casts out fear.
all worries, plans, stresses of life?
his love casts those out
filling you with Himself.
His love satisfies
His love is enough.
a surrendered heart
it is not empty, it is full.
and this is the beauty, the freedom
found in surrendering.
you are free to love and live
from a place of fullness.
fulfilled with only that which
can truly fill.
but you cannot be filled
if you have not:
emptied yourself.
poured yourself out.
denied yourself.
in surrender
in submission
in obedience
in devotion.
Jesus set us the example
for how to surrender to God’s will
for how to surrender to His plan.
(but we will get to that….)
so, when do we need to surrender?
“do you want to know God’s will for your life?
i’ll give it to you in three words: surrender. and obey.”
[jennie allen, get out of your head]
the new year is a great time to reflect on our priorities
an inward investigation of the heart and its hopes.
if we spend too long in that place of introspection
we may be tempted to question God’s will and
His plan and purpose for our lives as a whole.
there can be a tendency to question
where God has us, what He may have for us.
maybe we are being called to risk-filled obedience
or maybe we are being called to let go of habits, patterns, beliefs.
there is a temptation for us
to surrender to our plans
instead of surrendering to God.
we become slaves to our plans, our dreams
serving them as masters, providers of our need.
but our plans do not offer us true freedom
they only offer us counterfeits.
this is why, when we achieve a
dream or goal, we need to set more.
because it is never enough
we are never satisfied
we are never free from the striving.
we are slaves to achievement
obtaining worldly success and riches.
the hamster wheel of the world
will never stop.
but the invitation to surrender
is an invitation to stop.
to slow down, humble ourselves,
and submit ourselves to God.
the invitation to surrender
is available to all hearts, at all times
(until the day Jesus returns, to call us home).
to devote our hearts to God and only
God alone is a journey, not a destination.
it is not a one time decision to surrender.
it is a daily suffering, of opening up the heart
that threatens to seal over and close with fear,
shame, despair, lies, insecurity and aching.
it is the act of inviting God to minister to us,
to enter into our desires, and to so fill and
satisfy us that we can confidently claim to be
content no matter the circumstances.
“i believe God’s plans for me are better than what i could plan for myself,
rather than run away from the path he has set before me, i want to run toward it.
i don’t want to try to change God’s mind—
his thoughts are perfect. i want to think his thoughts.
i don’t want to change God’s timing—
his timing is perfect. i want the grace to accept his timing.
i don’t want to change God’s plan—
his plan is perfect. i want to embrace his plan and see how he is glorified through it.
i want to submit.”
[nancy guthrie, holding on to hope]
as Guthrie articulates, surrender is also submission
coming under God’s thoughts, timing and plans for our lives.
so then, how do we surrender?
there is so much mystique when it
comes to “how” to surrender.
i’ve been the recipient of many
well-meaning comments:
“surrender it to God”
“let go and let God”
“surrender your heart to God”
but what does surrender actually look like?
once of my favourite articulations of surrender
that i have spoken about on the blog before is
“falling upwards” from one of my past housemates.
she called it “falling upwards into light”
it’s not falling down or falling over
no it’s falling into Light
into the fullness of His presence
into His all-encompassing glory.
surrender is not about absence
it’s about His presence.
the thing about falling
regardless of gravity
is that there is no effort.
when you’re falling downwards
it is gravity that pulls you down.
so the same logic applies in reverse
when we’re falling upwards,
it’s God that’s pulling us up.
we’re surrendering to the “pull”
God’s heart after our heart
God drawing us closer to His heart
God drawing us closer to Him.
of course, the best example of how
we surrender is found in Jesus.
Jesus models to us a surrendered life
a life in submission to God’s will
a life giving glory to the Father.
“the words i say to you, i do not speak
on My own. instead, it is the Father
dwelling in Me, performing His works.”
[john 14:10]
Jesus acknowledges that His sustenance,
His power comes from the Father.
“… emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant,
being made in human likeness. and being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and
became obedient to death—even death on a cross.”
[philippians 2:7-8]
in human form, Jesus was required to submit his flesh before
God like us. he emptied himself, and modelled to us a
humble, servant heart, and obedience to His Father’s will.
// 1. self-denial is surrender.
// 2. humility is surrender.
// 3. serving is surrender.
// 4. obedience is surrender.
“he fell facedown and prayed, “my Father, if it is possible,
let this cup pass from Me. yet not as i will, but as You will.”
[matthew 26:39]
when we pray, though we may fall to our knees,
though we may be facedown as Jesus was, we
are surrendering our hearts upwards to God.
we are inviting His will to be done in our lives.
// 5. prayer is surrender.
“come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and i will give you rest. take my yoke upon you
and learn from me, for i am gentle and humble
in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
[matthew 11:28-30]
our hearts were not made to carry
the weight and worries of the world.
Jesus invites us to learn from him
to learn from His heart – which
he describes as gentle and humble.
these two terms, gentleness and humility
don’t pair well with hustling or striving.
Jesus is inviting us to slow down,
and to spend time in the Word.
to listen and learn.
\\ 6. learning and listening to the Word is surrender.
the final “how” takes us to zephaniah 1:4-7:
at the start of zephaniah we learn that the concept of “bowing down” is a form of idolatry.
to bow down to something is to be in a form of submission and surrender, to revere an object
of worship. in our culture today we do not often bow down, fall on our knees, although this
posture represents a physical turning towards an object of our attention and adoration.
if we imagine today what this may take the form of, we can consider our blind obedience
to technology. whether mobile or television or laptop, our bodies are deformed and
formed to turn towards these devices, rather than an open posture before God.
an open posture before God is an act of worship. worship may be music, art, work, or
we may worship God throughout our days in other activities that bring glory to Him.
whatever turns our attention and desire towards God is worship.
\\ 7. worship is surrender.
in zephaniah we learn that to turn towards an idol of attention is to “turn back
from following the Lord” and to “neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him”.
to seek and inquire is to turn our full attention and desires towards God.
to seek his heart, his will, his purpose.
to inquire is to ask after his call in our lives, to ask
after his will, and to listen, with a readiness to hear.
if you have turned towards anything other than God, or surrendered to anything else,
then the invitation before you surrender is to repent. the invitation to repentance
is just an invitation to turn back towards God, and to turn away from idols of attention.
so to close, pray with me below, as we surrender our hearts to Him:
Lord, i give my heart to you. i give my all to you. help me to surrender, to fall upwards into your grace. i ask for wisdom in my decision-making and plans – may your will be done. i ask for your wisdom and direction in uncertainty – may your Word be a light unto my feet.
i am trying to plan for the future, to prepare, but all my efforts will fail, all my trying falls short, if it is not according to your plan and purpose for me. you are good and righteous God. you are just and gracious. you know me, my ways, my words, my thoughts, my talents, my past, my present, my future. you are familiar with all of me. so i know i can trust you. i know i can entrust my future to you. i know i can entrust my heart to you. i can rely on you, depend on you. be my fortress and strength. be all that i need. fill me with your love.
in Jesus’ name, amen.
may we have a heart of surrender
as our posture towards God this year
xx
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