Message topic: What have you surrendered to God?
Scripture text: Proverbs 3: 1-8
The question is being asked, what have you surrendered to God? Looking at what is ment to surrender to God in scripture, you may be surprised by what’s actually is in (or not in) the bible about surrender.
WHAT IS THE BIBICAL DEFINITION OF SURRENDER?
Surrender means accepting that the battle has been won not on your terms, and you are willingly giving your life over to the authority of the winning side, it means taking a humble position and embracing what is over, and how you would carry on.
So, here’s the thing about this surrender we sing about, it’s not literally in the Bible, across multiple translations, surrender is only used under 20 times, and in every case it refers to literal surrender,
In the middle of what is commonly known as the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus make’s a very interesting yet relevant statement as he is instructing his disciples how to prey, in Matthew 6: 10, He says your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
YOUR WILL BE DONE: These are probably four of the most important words you can ever tell God in your prayer: especially when you recognize that deep inside of every one of us there is a battle that goes on. In Romans 7 and Galatians 5, Paul writes about this struggle between your flesh and your spirit.
The battle is between doing what you want to do, and doing what you don’t want to do; at the center of this battle of wills: will you do it your way (my will be done) or will you do it God’s way as you say (your will be done) this could determine the life you live.
How to surrender: Surrender exposes what is inside of you:
The heart of surrender says “God I trust your plan more than mine; I trust your ways more than mine, I trust that you have an outcome for me that is better than the one I can come to on my own: because of this trust factor, the challenge of surrender is do you really believe it? Do you really believe that doing things God’s way is better than doing it your way? If you truly believe it then you will surrender, but if you don’t believe it then you won’t.
HOW TO SURRENDER: Surrendering is a daily, moment-by moment choice. Like every discipline in life, we must learn to surrender and give it to God. the enemy seeks every new day to cloud our minds with worries, doubts, and fears. the devil seeks to hinder any connection between us and God.
WHAT DOES SURRENDER MEANS IN THE BIBLE?
Proverbs 3:5-6 contains one of the best bible verses for clearly describing the main idea of surrendering to God. With all your heart, trust, in the Lord, and don’t rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.
The biblical concept of surrendering to God is to have complete trust in Him. Human knowledge and understanding are always prone to error, as a result we must listen to and trust God’s will for us because He surely will not let us down.
Several other terms in the bible have a similar meaning to surrender: an example is Matthew 10: 38, where it says, he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. the word take is defined as the act of laying hold of something with one’s hands; reaching for and holding; taking up a thing to be carried and used; to take upon oneself.
Submit, obey, and yield are words similar to surrender. In the bible, submit means to subject oneself, to submit to one’s control, and to yield to one’s superiority or the will of another.
The word obey refers to complying with (a person’s or a law’s command, direction, or request; submitting to the authority of; acting in accordance with ( a general principle, natural law, ect)
Yield in the bible means to be persuaded; to be induced, to trust; to have faith in something; to believe; to listen to comply with; to trust; to submit, to succumb to relent; to defer to a person or thing that one can no longer resist.
Spiritual surrender is an act of faith, keeping hope alive by choosing defeat over death. It is the first act for those coming to salvation, and a continual habit of those walking with Christ. To spiritually surrender to let go of control and trust God.
A BIBLICAL EXAMPLE OF SURRENDER.
The returning prodigal son in Luke 15: 11-32 is a picture of what it means to surrender to God: the son gives up his way of living and runs back to father father hoping to become a servant.
His surrender is met with rewards beyond his expectations. He is received with open arms, lavish love, and a new life as a restored son.
Jesus lived a life of continual surrender to the Father. As he said, most certainly, I tell you, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise (John 5: 19).
Jesus said to the Father when the time came to surrender his life, not my will, but your will be done. (Luke 22: 42)
How do I know if I am completely surrender to Christ? Is a question from a listener who listen to a to a radio- broadcasts about total surrender who lives in the Netherlands.
Dear Pastor John she wrote; I grew up in a Christian home, studied at a Christian college, got married, worked for a Christian organization, can I now claim to be committed to Christ?
We need to commit as the prodigal in Luke 15: 19, saying I am no more worthy to be your son, but make me one of your hired servant. I have surrendered all to Jesus as my redeemer.