Living a life of Surrender: The Antidote to Compromise

What comes to mind when you think of the Christian walk?

There's a popular misconception people have about Christians and Christianity in general that I believe needs to be addressed. Many of us, myself included, have seen people sit in the pews of their local church every Sunday, perhaps they tithe, say grace before meals, and consider themselves extremely versed in their knowledge of scripture. On the outside, they fit the mold of what a Christian should look like, sound like, and act like. However, adherence to tradition and religiosity is not what it means to be a true follower of Christ. Walking the narrow path is not about practicing the rituals of worship out of duty or tradition, living the narrow path is centered in a surrendered and devoted heart; everything we do is done unto the Lord, and everything is worship because of the heart posture in which it's practiced.

John 4:24 (NET) says,

"God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth."

We must worship God in SPIRIT and in TRUTH.

To worship in truth means to worship Him in a manner befitting a holy and righteous God. We must know His word, adhere to the Ten Commandments, and we must seek out His pure will for our individual lives. He has given the Holy Spirit to be our guide and our teacher. Think of His Spirit inside of you as an internal compass, He's always directing you on which way to go, which path to take, and which decision to make. He desires to be our helper and to assist us in the navigation of the various terrains of our lives. Scripture is an excellent tool for learning God's character, His principles, and commandments; however, we also must learn to hear His still small voice and learn to yield to the leading of His Holy Spirit within us to know how to steer ourselves and our lives.

God desires a deep, rich relationship with us. He wants to reveal the areas in our lives in which we are still holding onto hidden hurts, unforgiveness, shame, and pride; He wants to tear down the walls that keep us from knowing Him intimately and living a life of ultimate freedom. To do so, He needs to break us out of our habits, our patterns, and our limited paradigms. It's only then, that He can show us the incredible plans He has for us and teach us the systems and strategies we need to bring those plans to fruition. You see, so many people desire to know God, to hear Him, and to receive guidance, but very few want to partner with Him and become colaborers to further His Kingdom here on Earth. This level of relationship with God, however, requires humility and surrender. We must be like children and ask the Lord how He desires for us to live our lives . . .

We must enter into His presence without any ulterior motives or preconceived notions. We must have clean hands and clean hearts, ready and willing to hear whatever it is He desires to reveal to us. On a daily basis, we should be asking Him questions like:

What are my priorities?

What should I stop doing?

What should I start doing?

In what ways am I out of alignment with Your Pure Will?

How do I reach full surrender to You, Most High God? What's keeping me from getting there?

This work isn't easy. At the beginning of my journey of following the Lord, I struggled with consistency. There were days when I felt on fire for God, I was doing everything He was calling me to do, and I was "on a roll" so to speak. Then, I'd fall off the horse and go days, weeks, or even months of tuning out the Holy Spirit until I was hit with conviction and repented. What I've come to realize is whether it be prayer, fasting, journaling, worship, or reading the word… the desire for these things doesn’t come from within us, we won't always "feel like" practicing these daily habits. Most of the time I even felt resistance to doing these things. I thought of them as things that I probably “should” do, but I just didn't feel that pull towards doing it. If you can relate to this at all, I'm here to tell you that you can't allow your emotions to rule you.

Simply put, feelings are not facts.

We live in a society and within a culture that teaches us from the moment we leave the cradle, to "follow our heart" and "find our bliss." These axioms can't be farther from the truth. Like it says in Jeremiah 17:9 (NET), "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Our mind, will, and emotions aren't naturally submitted to the Spirit of God, which is why we're called to die to ourselves and pick up our cross. Following God requires us to sacrifice of what we may desire in the moment so that we can achieve the incredible plans and greater purpose He has for us in this life. We must be Kingdom-minded and allow our entire beings to become renewed. This process of renewal is the process we refer to as sanctification, it's the progressive and continuous dying to ourselves, our ways, and our desires; it requires foregoing short-term pleasure for the reward of true freedom and long-term fulfillment.

You must understand that the desires that you have now, the desires that you associate with “you” are more likely than not, not your desires at all: they are a conglomeration of many impulses, programming, and interests that you've picked up over time. Your desires are a result of your carnal nature and whether or not you heed those desires depends on how strong you've allowed your flesh to become. Think of your flesh as a petulant child that throws a tantrum every time it can’t get what it wants. You must train that child to understand they aren’t the boss and they don't call the shots. There is a tug of war within each of us between our flesh and our Spirit, and it's up to us to decide who we're going to allow to influence and direct our lives. You see, the flesh has one aim and one aim only: immediate gratification with no regard for consequence; when we give our flesh the steering wheel it's like letting a toddler drive our car, we're bound for destruction.

So how do we live by and yield to the Spirit, you may ask? Good question. In order to live by the Spirit, we must first weaken our flesh. Thankfully, we've been given various methods to weaken the pull of our flesh and bring it into submission, one of the most well-known prescriptions being praying and fasting. Fasting from food crucifies our fleshly nature and forces us to lean on God for all that we need. Fasting will also reveal hidden strongholds and desires that may go undetected otherwise. When I fast, I find that my emotions are heightened and any triggers that I may have will start to "pop off" and reveal themselves. This is where surrender comes in, anything that takes us out of God's pure will for us must get placed at His feet. This is why prayer must go hand in hand with fasting because it's only by His Spirit that these things can be uprooted, removed, and replaced within us. The more we allow Him to search our hearts and shine His light on that which is keeping us in bondage, the closer we get to full freedom.

Another remedy for weakening the flesh is adopting the practice of daily prayer. Daily prayer is what orients our trajectory and keeps our aim steady, it's the process by which we align our will with that of God. When you pray according to what the Holy Spirit directs you to pray, you align yourself with God's pure will and you set the foundation for your day, your week, and truly for the rest of your life. By doing so, you're actively surrendering to God and declaring victory over the temptations and vanities of the world. This is how to worship God in Spirit and in truth; to worship in Spirit means to be led by the Spirit. We must offer ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) and let God BE GOD in our lives.

Who's navigating your ship? And how specific is your trajectory?

Galatians 5:22-23 (NET) reads,

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

Anything that pulls us out of perfect love, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control is antithetical to God's spirit and is keeping us captive to sin. The only way to stop the patterns of brokenness and disorder in our lives is to become fully yielded, to lay our pride down at His feet, to humble ourselves, and be willing to ask for His help. You see, by default, we are all sinful beings living in a sinful world. We are all infected and polluted by the society in which we live. We like that which is opposed to God and we dislike what is pure and holy. The only way to live a life of excellence, holiness, and purity (a life filled with freedom, joy, peace, and victory) is for the Holy Spirit to live and reign within you. It requires a complete restructuring of our understanding of who we are, what we truly prize, and what our God-given mission is in this world to know how to truly worship God.

So, you have the blueprint now, but where do you start?

Start with love. Love for God. Love for yourself. Love for your life, this miracle of a life that He has gifted you. Gratitude for all that He’s done and all that He’s yet to do. You must know how much God loves you and how much He desires for you to know Him even better and even more deeply. He desires this because He knows it’s the only way for you to become the person you have always desired to become and to live the life you were destined to live. Sometimes God needs to humble us to show us that truly, all good things come from Him. It’s not our cleverness or intelligence or our accolades hanging on the wall; it’s by Him, through Him, in Him, that we are propelled farther than we ever thought possible. It is the greatest joy, the greatest peace, and the greatest fulfillment to live surrendered to Him. All the dirt that we’ve collected along the way, all the overthinking, anxiety, and stress, all the sinful desires and programming, it all gets washed away, and for the first time in your life, you’ll look at yourself in the mirror and you’ll see yourself as God has always seen you—and you’ll like what you see. 

Our flesh, our sinful nature, and our carnal desires are completely opposed to submission to God and it will use every weapon in its arsenal to convince you it's impossible to live this way, that it's too boring, or too difficult, or too unrealistic. The truth is, surrendering to God is the sweetest nectar that this life has to offer. I have been set free from addictions, behavioral patterns, skewed ways of thinking, habits, and cycles of chaos that always left me in a state of disorder and disrepair.

He wants to set you free. But you have to meet Him halfway. He’s taking ten steps towards you and He’s asking you to take one towards Him. You can trust Him. 

He’s saying I’m here, I’m always here just waiting for you to turn to Me. 

Start with a conversation. Start with just talking to Him. He’s your Father. He will meet you in that place. Pick a place and get on your knees before Him. He will meet you there and you will feel His love. Rest in it.

God bless you.

'Till next time,

Samantha.