Surrendering to Jesus
Surrendering to Jesus
This week, for our blog post we will be talking about having a life that is surrendered to Christ. I just recently learned what having a life truly surrendered to Christ means, while we were at camp a few weeks ago. I hope that we can help you learn what it means as well! :)
What does it mean to surrender?
When you Google the definition of surrender, what it says is “cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority.” While I do use Google quite often to find the definition of words, I don’t think this quite covers what it means to surrender spirituality. See, when we surrender our lives to Christ spiritually, we are not surrendering to an opponent or an enemy. We’re giving our lives to our Friend, and heavenly Father, Jesus Christ. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think of the word surrender, the first thing that comes to mind is a general surrendering in a battle. So when we surrender spiritually, it’s kind of like we’re giving up on our battle with sin. It’s almost like we’re telling God. “Okay, I’m done with sin, You can have my life.” Surrendering to Christ means making Him our first priority. Now, don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t prioritize other things in our life. (school, jobs, health) What I am saying is that living our lives for the Lord will make us immensely happy, and that’s what He wants for us!
Why is surrendering important?
It’s important to give every aspect of yourself and your life to the Lord, because if you’re stuck in the things of this world you aren’t gonna grow in your relationship with Jesus. Part of growing in your relationship with the Lord, is giving your all to Him. If you’re living in and with the things of this world you can’t grow. Instead, you’ll just be “trapped” where you are. Surrendering to Jesus isn’t some terrible task it may sound like. It is so freeing and rewarding in the end.
When we’re noticeably different from the world, people around us will see Jesus in us! We know how hard it is to tell a friend “No, I can’t watch that.”. And honestly, when you tell your friend that you can’t watch something because of what you believe, they probably want to jump on board and be sold on accepting Jesus as their Savior. But when they see how much joy and contentment you have while you’re going through a hard time, then they’ll get it! When we’re seriously following Jesus, we’re being a good example and witness to others.
Another reason it’s important to surrender is because God calls us to. He tells us to submit ourselves to Him and resist the devil (James 4:7). We shouldn’t just hear what God tells us to do, but also act and actually listen to what He says to do (James 1:22). If we love God we need to obey Him, no matter what it is He’s calling us to do (John 14:15)! Of course, we will continue to fail Him, but we are committed to trying to obey Him!
How do we surrender to Him?
How you can surrender to the Lord is by living your life for Him. Here are some examples of ways you can live for God:
Read your Bible
Go to church
Pray and spend time with Jesus
Put Him before less important things like social media
Use your time on social media and technology for good
These are just a few things I could think of right off the top of my head, and I’m sure I left out some things but I feel like these are the most common things.
Like I was saying, the way you can surrender your life to Christ is by giving every part of yourself and your life to Him. If you’re uncertain how to give “every aspect” of your life to Him, don’t worry, we have a blog coming soon that talks about that.
What Does The Bible Say About Surrendering?
James 4:7 is such a clear verse on surrendering! It says “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” KJV
I want to really focus on that first sentence.
Merriam Webster dictionary defines “submit” as “to yield oneself to the authority or will of another”
We should be yielding everything we do to Jesus. In this verse, God is telling His children to let His perfect will be done in their life. He’s telling you this!
With that being said, we gotta remember that God is good! He’s good all the time! The word “surrender” or “submit” can make us cringe. Especially if you’re not familiar with biblical Christianity. We can only imagine what those of you who aren’t familiar must be thinking. “Why are these crazy religious girls trying to tell other people they should give their life to some God in the clouds?!’’ We truly believe that there is so much more to being a Christian than do’s and don’ts! Once you see Jesus as your best friend you’ll never get anywhere else, it makes the thought of putting your life in “some God in the clouds” hands much more comforting. Why? Because He’s so much more than that!! He has plans to prosper you (Jeremiah 29:11)! Maybe not on this earth, but because we know that He loves and cares (John 3:16 and 1 Peter 5:7) for us, whatever His will is, will be the best for our lives.
While we may understand that God knows what’s best for us (Psalm 147:5) our hearts will still try to resist Him. 1 John 3:20 speaks specifically on trusting that God’s heart is greater than ours!
“For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”
The last thing I want to touch on in this section is the fact that we will mess up! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told God that I was going to surrender my life to Him, and then almost immediately turn around and run away from Him. Please remember that God has so much grace!
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,” (Ephesians 2:4 KJV) I once had a basketball coach who said, “It’s only embarrassing if you quit!” Just repent and get back to Him!
Here are some other great verses on surrendering I found!
Matthew 16:24
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Proverbs 23:26
My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
Deuteronomy 6:5
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
What Does A Life Surrendered To God Look Like?
When you think of a life surrendered to God, what do you think of? For me, it’s someone who says no to their flesh, no to the world, and follows Jesus. They follow Him by simply obeying His Word! That’s it! Our hearts are very deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). If we just look around we can see all the evil in the world (Romans 12:2). Jesus is loving (1 John 4:16), kind (Titus 3:5), faithful (1 John 1:9), all-knowing (Psalm 147:5), just (Deuteronomy 32:4), and so much more (Psalm 145:9)! Do you see why we should want to follow Jesus anyway?!
Yesterday at church, our preacher was preaching on freedom. He said something about how if you’re not dependent on God, you’re not truly free. If you would have told me this about a year ago, I wouldn’t have believed that statement as much as I believe it now.
Almost five years ago I started making YouTube videos with my siblings. The older I got, the more I loved making videos, and the more passionate I got about being a YouTuber. I started making YouTube my priority in life without even noticing. I would push my family, friends, and even God aside just to record or edit a video. By the time I got done uploading one, I would look at my list of ideas and go straight back into making another one. Social Media totally consumed my life and I had let it. I was never truly satisfied with my views, likes, subscribers, or followers. It wasn’t until we were quarantined that I started praying and talking to God about how I used my time. I knew I needed to put YouTube aside and make Jesus my focus in life. I didn’t know if it was a permanent decision or just temporarily, but either way, it wasn’t an easy call to make. While I wasn’t ever content, I still really enjoyed almost everything about putting a video together! I had two choices. Follow my heart and continue to ruin my life with depression, anxiety, and worthless views, or repent and turn to a life of freedom from the bondage I had been feeling just to entertain myself. God answered my prayer loud and clear, and after being convicted for a little while, I decided to put my YouTube life on pause. This was one of the biggest steps I think I personally took to surrender every part of myself to Jesus. I have found more joy and contentment than I thought I would have in the beginning! I’ve now been able to experience loving moments with my family and friends without freaking out because “I should be vlogging this!”, start this amazing ministry with the coolest girls ever, and get to know God in such a deep way! YouTube wasn’t the problem, but how I was using it was. I wasn’t surrendering my time to Him. Maybe you have something specific on your mind that you know you need to surrender to God. I pray you take a leap of faith and jump into God’s loving arms! Matthew 16:26 is a great verse to meditate on while you make that decision. It says “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? “
We’d love to pray, keep you guys accountable, or just talk with any of y’all!
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