A Heart of Surrender

Why does it mean to surrender your Heart to God? Have you truly surrendered your heart to God, or do you find yourself in a routine? We will be in a religious routine of going to church, listening to sermons, and paying our tithes but we still place our desires first and place God on the backburner. I have defined three key terms below that I had to define for myself before writing this blog.

Surrender: to give oneself up into the power to yield, control or possession unto the another

Disobedience: refusing or failing to obey

double mindedness: a wavering mind, refusing or failing to obey

I have been struggling to fully surrender to God for at least the last month and a half. I haven't magically arrived at that place, but I had to cut off an ungodly relationship. The relationship wasn't toxic, but it was going to lead me to my downfall. God told me to cut off the relationship twice because I was trying to hold on to it. He asked me "Does this relationship honor me?" And I answered NO! The truth is relationships are supposed to sharpen us and bring us closer to god through community, fellowship, and prayer. It shouldn't lead you away from GOD!

My "friend" was unsaved, and I knew it and we commonly engaged in ungodly talk. At first, the talk stirred up in my spirit and it was unsettling . Lol it was too much for my holy ears! Why do we do that? Why do we suppress our holiness? It is not about being 'holier than thou' but it simply in our spiritually DNA. We are holy and heirs of Christ. When we choose to engage in ungodliness or go to places, we typically wouldn't, to fit in, we become like peter the second time that he denied Jesus without realizing it.  Your anointing gives you away every time! "Your speech is betraying you when you have Christ all over you!!" While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by.  When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him. “You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said. 68 But he denied it. “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway. 69 When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” 70 Again he denied it. After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.”  Peter looked like God, the people knew that he was Jesus’s disciple and he knew God personally and he denied him, and his speech betrayed him when the people knew him.

-          What does it mean to truly surrender to God?

·         Submit : to permit unsafe and to be subjected to something

·         Resist: to withstand force, effect

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee for you therefore to GOD. Resist the devil and he will free from you.” – James 4:7 BSB

-          Drowning Near to God

“Draw near to  God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Earlier, I defined double mindedness. Double-minded means to possess a wavering mind and you are either refusing or fail to obey. When we resist God, we are refusing to accept the calling on our life. When we reject gods will for our lives, we rob ourselves of a touch from him to be restored and made whole. In turn, we are robbed of our potential and destiny. How will you tap into your spiritual gifts if you resist Him? I think about this all the time and I don’t want to miss him.

Double mindedness so the modern day “torn between the two.” Somehow, we have normalized being indecisive. When we are double-minded, we are walking in our flesh and the spirit. We haven’t decided what to choose. You don’t want to lay your life down, but you don’t want to miss god either. God warns us throughout his word, that a double mind is dangerous, and he will spit us out! Simply put, we must live a life of holiness of man. WE cannot do both!

James 1:8

“That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. He is double-minded, unstable in all his ways.”

Matthew 6:24 KJV

No man can serve two masters: for either he

will hate the one, and love the other; or else

he will hold to the one, and despise the other,

Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

2) What is your disobedience costing you ?

-          Stagnation in the kingdom

-          Separation from God

In the book of Mark. We witness Jesus’s submission to the father before he went to the cross. This ordeal to Calvary displayed the burden he had on his shoulders and the pain he felt. He felt deep agony in the garden. Its fascinating that Jesus was human as us, but he didn’t sin. He prayed that his Father’s will be done, not his will. This burden was heavy one to carry. He literally had the whole world on his shoulders, and he died for us four our sins and brokenness. THANK YOU, JESUS, its even more meaningful that I am writing this and easter Sunday is tomorrow!

When Jesus prays in the Garden of Girthsome. He was talking to his disciples: Peter, James, and John and his soul was heavy and in pain. As he was getting ready to die.

Mark 14:35

“And h went forward a little and fell on the ground and he prayed that, it was possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, ‘Abba father; all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me; nevertheless, not what I will; but thou wilt be done.”

“Our submission to God is tied our trust in him. When you don’t trust God, you cannot submit to him. It is dependent upon laying our desires and submitting to the Holy Spirit.”

·         True submission to God is literally coming/subjecting yourself to Him

·         Once you submit, you realize how small and micro your carnal nature is. It is fickle and meaningless in comparison to his vastness and Almighty!

·         The moment we stop to decide wrestling with ourselves when we submit to him.

·         When we don’t, we create an internal war between us and God.

Galatians 5:16-18 KJV

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusted against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would.”

3.  Submission means -  throwing off your former nature.

-  Ephesians 4:22-24

4. Submission means dying to your flesh. It’s a painful death!

We  must kill our flesh daily and take up our cross. Despite your desires, feelings, emotions, or circumstances. Your calling will crush you. When you run from it, it will become a burden.

Galatians 2:20

“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lived in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Interestingly, I use to take this so lightly! This verse is HARD. Submission is tough, hard, and messy. You must make your mind up and get tired of running from GOD!

4. Your disobedience is costly!

Luke 9:22-23

“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. But whosoever, will lose it for my sake the same shall save it.

·         When we rebel against God, we will lose our life carelessly, we will lose our life carelessly.

·         When we submit to him, He will save our soul.

Prayer of submission:

Father break my heart and make it pure like yours. Break my heart and let It beat for desires of you. God I long for you and you alone. I’m tired of being hurt, I’m tired of running away from you God. I submit to your will for your life. Help me on this long journey. God help me wake up with the desire to die to myself.