Surrender

by Pastor Kristen Kennedy

As I was praying and preparing for this New Year and new decade, I felt God gave me a specific word for 2020: Surrender – to cease resistance and submit to authority; to give up or hand over; or to abandon oneself entirely to.

Every day we are given an opportunity to lift our hands in surrender – to give God our day, our life, our concerns, etc., and truly trust Him with every detail. He reminds us that He doesn’t need our help, He just needs us to trust Him. Surrender is about completely trusting God and His plan, asking Him to lead us right where He wants us. We don’t always understand, but we have to be obedient and allow God to use us and our situations for His glory & our good as He promises. (Romans 8:28)

Several weeks ago, God gave me this amazing promise about Surrender that has been such life to me during this season. A verse I am standing on each and every day and I encourage you to do the same! “When you live a life of abandoned love, surrendered before the awe of God, here’s what you’ll experience: Abundant life. Continual protection. And complete satisfaction!” Proverbs 19:23 TPT 

Isn’t that powerful?!!! I LOVE THAT!!!

You can’t fully surrender to God unless you completely trust Him.

I saw a powerful quote from Toby Mac a few weeks back that went right along with what God has been putting on my heart, “You are afraid of surrender because you don’t want to lose control, but you never had control, all you had was anxiety.” Isn’t that so true? Control is a false sense of security. And all it really does is make us anxious. Think about all the people dealing with anxiety right now. 1 Peter 5:7 TPT says, “Pour out all your worries and stress upon God and leave them there!” When you really think about it, you realize there is so much beyond our control. That’s why it is so vital to put our trust in God!

A few years ago I read a powerful thought from Joyce Meyer about fear. That any area where we are experiencing fear is a place that we are trying to control…an area that we haven’t fully surrendered to God. Fear is so rampant in the world right now. It’s all over the news, millions of things to be afraid of that are beyond our control.

Remember that awesome promise we just read about when we live in surrender to God and what we will experience? First it promises: abundant life! That’s the kind of life that only God can give, enjoying, thriving, and living it to the fullest! The next thing He promises us is: continual protection! Yes!!! What a powerful promise we can all stand on in this season. The best place to be, the safest place to be is at the center of God’s will; yielded, submitted and obedient to Him. And I love the final promise of this verse: When we surrender to God, He gives us complete satisfaction!

When we surrender what we have to Him, He goes above and beyond answering our prayers. When God completely satisfies us, He meets every need we could possibly have. He loves to blow our minds and exceed our expectations! I love this thought, too. “If you only hope for God to meet your expectations, you’ll miss out on seeing Him exceed them.”