I Surrender All
“‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.” ~Zechariah 4:6
Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
“I surrender all to you, everything I give to you. Withholding nothing. Withholding nothing.”
Surrendering to God is a daily process, it is a daily practice. It is not done by our power or our might, but it is done by His Spirit, by our trust in Him. So what exactly does surrendering mean? To surrender to God is to give it all to Him. To give Him all our worries of tomorrow, our anxieties of what’s next, and our “perfect plans” for our lives. One thing about God is that, He is a God that does not need our help to fulfill His promises in our lives. When God has spoken something over our lives it is because He wants to be the one to do it. When we surrender to God, we are basically going to God and saying, “God I don’t know what is going to happen next, I don’t know the next step to take, all I do know is that my hope and trust is in You. All my confidence is in You, and as long as I am in Your hands, everything will work together for my good.” Before we can surrender, we must trust God and have revelation of who God is and who we are to Him. God is a gentleman so He will never force us to surrender, it is a willful act to surrender to God. It all starts with a simple but powerful “Yes” to God and His will.
He is God all By Himself
We all want to be great, successful, significant, and to be used by God in a mighty way. Those plans are great, but the big question is always, “how?” We know where we want to end up, but everything else is kind of up in the air. We may have an idea in our head, a great passion in our heart, a vision that God has given us, or even dreams that God has showed us. However, the main question we ask is “How will I get there?”
After asking ourselves those questions we begin to order our own steps to make sure our plans come to pass. In our own human strength, we begin trying to dictate and control each part of our lives. In our human strength, we begin trying to make sure God doesn’t forget His Word, to make sure He doesn’t skip a step, and that He hasn’t forgotten about us. We begin trying to be our own guides and leaders. Moving when we say to move, going where we say to go, staying still when we say to stay still. Well if you have not heard this from anyone else let me be the first to tell you, God does not need your help. He is God all by Himself, He literally formed you and positioned you where you are now. God wants to be the one to guide you and direct you.
Not by Might nor by Power but by His Spirit
Let me tell you all about a woman that learned that it is not by our own might, nor our own power but only by God Himself.
The woman we all know and love, Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. When Angel Gabriel first approached Mary with the news that she would conceive the Son of God and would name Him Jesus (Luke 1:29-33), Mary did not know how that could even happen. She was still a virgin and did not know how that could be biologically possible. Do you know what angel Gabriel said to her? In Luke 1:35 it says, “And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” All God wanted Mary to do was for her to say “YES!” Angel Gabriel did not tell Mary to go out, find a man, sleep with him and then she would be with child. No! He said that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and God’s power will overshadow her, so that what God has spoken over her life will come to pass! Every time God makes a promise to you, don’t question it.
Just as Pastor Judy Jacobs mentioned in her book, You Are Anointed For This!, we just have to tell God “Let it be to me according to Your Word, Lord. Whatever You have for me I am ready.” As we say that, we are trusting God that He has spoken a word and He is faithful to perform by His strength and power. As we say that, we are saying yes to God and to His will, only then can God move! Let God direct your steps! Let the Spirit of God guide and lead you! Let God make your paths straight! Let God tell you when and where to move! Let God be God!
God is telling you that He has called you to be a great nation, a king and a priest, a man/woman to represent Him here on earth. God is telling you that He will make you like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth much fruit in its season. (By the way you do not have to be a minister or preacher to be called by God you can literally be a teacher, psychologist, hairdresser, businesswoman, doctor, lawyer, etc. and God will make you His light right there!) You are asking Him how is that possible? Well I am here to tell you that what you have to do is to meditate on His word day and night, put your hope and trust in Him, and then give it to him! There are ideas, businesses, inventions God wants you to give birth to. But just as we see with Mary, it was not by her own strength same way that it is not by our own strength, it is by His power and Spirit! Just as it says in John 15:1-8, the branch cannot bear fruit itself unless it abides in the vine. As long as we abide in Him, we will bear much fruit. As long as we abide in Him, He is faithful to direct our steps and make our paths straight.
His Word Stands
About two or three weeks ago, the Woman of God Evangelist Laolu was preaching and she mentioned a tweet she saw. It said, “Today I read a post that said “God is not in a hurry. You are. It’s why you’re tired, it’s why you’re anxious, stressed and disappointed. Trust that what was meant to be yours will be yours.” Unrush yourself.” Mannn, as soon as she read it I knew God was speaking to me. The reason you are tired, anxious, stressed, disappointed, and/or confused is because you are trying to do everything on your own terms. You have now taken on the role that God has said He will be in your life, and you are now carrying that burden and that yoke on your own. Give it to God! God has said,“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” -Psalm 32:8. God has said to YOU! That He will keep His loving eye on YOU to instruct YOU and to teach YOU. It is time to turn towards Him and ask Him for directions. God is a man of His word, when He says He will guide you, He is simply waiting for you to give Him permission.
“You hold Your word above Your name, oh Adonai You do what you say.”
What does Surrendering Look like?
The process of surrendering to God is not an easy one. Trust me, I know it’s not. The first step to being able to surrender to God is to ask Him for help in prayer. That is why we have the Holy Spirit within us. In John 16:13, Jesus says, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” The Holy Spirit is our friend, our comforter, our director, the One to guide our steps, He is the light of the Lord in our lives. It is hard to surrender with our own strength. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t like to make sure that their life is under control. It is human nature to want to make sure that we have everything under control. So the first step to being able to have a heart that is willing to surrender to God, is to go to God and ask Him to guide you. “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” - Mark 11:24. So when you go to God in prayer and ask Him to give you a heart that surrenders to Him, believe that you have received it and know that He has done it. Whatever you ask God for that is in accordance to His will, He is faithful to provide.
The next step is to remain in your Word. As we read the Word, it begins to show us who God is. With the revelation we receive about who God is in our lives, our trust in Him is strengthened, our hope in Him is secured, and our love for Him continues to grow. God does not hide when we want to learn more about Him. He draws near to those who draw near to Him (James 4:8). It is just like with any other relationship. If you have known someone for a few hours versus someone that has been in your life for a few years, who would you trust more? I hope you said the person that has been in your life for a few years lol. Well, that is exactly how it is with our relationship with God! Before we can truly trust Him and surrender to Him, we need to know who He is. As we read about God in the Word, we begin to see that He is a covenant keeping God, the author and the finisher of our stories, our help in ages past, that He will never leave us nor forsake us. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. ~ Romans 10:17. So as we remain in the word of God our faith is strengthened. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). God needs our faith in order for Him to move in our lives. To surrender to God we must have faith in Him. We must have faith in the fact that He is the I AM, we must have faith that He is a God of His Word, we must have faith that He is more than able to guide us every step of the way. With God, you cannot fail. With the guidance of God you will never be led astray.
Closing Prayer
So let us say a closing prayer together and I hope and pray that God’s perfect will will be done in your life, and that He will grant you a heart that surrenders and trusts in Him.
Father in the mighty name of Jesus, we give You all the glory, all the honor and all the adoration. We thank You because You have adopted us to be Your sons and daughters, to be kings and priests of the kingdom of God here on earth. We thank You because You hold Your word above Your name, You are not a man that lies. The plans that You have over our lives are those that are good, to prosper us and to give us hope and a future. Jesus, we thank You. We are not worthy but in You we are made worthy. We thank You because You have called and ordained us in accordance to Your will. Lord may Your will be done in our lives and not our own. Lord may You give us a heart that is willing to surrender all to You. May we learn to let go of the control, to let go of our perfect timing, to let go of our notions of what we must do. May we learn to put all of our hope and our trust in You. Lord, may we give You full and total control over our lives. Even when things are not going in our favor may Your Spirit that is within us remind us that everything will work together for our good. Lord may You be the pilot of this airplane, may You sit at the drivers’ seat in my life. I surrender it all to You. My worries, my anxieties, my health, my finances, my relationships, my family, my job, my education, I give it all to You. Lord may You take full and total control. Thank You Lord, I love you Lord. Thank You because Your will in my life will be done, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
“He that has begun a great work in you, is faithful to perform it, God is faithful to perform it.”
