Not everyone has to fall into a “pit” to become surrendered to God. But everyone has to reach a place where they relinquish control and completely trust the nature of our omnipotent and loving God. Surrender is where we go when we have fully given over everything within us to the God that we have complete trust and faith in. It is the surrender in our life that brings the change and takes us from reaction to response. Surrender gives us hope and courage. Surrender is an “earth shaking - eye opening event” that becomes the catalyst for new life.
James 4:7
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Submission, on the other hand, is a daily decisive process of obedience. As God reveals his will and plans for our lives; it is in the state of surrender that we make the decision to submit to the path or order in our lives that God ordains. Surrender colors submission as the decisions and choices we make become more “God” centered and less “Me” Centered. The many times I have looked back on my life and wished I had done or said something differently are always events that were driven by “Me” mentality; and the results are always disastrous. Surrender brings the confidence that God has the “hindsight” that we will never have. Submission takes that confidence and requires a submissive heart and a desire to be obedient to the plans that God has for us.
"But there is an essential difference between submission and surrender. The former is the conscious acceptance of reality. There is a superficial yielding, but tension continues...It is halfhearted acceptance. It is described by words such as resignation, compliance, acknowledgement, concession. There remains a feeling of reservation, a tug in the direction of non-acceptance. Surrender, on the other hand, is the moment when my forces of resistance cease to function, when I cannot help but respond to the call of the Spirit.
The ability to surrender is a gift of God. However eagerly we may desire it, however diligently we may strive to acquire it, surrender cannot be attained by personal endeavor."
Brennan Manning, in The Importance of Being Foolish
God has been very clear in what he expects from his Children in the “living example” of submission and obedience that he sent to us in Jesus.
Matthew 26:36-46 (New Living Translation)
Jesus Prays in Gethsemane
36 Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” 37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. 38 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
40 Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 41 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”
42 Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away[a] unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.
44 So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”
Bottom line: The difference between “Surrender and Submission” is all about “control”.
Surrender – relinquish control
Submit – Take Control by choice to follow what God wants in our lives
Remember God doesn’t want our complete surrender because he is some kind of egocentric tyrant sitting on his “God throne”! He wants our surrender and submissive obedience because he loves us and wants the best for us. We may never see or understand His big picture, but this is what complete surrender is. We don’t have to see the plan he has for us, we just have to trust Him and His nature.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Isaiah 45:22 (New Living Translation) 22 Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other.
Matthew 4:4 (New Living Translation) 4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
1 John 4:9 (New Living Translation) 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.
Are you ready for “new life”? Are you “sick of being sick”? Is your “roller coaster” out of control? Is it time for some change in the relationships you have with those around you? Would you really like to know if this is “all there is”? Maybe it’s time to give up control to a God who can create breath, move mountains and give you a joy that passes all understanding.
Psalm 90:2 (New Living Translation) 2 Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God.
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