I Give Up

Surrender

Okay, so a few days back I posted a blog on my horrible "Wrong Turn" and in it I said, "Being a guy I fall back things that leaders of men have said, one that pops into mind is from Winston Churchill, "Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty" and now, I'm going to write a blog on surrender. Go figure...

If you look up the word SURRENDER in the dictionary you get this definition:

Surrender, verb (used with object) 1. to give (oneself) up. 2. to give (oneself) up to some influence, course, emotion, etc.: He surrendered himself to a life of hardship. 3. to give up, abandon, or relinquish (comfort, hope, etc.). 4. to yield or resign (an office, privilege, etc.) in favor of another.

But if you look closely there is another definition to the word surrender, to yield to the power of another.

I felt like God has been hitting me with that word for a few days now. During my prayer time its been "Surrender, Surrender, Surrender" over and over again. I began asking God what? to whom? why? where? I didn't understand it, until I dug deeper...

Matthew 16:24-26

Jesus calls upon His followers to reject the natural human inclination toward self. The first step is to submit and surrender to God our will, our affections, our bodies, and our lives. Our own pleasures and happiness can no longer be primary goals. Instead, we must be willing to renounce all and lay down our lives, if required. Peter admonishes us to "no longer live . . . in the flesh for the lusts of men," meaning we should no longer pursue wrong desires. Are we willing to forsake all, to give up everything including our lives? Our Christian duty is to deny our lust of the flesh.

Me personally, I worry a lot about what people think about me and my morning show. I worry about my next career move or my next step in life. I over analyze, over think and generally over step God in my life. When things come my way I want to "be the man" and fix it or deal with it. My way. Instead of just tapping into the awesome power and might that we have access to as children of God.

Surrender: (v) to yield to the power of another. To yield to the power of God in our lives.

Why do we fight tooth and nail alone when we have an army behind us? Surrender is never an easy thing. Especially for me. I want to "be the man," I want to handle it and God is showing me the truth in the verse that says, His ways are higher than mine, His thoughts higher are than mine. It's like the song from Francesca Battistelli that says:

I’m letting go
Of the life I planned for me
And my dreams
I’m losing control
Of my destiny
It feels like I’m falling and that’s what it’s like to believe
So I’m letting go

Let's stop trying to run every aspect of our lives and learn to surrender, surrender to the awesome power of God, who knows what is best for each and everyone of us.

Be Blessed.

Carlos