How do I surrender to God?

It seems so easy to just tell people “Surrender you will to God” but how exactly does one do that?  What does it mean to ‘surrender’?  I have wrestled with and studied this topic this week and came to these conclusion from Scripture:

1. Surrender is a choice. When General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate States of America surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant of the United States of America at Appomattox on April 9, 1865 it was a monumental moment in the history of this great country.  This was not an event taken lightly or carelessly.  When the Confederate Army realized that their fight was futile they had no choice but to surrender.  The fight was over and the armies went home.

When we surrender to God it is a significant moment.  We realize that we are “not our own … ye are bought with a price”.  When we stop fighting and just rest in that which God has for us – it is then we find the “peace that passeth all understanding”.

2. Surrender is accepting where I am and what God has done with me. We often look at the subject of the ‘Will of God’ when looking to where God may be directing us.  Often, I believe, we need to understand that the Will of God is accepting right where we are at currently.  Contentment with what God has for me today.  In the book of Genesis we find the patriarch Joseph who learned to be content living almost his entire life in Egypt and serving much of that time in either prison or slavery.  Yet, he was perfectly in God’s Will for his life. Surrender is letting God dictate my circumstances and giving up that control.

4. Surrender is ultimately Humility in action.  If I can honestly “humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God” than we are humbling our control and our will to His ultimate Will for our lives.  This really takes the pressure and stress off of our lives when we realize that we are His and we are created for His Glory!  We must be able to say as the hymn writer said years ago My Life is Yours to Control!

5. Surrender is a daily action.  There is a daily battle to want to take control back. Daily we must be surrendering to His will.  We may want to complain, argue, or get angry at the circumstances or changes that have come into my life – yet we must once again surrender to His will and to what He has in store for me.

* Caution:  There is a need to draw some caution here to the fact that we are discussing surrendering to God’s Will in my life in the areas that are out of my control.  Suffering a loss?  Dealing with a disease?  In the midst of a crisis?  Then allow God to control that situation.  However – if we have sinned and put ourselves in a difficult situation – than we need to beg for the mercy of God to assist us in spite of ourselves and pray for His forgiveness for the mess I have created.  As an example: There is a big difference between suffering the loss of a spouse (out of our control) and having lost our job due to negligence or poor work habits (within our control).