In this new year, I have felt God speaking to me about walking in total surrender to Him. I want to talk about what I feel God telling me and what I am doing to obey what He has put on my heart. Before I do I want to preface this with these things that God is talking to me specifically. I am sharing them with you to encourage you to seek a stronger relationship with God in total surrender.
Merriam-Webster defines surrender as “to give (oneself) up into the power of another, especially as a prisoner.” When you are a prisoner, you lose everything; you lose your identity, your possessions, and your free will, the legal system controls everything from when you eat to what you wear and what you do. While in the context of our legal system, this is a terrible thing. When we are talking about the perfect God of the universe it is a whole different story.
When we are talking about giving God everything, we are talking about telling Him that He is more important than ourselves. We are telling Him that we trust Him completely. We are letting Him act His perfect will for us, which is always for our good (Jeremiah 29:11)
Knowing that God loves me so much He died to save me even though He knew that I was rebellious, that I would fail and forsake Him, still He died to save me. He has never left me nor forsaken me (Deut. 31:5) even when everyone else did. This is a good reason to keep trusting Him and to surrender myself to Him.
Fasting
The first thing God is calling me to start in the new year is to incorporate fasting into my regular routine. When God first placed this on my heart, I thought no way. I have never been good at fasting, but that is slowly changing.
When I began this journey, I researched fasting. What I found was that fasting was a Jewish practice that all Jews practiced as a form of worship and repentance. Jesus does a forty-day fast where He was tempted (Matt. 4:1-11). The apostles fasted as they conducted the ministry (Acts 13:2).
Daniel fasted as worship to God as a captive in a pagan city. He threw off the luxuries his station offered, proving that he lived on more than bread alone (Deut. 4:8). There is something so vulnerable about coming to God, giving Him absolutely everything, and worshipping. While I still get hungry, I have learned to fight it the same way Jesus did, with scripture, and I have found that fasting is quickly becoming a practice that I love because of how close I draw to God during this time. Below Is a poem I wrote while fasting and praying. It captures my heart on the experience of fasting and walking in surrender.
Surrender
God empty me of all the world offers.
Fill me with your holy fires.
overflowing with your spirit of peace,
humbled at your feet.
I want to hold nothing back from you,
not addictions, nor hunger, nor life hide from you.
Let the bread of life sustain me.
Let my broken spirit and body be,
A pleasing aroma to thee
a sacrifies upon your alter,
I give of all of me
A life surrendered completely.
Worship
The second thing I feel God calling me to is more surrender in worship. This one I was more open to. I have always loved to worship God. Coming from a very charismatic background it has never been “weird” to worship God with enthusiasm. In my Childhood my parents used to have a “worship night” It was a time we turned off the lights knelt on the floor listened to music and prayed.
These nights sometimes went on for quite a while. I absolutely loved these nights. They left an impression on my soul. Over the years I lost this practice, but now God has called me back, to surrender completely to Him.
In the past, I would sit in bed or wherever I was at the time and silently pray. I always thought about kneeling and my heartaches to do it however, I always found reasons not to. Lately, I have been feeling like I have been holding back in my worship, and part of walking in complete surrendering is holding nothing back from Him, not your body, spirit, or mind.
It is getting me out of a comfortable space and places me in a position where it is just me at the feet of Jesus. I have already seen that I am more focused, and I am more in tune with the spirit as I pray, and it has been a humbling and awe-inspiring experience.
I use a chair cushion to kneel on, so I do not cause problems with my knees (thanks to chronic pain), and I fall on my face before my King, God, and savior. I encourage anyone who feels God calling you to surrender in worship to follow His voice. It may not be for everyone, but I know that it has changed my prayer time and my intimacy with Jesus.
Conclusion
Living a life that is surrendered to God is a life where we hold nothing back from Jesus our King and His holy spirit. Surrendering to God brings growth and intimacy to our relationship with God. Two things that I have added to my personal relationship with God are fasting and changing my posture during prayer and worship. I encourage my readers to pray and listen to what God is telling them about walking fully surrendered to Jesus.
I would love to walk this journey with you, so comment on your experience with fasting, worship, and surrender below in the comments, or drop me an email at emilyb@moreofjesusplease.com
- What are ways God is calling you to lean into surrender (fasting, daily devotions, worship practices?)
- What are things that keep you from surrendering completely? (times, worries?)
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