Are You Ready to 
Surrender to God?

       At some point, we all surrender our lives to God. Some of us choose to do it voluntarily, while we walk the earth. Others surrender involuntarily, when their physical body dies. Surrendering while physically alive goes beyond recognizing and acknowledging the reality that we each belong to God. Similar to salvation, surrender is a gift we receive from God; we can't will it for ourselves. But also like salvation, the gift of surrender requires a response from us: acceptance. And there must be fruit: a changed life. It's not something we accept and then do nothing about. Any work we do will never get us salvation or surrender. But our work starts after we accept the gifts from God.

       There is plenty of talk about submitting to God's will. In fact, submit and surrender are often used interchangeably. But beyond semantics, there are subtle yet critically important differences between submission and surrender.

      Brennan Manning, in The Importance of Being Foolish, put it this way:

        "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."

       Submission is something we can do, something we control. In surrender, we make the conscious choice to let go of that control, but the actual surrender is something only God can do. Another gift from the Father to His children.
        When we submit, we "give in," keeping the focus on ourselves.
        When we surrender, we "give up," putting the focus where it belongs: on God. But it isn't giving up in the way we normally define it. The action is more like "giving over." In love. It is offered to us in love, by Love, for love. And we accept it the same way: in love, for love, out of love.
        Our best example is Jesus. While here on earth, He didn't just submit, He surrendered. He handed Himself over to others, He emptied Himself completely. Out of the same motivation He came to Earth in the first place: love.

Surrendered Lives is dedicated to helping people get into a position so that God can grant them the gift of giving up, of surrendering their lives to Him.
Our ministry is one of sharing. We share the message of Christ, of course. And we strive to share His love. But we also work hard to share one of the main benefits of His message and His love: the true hope that only Jesus can provide.
It's the hope that we don't have to hurt deep down inside, we don't have to worry, don't have to be angry, or scared, or sad. We can have an inner joy, complete peace, and total serenity now, here on earth. That is the Gospel. But we must first surrender ourselves and our desire for joy, peace, and serenity to God. Like salvation itself, surrender isn't something we can do, only something we can accept from God.

Our prayer is that the eyes of everyone's hearts will be opened to receive the gift of surrender to the LORD.