How Are We Supposed to Fully Surrender to God?

Thank you so much for tuning in and Welcome everyone – Hope you’re well!  I’m your host, Ben Lively, and you’re listening to “Shaken Awake” – Episode #58!  

 

Quick and ultra-important announcement – please listen to the very end of today’s episode and if you have to disconnect midway for whatever reason, please do come back and listen to the end.  I have some very exciting news and changes coming about to Shaken Awake and some other podcasts I’m starting. 

 

For now, I want to thank you for tuning in with us today, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing right this very moment.  It means everything to me to share the messages that God’s lays on my heart to share.  

 

And, as always, I promise you another great show – But, more than anything, my HOPE for you today, and always, is that you have an actual encounter with the Lord, not just another podcast episode.   

 

Quick ask – if you’ve found value in these episodes, would you take 30 seconds after the show to go to submit a quick review and star-rating in your app.  This is what potential listeners look for when deciding whether to give a show a listen – which is confirmation from other listeners that it can bring value.  Would you do that for me, IF and only IF you find value in these episodes?  I can’t thank you enough.

 

So, without further delay, let’s get ready to invite God in with us, right here, right now and allow Him to speak directly to your heart and minds.   

 

So, today’s topic is on “How Are We Supposed to Fully Surrender to God?”

I’d had a hard time with this one.  I understood the meaning and definition of surrender and surrendering to God.  I and thought I had after He called me to Him on April 7, 2019.  However, I didn’t FULLY surrender until the Holy Spirit guided me deeper and further into what I truly meant to not just surrender to God – but to FULLY surrender to God.  Guys – there is a HUGE difference!  There is a HUGE chasm between surrendering and FULLY surrendering.  That’s where we’re headed today on the show.

The word "surrender" is defined as: to yield, give up or over, submit, abandon, relinquish, cede, waive, or capitulate. In some translations, the word "surrender" is not found, but the concepts of "yielding" (Romans 6:16-19) or submitting (James 4:7) are used instead.

In order to surrender your heart, body, and soul to God, one must be willing to yield to the supreme claim of a righteous God. What is that claim? We need to understand that we all (that is all of man) is separated from a Holy God by sin and there must be reconciliation. The good news is that God has made a prearrangement for man to be reconciled to Himself and that prearrangement is found in the once-for-all sacrifice made by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.

 

The discipline of spiritual surrender is evident and encouraged throughout scripture.

Spiritual surrender is an act of faith, keeping hope alive by choosing defeat over death. It is the first act for those coming to salvation, and a continual habit of those walking with Christ. To spiritually surrender means to let go of control and trust God.
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To surrender to Christ is a decisive blow to our flesh. “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live…” (Galatians 2:20). But that’s not the end of the verse.

When you surrender to Christ you receive new hope and new life: “…but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.”

Yes, you must give up or surrender your old self, but when you do, sin’s power over you is broken. “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin” (Romans 6:6). ​

When you surrender to Christ, you aren’t surrendering your identity and uniqueness that He has already given you. You aren’t giving up like you are defeated, but as a expatriate from this world, escaping a life of slavery, starvation, and abuse.

We don’t surrender out of fear or threat, but in hope that the One to who we surrender has a better life for us.  And that hope doesn’t and will never disappoint.

In the Bible, the words heart and soul are often used interchangeably.

To surrender our heart, body, and soul to God, we must understand that as humans, we are triune beings. We are made up of our heart/mind, body, and soul. Yielding one part of ourselves without yielding the other is impossible. If we try to separate ourselves, we become "double minded" and therefore unstable (James 1:8). 

 

However, the initial surrendering is only the beginning. The surrender of your heart, body, and soul to God is an ongoing process that begins the moment we are born again as a child of God and it continues until He calls us home or Jesus comes again. The process is one of growth in grace and knowledge and that comes from studying the Word of God and choosing to apply divine standpoint to our life on a daily, and sometimes, moment-by-moment basis.

Our eternal soul of man has one of two conditions. The first is eternally separated from God. If that condition is not corrected during life here on earth by accepting Jesus Christ as Savior (John 14:6), that soul is separated from God for eternity with no remedy; no other remedies are available. The other condition is that of a born-again soul. That person will have fellowship and communication with God through the LORD Jesus Christ during this life and will then enjoy His presence for eternity. Therefore, to surrender your heart, body, and soul to God, accept the LORD Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and LORD.

Surrender to God…What does this phrase really mean?  Surrendering to God - it's a term you may have heard, but what does it mean, exactly? Surrender is not a word often associated with positive actions, is it?  Such as, "surrender in the name of the law" usually means trouble for someone, right?  And we know that when one side surrenders to another in war, it's a sign they've given up any hope for their victory.

Surrender all to God doesn’t mean giving up everything.  If we surrender to God, what are we giving up? Does it mean, as it does for the enemy in war, to give up on victory in our lives? Is God holding a gun to our heads and forcing us to give Him everything we have, like a mugger might do? To be sure, there are those who are willing to portray God in that way, especially where self-gain is involved. But when we come to know the true character and nature of God, we quickly discover how false that image is.

Surrender means to yield ownership, to abandon control over what we consider ours: our property, our time, our "rights." When we surrender to God, we are simply acknowledging that what we "own" actually belongs to Him. He is the giver of all good things. We are responsible to care for what God has given us, as custodians and stewards of His property, but by fully surrendering to God, we admit that He is ultimately in control of everything, including our present circumstances. Surrendering to God helps us to let go of whatever has been holding us back from God's ‘best’ for our lives. By surrendering to God, we let go of whatever and whomever has kept us from wanting God's ways first.

God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and gave them everything they needed. All that was good to eat was available and realistic for them. All, that is, except that one tree - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then came along the serpent; the serpent's first exchange was to question the word of God and have EVE question Him, when he suggested to Eve, "Did God really say that you couldn't eat from that tree?"   You see, only the wise will question the possible result of giving in to temptation.

What if Adam and Eve had been wise enough to see the deception? What if they had recognized the choice that was being put before them, and rather than doubting God's Word, they had chosen instead to obey God? What if they had realized God was to be obeyed, even if His command didn't seem to make perfect sense to them? But note that God did not say to Adam and Eve, "you can't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Instead, we read in Genesis 2:16-17: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Fully surrendering is a choice.   Adam and Eve were given a choice to surrender to God when He said, "you shall not" as opposed to "you cannot." The fruit of this particular tree is not something you’re going to find in the produce section of your favorite supermarket, but instead, it represented the alternative that God offered. Should Adam and Eve trust and obey Him for a greater reward down the road, or should they give in to the temporary desires of their hearts? Had they chosen to surrender the longings of their hearts to God, it's possible that we may all be living eternally on a perfect earth, right here and now. Sadly, Adam and Eve did not choose that path. And because of that first act of disobedience, our hearts have become more and more prone to selfishness with each generation. (Consider the evidence presented in chapter 4 of Genesis - when Cain, the very first human born to a woman, murdered his own brother. How quickly the corruption occurred!)

Before we decide to blame every problem throughout history on Adam and Eve, though, it's important to consider that we are all given the same choice they were given. It's just that they were the first ones to blow it.

So then, what's the point of fully surrendering to God? If we've already blown it so badly, what's the point of choosing God's way now? After all, the Bible tells us that the world we live in is lost and is dying; withering away. This is where the Good News comes in! Because God loves His creation, He hasn't cast us from paradise forever. He continues to give us a choice. The world around us may be suffering the results of sin, but each person -- you, I and everyone we are in contact with,  still has the opportunity to choose to obey God. As long as we have breath, we have that choice.

Looking back at the story of Adam and Eve; if they had fully surrendered to God, rather than listening and fully surrendering to the serpent and their own desires, it's probable and possible our world would not be suffering the consequences as we still are today.  It’s clear, then, what God desires for us is far better than any temporary gain; but, we can only know that victory if we fully surrender our desires, or our "rights" to God.

What is it that you desire today? What "right" are you clinging to, even though deep down inside you know you'd be better off if you gave it up? Do you think that voice, deep down inside, could be God giving you the same choice He gave Adam and Eve? God loved you and me so much that He willingly took on human flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ, to choose obedience and surrender for us. As our living example, Christ first surrendered His divinity in order to give us a flesh and blood God we could relate to (John 3), then He surrendered His right to be God when the devil tempted Him in the desert (Matthew 4), and finally He surrendered His right to life itself when He took upon His flesh -- His perfect sinless body --all the penalty for every human refusal to yield. Because of Him, all you and I need to do today is to place our faith in Him and obey the Word of God.

Fully surrender to God, not partially.  Obey His commands for your life, and you can know the life of abundance that He came to offer. Victory through Christ is within our grips, if we choose to fully surrender to God whatever has a hold on us.  Obey Him, even if you don't really want to right now, and discover the genuine and eternal satisfaction that can only come from fully surrendering to God.

God has designed our world so that spiritual beliefs are often mirrored in the physical, if we are willing to see them there. If you are, and if you'll desire God's ways above your own, simply ask Him to show you when you are being tempted by your own desires. Unlike receiving the gift of salvation, which is ours the moment we ask Christ into our hearts, fully surrendering to God is a choice we must make with every breath and fiber of our being.

 

And now, for some exciting news and to reveal what’s been laid on my heart over the past several weeks and months, here are some changes I’m making with the guidance and direction and wisdom and understanding from God and The Holy Spirit:

 

1.)  I’m switching gears in my walk and servitude to Him – to the lost.  I’ve had plenty of nudging and calling by God to recognize and know that it’s now time to reach out and focus on the lost.  He had called me to reach out and speak to the lukewarm and backslidden, which I faithfully have for the past 14 or so months, and which I will continue to do on a limited basis – it’s still vitally important to His Kingdom.  But, as He commanded in His Word, we’re to preach the gospel to the lost.  (It’s no coincidence, that as I went online this very morning, I see a quote from Ray Comfort – one of the greatest evangelists of my lifetime, anyway and whether you agree with him or not is irrelevant; it was 100% relevant to me and my life and the direction God is leading me – He said and I quote, “I am both a coward and a hypocrite if I believe that the world is going to hell but fail to verbally warn them.”  Wow!   And so, I’ve recently disconnected almost entirely from social media, and it’s one of the most spiritually freeing things that I’ve felt in many, many months.  That’s because He is helping clear the way for my new ministry.  While it will involve a social media aspect, the ones that need it the most are those with little to no social media interaction, and those that are not already seeking the Word – for which, there are literally billions.  Yes, BILLIONS!!!!  There is currently almost 8 billion people in the world – how many of them do you think are saved?  

2.) I will be creating a new weekly podcast to reach the lost.  One in which they don’t feel as though a perceived “Christian” is attempting to “preach to them”, rather, meet them where they’re at and introduce them to God in a manner that is unlike what they may have found or what they may think about how the real church is supposed to act or treat them.  There’s no doubt why and how God used all my trials, tribulations, and outright schemes of the devil that I was involved in, to be used later in life to become a Paul with Gentiles, in reaching the lost as ‘I was one of them.’   I can relate to them on many levels and allow God to connect what they’re going through now, with what He has to offer them.  It’s going to be exciting, and I need all your prayers.  This will be a podcast that I’m also going to use to help other like-minded Christians use as another tool in their toolbelt to help evangelize and reach the lost.   The broken need healing, and this will be another measure of healing and redirecting them to the Healer, the Provider, the Messiah, our Lord and Savior; so, you’ll be able to share this podcast with them and use in your quiver of arrows to shoot against the enemy.

3.) Lastly, but certainly not least – I will be doing a Daily Podcast.  Short, 5-minute Daily Bread type podcast.  This will be for ALL – The Saved, the lukewarm/backslidden, the lost, and those hungry for the Word.  The Bible has endless love and wisdom inside it – I’m in it every day, but most are not.  Time to use what God’s given me (and us – His Word), and share daily in bite-sized nuggets to those He will place in front of.  Again, I ask for your prayers as I commit this to the Lord and place in His hands.

 

More to come on all three and they’ll all be starting inside the month of April – so very little delay before they begin and are out and in the ears of listeners God sends.

 

With free time, I will not be sitting on the couch – I feel led to go and help the lost, the hurting, the poor, and the needy.  As long as God gives me good health and while age is not a limiting factor, I want to help those that Jesus helped and asked us to help.  On earth as it is in Heaven – right guys?

 

So, before we end today’s show, I just want to thank you all again for tuning in and I HOPE you were touched by today’s message and scripture.  If you’d like to reach out to me, please call me directly at 4074933208, email me at ben@shaken-awake.com, or check out the show at shaken-awake.com.

 

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Until next time, take great care of yourself and each other, and God Bless You all.