Surrendering to Jesus Requires All That We Are and All That We Have
OPENING PRAYER:
“Heavenly Father, open my eyes and my heart today and show me what I need to change Lord, Amen.”
READ:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (Matthew 16:24-25)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)
REFLECT:
The feeling of control is addictive. We often want to hold onto things with a tight grip so we have firm control. Things like our career, the place we live, or the money we have in our bank account.
Following Jesus is a lot more than going to a service on a weekend and calling it good. To really follow him, it requires surrender of everything we have. Including the things we want to control. In the scriptures above we see Jesus saying that whoever wants to follow him must deny themselves and take up their cross. That means taking ourselves off the throne of our lives and being all-in for whatever it is Jesus leads us to do.
APPLY:
Surrender means giving Jesus access to everything we have. Does Jesus have access to your finances? Does he have access to your career? Your marriage? When we give Jesus total control, it might make us uncomfortable at first, but he’ll guide us in our walk with him as we grow. He’s promised to never leave us. One thing that’s awesome about Jesus is that he’s a multiplier, but he cannot multiply what we have our hands tightly gripped onto.
CLOSING PRAYER:
“Jesus, as I surrender to you today, I ask that you take away any fear I have of giving up control. Help me as I trust and grow in you, Amen.”