You may be wondering, “What will happen if I surrender to God, and how does one do that?” Ultimately, God’s desire and design for you is that you would live moment by moment with an attitude of surrender. An attitude of surrender is an attitude of acknowledging the futility of living from your own strength and resources to manage life. Surrender is an attitude of acknowledging the need to depend on God as the source of everything you need each moment, and an attitude of being willing for God to use all things in your life to reveal Himself to you and work out His purposes in you.
OUR BROKENNESS AND SURRENDER
Brokenness is a state of mind in which placing confidence in the flesh (my way, using my resources) as a way of life is understood to be useless. I need to realize the truth which says, in effect, “Lord, I can’t do it.” This is brokenness, and it benefits me greatly! By accepting my limitations and adopting an attitude of brokenness, I experience the freedom that comes with living in total dependence on the Lord, rather than in the futility of relying on the flesh.
Jesus, while still being God, lived His life on earth as a man, totally dependent on the Father. John 5:19 says, “Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them. ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.’” John 7:16 says, “Jesus, therefore, answered them and said, ‘My teaching is not Mine, but His Who sent me.’”
In the same way that Jesus was dependent on the Father, Jesus speaks of our need to be dependent on Him. Jesus says this in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him; he bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Brokenness results in my surrender to Jesus. As I am willing to depend on Christ, instead of my flesh, He expresses His life to me and in me. This is a “moment by moment” experience of His life in mine. Paul expresses the satisfaction he found in surrendering both his possession and identity, in order to gain the victory of Jesus live through him. In Philippians 3:8-10 Paul says, “…I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”
Who is responsible for accomplishing “brokenness” in me?
God uses the process of brokenness to work out His purposes for our lives in and through us. Romans 8:28-29 says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son…” The results of brokenness will be my willingness to relinquish my rights and my choosing to walk by faith. So, what hinders me from being broken? My pride may cause me to choose to live independent from God. A choice of independence is tied to “my rights,” as I perceive them. My flesh says, “I have a right to______________, and I must defend this right.” But, when the Spirit of God is directing me, then I choose to say, “I give up my right to__________, and I’m willing to risk feeling ____________ so Christ’s life may be manifested in me.” Read 2 Corinthians 4:8-11.
Demanding my “rights” prevents me from trusting in and depending on God.
Surrendering them is the way I cooperate with God in His process of conforming me to the image of Christ, whereby He is glorified, and I am living in intimacy with Him. Read and reflect on Philippians 2:5-8. How do these verses about Jesus relate to surrender? Christ Himself gave us the example of what it means to relinquish our rights when He gave up His rights as God and became a man, subject to all the capacities of humankind.
How will I know what rights I personally need to relinquish?
Surrender is an attitude of the heart that says, “God, you can do with me whatever you want to do.” This attitude is the result of having settled the issue of who is best suited, God or me, to plan, provide for, and live the life I’ve been given. In order to settle this issue, two things must occur: 1. I must come to the end of myself and recognize the futility of the flesh— that is, my inability to meet my needs my way, using my own resources. 2. I must believe in the sovereign goodness of God and be willing to trust Him in all things. Living from an attitude of surrender allows me to rest, knowing that God is using every circumstance and every relationship I encounter to conform me to the image of His Son and to advance His purposes far beyond my own (Romans 8:28-30). This results in inner peace and true joy. This is God’s greatest desire for you—to live in this kind of “intimacy” with Him, moment by moment, experiencing His fullness.
Releasing Rights
One must die to prideful self in order to live as God intended. This is the strange paradox of the Gospel; we live by dying, win by losing, are saved by perishing, triumph by surrendering, and come in first when we are last. God confounds all the ways of human wisdom. His ways are the opposite of what we thought. We cooperate with God by releasing our rights. What are rights? These are things that I demand or expect from God and others. Things must be a certain way, people must be a certain way, and I must be a certain way in order to be okay. Why release my rights? Releasing my rights will shut the door to my flesh. Whenever I walk after the flesh, I am demanding a right of some kind. When I release my rights and walk in the Spirit, I will experience true freedom and rest in God; this is the abundant life.
ATTITUDES – taking me from SELF-SUFFICIENCY to CHRIST-SUFFICIENCY
Notice the transition in the following attitudes as they progress from #1 to #7.
1. “I can do whatever I want to do.” This is the basic attitude we are born with.
2. “Christ will help me do what I want to do.” As a new Christian, not yet broken, our “wants” change somewhat, but self is still in control.
3. “I can’t seem to do what I want to do.” We begin to experience failure – the futility of our flesh to meet our needs—but do not understand what is happening.
4. “I can’t do anything, Lord. You’ll have to do it for me.” We begin to understand our inadequacy in the flesh. We may even think we are broken, but we are actually still calling the shots.
5. “I want to do whatever you me want me to do, Lord.” We are still struggling; suffering but not yet broken.
6. “Lord, do with me whatever you want to do.” This is brokenness—the abandonment of self to trust Christ as life!
7. “I can endure all hardships through Christ who strengthens me.” This is the attitude I can operate from after brokenness. It’s the attitude of a person who understands “… the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in Jesus…”
Evidence of Brokenness
All rights surrendered. Willing to be rejected. Transparent—willing to share weakness. Vulnerability—willing to share failure. A sense of the inadequacy of our self-strength (2 Cor. 3:5). A sense of total adequacy of Christ’s strength (Phil. 4:13; 2 Cor. 3:6). Trusting God in whatever is happening—resting even with external turmoil. Obedience out of motive of love—because I want to, not because I have to. Recognizing the power in weakness (2 Cor. 12:10). Willingness to be weak. Willingness to fail. Willingness to let others receive credit. Genuine humility. Placing value upon those who have little or no value to yourself. Readiness to affirm others. Being teachable. Willingness to be out of control in the present circumstance. Willingness to be misunderstood. Willingness to be broken again.
APPLICATION – Finish the following three statements of surrender. Write down as many as you can think of.
I give up the right to ____________. I’m willing to feel the emotion of ____________. I’ll trust God to_____________.
Two examples:
I give up the right to be in control. I’m willing to feel the emotion of frustration. I’ll trust that my value and worth come from God, not from my own sense of power/control.
I give up the right to have my son live with me. I’m willing to feel the emotion of loss, not having him home with me each day. I’ll trust God, that He’ll still use me to love and speak truth into my son’s life.