Recently the word "Surrender" came to me as I was driving in my car. We know the song, "I surrender all" and we've all probably prayed it at one time or another but do we really know, understand and better yet live the definition of "Surrender"? I had to ask myself this question and dig deep to find the answer.

Below is what Wikipedia says about Christian Surrender:
The second issue of surrender in Christianity is allowing Christ to "take our place" through the believer, in other words, the emptying of self so that God may live through the believer as evidenced in Phl 1:21.

For me to live is Christ [His life in me], and to die is gain [the gain of the glory of eternity]. Amplified Bible

Another doctrinal principle central to the Christian Concept of Surrender in line with the other two, and often expounded more, is the concept of surrender to God's Will. Surrendering to God's will entails both the "surrender of our will to His in macrocosm", in which His plan prevails over man's and the adversary, and secondarily to the surrender of one's will for individual life to "His will for our personal lives in microcosm." This is done through the emptying or dying of self, the "putting self aside" in favor of divine influence. This includes the idea of surrendering to a call (the word "vocation" is rooted in the Latin vocare, referring to God's voice).

True surrender is "putting self aside". You are yielding yourself to the will of the Father so that His will might be accomplished and so that He will get the glory. It is a true form of humility not only to surrender yourself but to surrender yourself for the glory of someone else. God is so good and so faithful and so loving that He makes sure when we surrender to His will and His work that we are well taken care of. It says in Proverbs that a faithful man shall abound in blessings; how can you be faithful unless you are sold out and surrendered to His will? Look at what the last sentence says in the Wikipedia definition:

The corollary of this personal surrender is obedience, and obedience to God is denoted as bringing about His will, having lasting effects, and often associated with earthly and divine blessings.

We know that we don't give with the motive to get but it is good to know that God is more than willing to take care of us as we go about His will and His work on the earth.

I believe it is important to surrender ourselves over and over again to His will and purpose because this world is full of distractions and the enemy is ready to throw us off course. Before we know it we are headed in our own direction and have completely lost track of why we do what we do. The next time we pray that consecration prayer let us remember what it really means to surrender our will to His. I am convinced that when we truly 100% surrender to Him He will be able to use us in ways we never could have imagined!

-Pastor Katie Ruiz