Thoughts on SURRENDER – (Part 2 – Following Jesus From the Edges

Following Jesus From the Edges

THOUGHTS ON THE PRACTICE OF SURRENDER (PART 2)

Pastor Calvin Cook

May 1, 2026

Back to sharing some thoughts on surrender this morning. I am thankful for those who commented on yesterday’s devotional. I appreciate those who have entrusted me with praying for and with them and those likewise who have prayed for and with me. I want to share where this thread of thoughts began.

I have a friend who is engaged in ministry really on the edges. This friend is actively engaged with people who are virtually unseen. Dealing with many of the social issues of life of homelessness, loneliness, those caught in addiction, some who are strangers in a foreign land seeking a better way and so much more. In all his correspondence he describes himself as walking with Jesus. Recently it seems that all these pressures have played corruption on his soul and where he is as a person of God. In a recent conversation he said “there are things I have to surrender.”

I thought and prayed for and with my friend. For my friend, myself and you. If we are being  honest when we are struggling with relationships with God with others and we feel as if there is something missing, it has become very clear that there are things that we need to surrender.

As I have thought about my friend’s words for several days now and have prayerfully been guided I believe even prayed for by the Holy Spirit – I have gained a new awareness of what surrender looks like.

Surrender often looks like staying when we want to run. Trusting when we want control. Praying for God’s will “thy will be done” when we want to fix.

Going back to the disciples in that between season after the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples had to release their fear, their confusion, even their expectation, before they could receive the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Truly what the disciples were waiting for was the restoral of the physical in the case of desiring the nation and people of Israel to be restored and Jesus was bringing restoral of the soul through the Holy Spirit to people who had placed faith in something else and allowed that to become their whole focus. There was much they needed to surrender.

Surrender came before the filling. Maybe that’s where this meets us today. What are you holding tightly right now? That is holding you captive. Keeping you wanting more and not knowing why it isn’t happening.

Is it a situation you can’t fix? A hurt you can’t let go of? A future you’re trying to control?

Jesus is not asking you to carry it better. He’s asking you to lay it down.

Another scripture written on my worrisome heart is 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”

Not some of it. Not the easy parts. All of it.

Surrender is daily. Sometimes hourly.

It’s waking up and saying, “Lord, I trust You with this day.” It’s pausing in the middle of the chaos and saying, “I am going to trust in You” and actually doing just that. It is like standing as a young Samuel when God is calling out and saying “Here I am Lord, I am listening.”

It is releasing what we are trying to carry alone.

Here is one thing I am hoping to remember.  Surrender doesn’t empty us, It makes room.

Room for peace. Room for clarity. Room for the Holy Spirit to move in ways we never could on our own.

Now here is the tough part — asking and answering “What is it you need to surrender that you’ve been trying to carry yourself?”

Right now you are being invited into more with God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But surrender must happen so you can realize the more.

I will be praying for you – and ask you pray for me.

Prayer: Lord, I confess that I try to hold too much on my own. Teach me to surrender—not just in words, but in trust. Help me to release what weighs me down and rest in Your grace. Like the disciples, teach me to wait, to pray, and to trust in Your timing. Fill the space I surrender with Your peace and Your presence. In Jesus’ name, Amen.