SURRENDER – Following Jesus from the Edges

Walking with Jesus

Surrender

Pastor Calvin Cook

Scripture: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” — Luke 22:42

I share these words with a great deal of thought and prayer. There has been an over lying theme in this journey of walking with Jesus or following Jesus. In the midst of all of it as recently as this week in the preaching and yesterday in conversations, once again that theme has surfaced – SURRENDER.

When we hear the word surrender, we may picture someone waving a white flag on a battlefield. We think surrender means admitting defeat, acknowledging weakness, or accepting that we have lost.

But that is not what surrender to Jesus means.

Surrendering to God is not admitting defeat. It is not declaring that we are weak and incapable of doing anything. Surrender is an act of trust and faith. It is placing our lives, our plans, our struggles, and our future into the hands of the One who loves us and sees what we cannot see.

Is surrender our greatest problem in our faith journey and being a follower of Jesus?

Jesus demonstrated this kind of surrender in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew what was ahead. He understood the pain, rejection, and suffering He was about to face. Jesus prayed honestly, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.”

As I pray to consider what God is asking or the way God is leading, sometimes I get so caught up in myself or others that I fail to respond and react to God the way God desires. There is nothing wrong with telling God what we want. There is nothing faithless about admitting that something is difficult or asking God to change our circumstances. Jesus did both. But….there is also the idea that Jesus surrendered everything, ending the prayer with “not my will, but yours be done.”

That is surrender. Something we must live into.

Jesus was not defeated in the garden. He was not giving up on His mission. He was deliberately placing Himself into the hands of His Father. His surrender was evidence of His complete trust in the Father’s love, wisdom, and purpose.

One of the great psalms, Psalm 23, reminds us that through everything, God is with us. David does not say that we will never walk through dark valleys. He reminds us that when we do, we do not walk alone.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” — Psalm 23:4

When we surrender we have the assurance that God is with us. We may not know where the path is leading, but we know the One who is leading us. We may not understand why we must walk through a particular valley, but we can trust that God will never abandon us there. This is especially for us to come to that place of total surrender.

We often want God to bless the plans we have already made. We tell Him where we want to go, what we want to happen, and how we believe everything should work out. Then we become disappointed when God leads us in another direction.

Walking with Jesus requires us to open our hands.

We may need to surrender a plan that is not unfolding as we hoped. We may need to release a burden we were never meant to carry alone. We may need to give God a relationship, a decision, an uncertain future, or a situation we cannot control.

You might be saying I have done that. Well do it again, do it again, do it over and over because the enemy is also in this battle and trying to distract us from the truth.

Surrender does not mean one and done. It does not mean we are distracted from caring, praying, planning, or working. It means we stop insisting that everything must happen our way. We continue walking, but we allow Jesus to determine the direction.

Faith says, “God, I believe You can do what I am asking.”

Surrender says, “God, even if You choose another way, I will still trust You.”

That may be one of the deepest expressions of faith we can offer.

Today, what are you still holding tightly? What outcome are you afraid to place in God’s hands?

Jesus invites us to trust Him enough to pray:

Father, this is what I desire. This is what I hope will happen. But more than having my own way, I want Your will. I surrender this into Your hands because I trust You. Even in the darkest valley, I know You are with me. Not my will, but Yours be done. Amen.