Wholly Surrendered

It’s one thing to wake up in the morning and say “God, today I surrender myself wholly to You,” and quite another to wake up and immediately dive into His Word and find out exactly how He wants you to surrender to Him each day.


It must start with a complete understanding of the cross of Jesus Christ. We can talk all day long about different aspects of living for Christ, but if we are not living in the knowledge of the price He paid for us, nothing else has meaning. Colossians 1:20-22 says," …and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach." First, understand the depth of the sin you once lived in. And though I say lived, your soul was dead in your sins (Ephesians 2:1), even while your physical body lived. Understand, then, how God reconciled you to Himself through the death of His Son, while you were yet a sinner (Romans 5:8). Though you opposed Him, He made peace with you and brought you into His kingdom. Your soul is washed clean of all sin, and He is actively involved in the process of your sanctification, as even now you become more like Christ.

Surrendering wholly to God requires a hunger for God. If we do not have an intimacy with God that exceeds all other relationships, we will be unable to hear Him speak as clearly as we might. In order to find out what God would have us pursue, we must have such a relationship that there is no room for doubt. While the primary means we receive knowledge of God is through personal reading of His Word, we have an abundance of excellent resources written by men and women who have devoted their entire lives to the study of the Scripture. Do not forsake your daily reading of the Bible, but cultivate also a hunger for learning through the godly wisdom of others. Paul and Timothy write to the church at Colossae, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:9-10). Increasing in the knowledge of God is a part of walking in a manner worthy of Christ. J.I. Packer writes in Knowing God, “As he is the subject of our study, and our helper in it, so he must himself be the end of it. We must seek, in studying God, to be led to God. It was for this purpose that revelation was given, and it is to this use that we must put it.” Do not simply know about God, but know Him intimately and personally, so that you will be able to hear Him constantly speaking truth and vision into your life.

Surrendering wholly to God requires trust. Submit yourself now to the fact that you will not always know what God is doing, and that is okay. We have a promise from God that whether or not we understand a situation, or an event, it will ultimately be for our good. 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 (Romans 8:28). By His grace we are among “those who love God,” and by His will we are “called according to His purpose.” Scripture is full of God’s promises to those who follow His leading. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, trust Him unceasingly and receive the full blessing He has set apart for you. In the good times, trust God and guard yourself against the thought that life is good by your own doing. In the bad times, trust God and guard yourself against the thought that He has forsaken you, or that He is punishing you. Rest in the comfort that it is for your good, and do not doubt the workings of God.

Lastly, surrendering wholly to God requires action. Each believer must “find out what pleases God” (See Ephesians 5:10) in his or her own life and then seek that end with all strength and diligence. Though this action may look different in each person, there are some things which cannot be disregarded. Christ commands us: be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8). Wherever you go, shine His light. Whether it is a mission trip half-way across the world or a grocery trip down the street, breathe grace on everyone you come in contact with. Encourage others with the love of Christ, speaking kindness and edification. Witness first with your actions, and then with His words. The pursuit of godliness also cannot be taken lightly. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace (Romans 6:11-14). Even in the midst of our spiritual highs we are called to be ruthless in our eradication of that which God abhors.

As we begin to take seriously this life to which we are called, we must surrender wholly to His will, to His leading, to His Word, and to His commands. We must know that it is only by the grace we have received through the cross that we are able to approach Him and seek after Him wholeheartedly. It is “in Him that we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28). In Him, and by His power, our surrender leads to His name being glorified. There is no greater calling than this, to glorify God through our complete submission, and to make His name known by the simple testimony of His work in our lives.