Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it.”
Matthew 16:24-26 HCSB

There are two words I am not fond of; they are surrender and submit. I think we are programmed to consider these words a sign of weakness. But about 11 years ago, I learned that the exact opposite is true when we consider our relationship with Jesus Christ. While this Scripture passage may seem a bit confusing, this is Jesus telling His disciples that we must surrender to His way and His will for our lives.

I spent many years trying to do things my way. This included trying to keep one foot in the world and one in the church. As a teen I surrendered to Christ and did fairly well, but as I got older there were more and more temptations coming my way. I couldn’t let go of church. I knew I needed Jesus in my life, so I tried to have it all. I tried to be a friend to the world and a servant of God. That didn’t work. We are told in James 4:4 that this doesn’t work because friendship with the world is enmity with God. The two forces oppose each other. You can’t have it both ways.

I finally found myself feeling as though I was in this fight and was getting my rear end kicked. It was like I couldn’t win. But I’m not that bright so I just kept fighting. I kept wanting everyone else to change. I kept thinking it was everyone else. I mean after all; it couldn’t be me, right? I might have lived like the devil during the week, but I was going to church a couple times a month and I did love the Lord. That had to count.

The apostle Paul thought that way when he was out persecuting Christians. He thought He was doing a good thing. But Jesus asked him in Acts 9:4 why he was persecuting Him? In verse 5, Jesus told him that it is hard to kick against the pricks. This phrase means to fight authority.

In law enforcement we mistakenly think we are the authority, and we see the prosecutor and judge as higher authorities. But we must always remember that Jesus is the ultimate authority. He is the one that we must obey. He is the one to whom we must submit and surrender our lives. It took me a long time to realize that.

I finally got so tired of fighting. I got so tired of praying for God to change everyone else. By that time, God made it pretty clear to me that I was the one that had to change. I did the only thing left to do, I surrendered. I gave it all over to God. I gave my heart to Him and trusted Him to be my Lord and Savior. I trusted Him to take my mess and make it my message and He got to work on that right away. I admitted to Him that I had sin that I did not know what to do with or how to get rid of. But that was okay, He also helped me with that. He took care of everything.

He showed me that the only one who needed changing was me. On judgment day, I won’t answer for anyone but me. That battle I was fighting, I was thinking it was everyone around me, boy was I wrong. Our battles are spiritual (Ephesians 6:10-18). Whatever is going on in your life right now, understand that it is a spiritual issue. The only way to win a spiritual battle is to surrender to the ultimate authority. Submit yourself to the only One who can defeat evil. Don’t fight His authority. Surrender to His will. He will fight those battles for you.

I had two choices. I could continue to fight and struggle which was wearing me out or I could surrender and let God take care of it. I decided to surrender. I am so grateful for His love and mercy. I am so grateful for the protection He provides for me. I have never regretted that decision.

I still have to pray daily for Him to help control my tongue and help me to resist temptation, but He walks beside me all the way.

If you are tired of fighting, surrender to Jesus Christ. Give it all over to Him and rest in the shelter He provides (Psalm 91:1).

Have a great day!