STEP 6: SURRENDERING TO GOD
At the end of Session 1, we asked if you were ready to make a commitment to God to be His bondslave, to serve Him not because you are in any way compelled to, but simply because you love Him. The following exercise and prayer are designed to make this commitment real and personal for you. It is a scary thing to think about surrendering all our “rights” and putting ourselves unreservedly into the hands of another - even if it is God!
Remember that He has already shown the depth of His commitment to us by dying for us. To surrender ourselves fully into the hands of our loving Father puts us in the place of complete security.
In our society we are so focused on our “rights”. A bondslave, however, surrenders all rights in order to serve his master. We are bondslaves of Christ - but we are also children of God, who have the promise that all things belong to us and we belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God (1 Corinthians 3:22-23 NASB). When we lose (surrender) who we are in the natural, we find who we really are in Christ.
In truth we really have only one right: Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12). To begin this step, say the following prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father,
I acknowledge that You have been a faithful God to me and I will continue to be true to who You are, no matter what my circumstances of how I feel (Lamentations 3:22-23 22Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness ).
I confess that I have not always trusted that You have my best interests at heart, or that You can be relied upon to come through on Your promises. I repent of any doubts I may have had concerning Your character and all the ways I have tried to take my life into my own hands.
Please show me all the areas where I have held my life back from You or where I have not given You the right to act in my life as You desire. I now ask You to help me take a step of greater trust and dependence on You by surrendering all I am and all I have to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
What rights do you specifically need to surrender to God now?
- Living my life in my own strength
- Relying on my own resources
- Saying what I want to say when I want to say it
- Going where I want to go whenever I please
- Living wherever I want to live
- Having the kind of job I want
- Having the kind of financial securite I desire
- Being single or married
- Having the number (and gender) of children I want to have
- Having all of my children grow-up to love and walk with the Lord
- Being right all the time
- Being always loved, accepted, and understood by people
- Having the friend I want
- Being used by God in specific ways
- Being in control or in charge
- Having a good reputation
- Knowing the will of God all the time
- Being able to “fix” people or circumstances around me
- Having good health
- Being free from pain or suffering
- Having the respect and support of people around me
- Being always shielded from the abuse and neglect of others
- Receiving forgiveness from those that I have hurt
- Being spared heartache, crisis and tragedy
- Engaging in sinful practices out of anger towards, or in rebellion against, those who have hurt me
- Other things the Lord is laying on my heart
Now pray the following prayer, telling God all the “rights” that you are choosing to surrender to Him:
Dear Heavenly Father,
In the past I have claimed these right as mine
But now I lay them down before you and present myself to You as a living sacrifice, Your bondslave. I am no longer my own. I choose to surrender all my selfish rights to You, the One who has loved me and given up Your Son for me.
When I accept my responsibility to follow Your good, pleasing and perfect will for me by the power of the Holy Spirit, I also give You permission to do in me and through me whatever You desire, and whatever will glorify You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Final affirmations
As a final act of faith, make these declarations out loud:
- I affirm that it was for freedom that Christ has set me free. I therefore choose to keep standing firm and no longer be subject to the yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).
- I affirm that, having begun by the Spirit, I am not going to finish through the flesh, but through the transforming power of the Spirit of liberty (Galatians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
- I affirm that the purpose of the Law was to show me my need of Christ but now that faith has come, I am no longer under the Law (Galatians 3:24-25).
- I affirm that I am now an unconditionally loved, accepted and secure child of God in Christ (Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:5-6).
- I affirm that I am now dead to the Law through the body of Christ and that I have been joined to the risen Christ in order to bear much fruit for God (Romans 7:4).
- I affirm that I am a bondslave of Jesus Christ and that my life’s purpose is to please Him not others (Galatians 1:10).
- I affirm that the Lord’s Word to me is now, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:3).
- I affirm that God’s strength is now made perfect in my weakness and that His grace is sufficient for me (2 Corinthians 12:9).
- Therefore I affirm that by the grace of God I am what I am and that by His grace I stand (1 Corinthians 15:10; Romans 5:2). All to the praise of His glorious grace, which He freely bestowed on me in Christ (Ephesians 1:6).
Concluding declaration
By the authority I have in Christ, I nor command every enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ to leave my presence. I commit myself to my Heavenly Father to do His will from this day forward. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Concluding prayer
Dear Heavenly Father,
I come to You as Your child, bought out of slavery to sin by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are the Lord of the universe and the Lord of my life. I submit my body to You as an instrument of righteousness, a living and holy sacrifice that will glorify You. I now ask You to fill me to overflowing with Your Holy Spirit today and every day. I commit myself to the renewing of my mind, in order to prove that Your will is good, pleasing and perfect for me. I choose to live in the grace, peace and rest that are mine in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.